Location: Vixen Point, Gorda Sound
Today we started off our day by watching some videos about plastic as a group and discussing the controversy behind cleaning up plastic in the ocean and the changes we could make towards a more sustainable lifestyle. After this discussion, we took a hike to the windward side of Virgin Gorda to do a small beach cleanup. After filling up some trash bags, we went back to our boat and ate lunch. After making and eating lunch while sailing, we rafted up with the other GoBeyond boat, Ewak. We headed over to their boat and got briefed for turtle tagging. We then got in four dinghies, and manta towed four students per dinghy at a time searching for a turtle. When we found one, everyone swam over and jumped in to try to push it towards shallow water. After 20 minutes of chasing the turtle, we caught it and brought it back to our boat to tag it and record data. (Editor’s note: this turtle had never been tagged before!) After recording data and tagging the turtle, we went back to where we found it and released it. We all showered after this and headed on shore to the barbecue where everyone from ActionQuest and GoBeyond met up to eat and hang out. Then after a long day, everybody went on the dinghies back to our boats and went to sleep.