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Location: Great Harbour, Jost van Dyke
This morning the staff woke up bright and early to drive Ewak, the catamaran, from Little Harbour, Jost Van Dyke to Great Harbour, Jost Van Dyke. The boat was coming alive by 7:30 as everyone was up and ready. The chefs served cereal and scrambled eggs for breakfast, and we headed to Anamacara, the other GoBeyond catamaran. There Elliot briefed us on the projects of the day, and we waited for Elliot to bring us, Susan Zaluski. She is in charge of most of the research in ecology such as sea turtles and seagrass beds. She also looks into invasive species on the Virgin Islands such as rats. We got ready to go in search for a turtle larger than 30 centimeters. Susan had acquired special satellite tags that we would use if we caught a turtle. However, after several sightings of what we think was the same large, fast turtle, we were unsuccessful in catching one. We went on shore for Lunch and ate at Foxy’s whose owner is also very involved in the Jost Van Dyke Preservation Society. We had some free time on shore and used our phones to contact our parents and guardians. We also took a look at the local stores. Then we went back to the boat, got our snorkel gear, and headed to the beach. In the second part of the day, we worked on one of our newer projects: Monitoring Seagrass beds. We split up into three groups and checked up on the seagrass and collected data using a special process. After finishing the project, we got back to Ewak, showered, and the chefs prepared dinner. After eating a delicious meal that consisted of Franks and Beans, we did squeeze and proceeded to our evening activity. We made Turk’s head bracelets and called it a night.