4
Location: White Bay, Peter Island
This morning, most of us woke up later than normal, around 8, which was nice to prepare for our busy day. Many of us slept outside last night — we fit seven hammocks, which was a new record for this session. As people were putting away their hammocks, the chefs got started with breakfast. We had scrambled eggs, apples, and blueberry muffins. However, we had some issues with this. First, the oven was being quite difficult this morning and not staying on, so the muffins took a LOT longer than expected — so much so that we needed to start sailing to our new anchorage before we could eat. So, the people that were not cooking helped pull up both of the anchors and longline the dinghy while the cooks and gopher finished getting the meal ready. All of us had loads of fun eating while we were moving, and the muffins turned out really yummy.
Once we got to White Bay, Peter Island, we dropped the primary anchor and got ready for turtle talk. We spent lots of the morning talking about different characteristics of different species of turtles, why we should work to save them, and how to catch and tag turtles. We quickly ate lunch which consisted of PBandJs and ants on the log (very mixed reviews).
The thing we all were patiently waiting for arrived… it was time to catch turtles. We used a tactic called manta-tow, which meant that we were towed behind the dinghies on a rope and scanned the water for turtles. When I went in for my turn, I, unfortunately, did not see any turtles, but I saw lots of other life, which were super exciting. The dinghy we were in, Shade, was being super weird, so we had to go back to the main boat. But it ended up being super fun because the other people in my group and I got to snorkel in the water the whole time — which also did not result in any turtle sightings but did result in lots of bonding. The other group did spot a couple of turtles, but they were too deep to dive down.
We switched anchorages once again for the night, back to Great Harbor, Peter Island. Some of us really look forward to moving the boat because we get to learn all about the process and do it almost all by ourselves. I already know so much about the boat, and it’s only day 4!
Once we got back to GHP, we all took Hibiclens showers, which was super nice because we got to use freshwater, and the soap prevents bacteria from getting on/growing on our skin.
For dinner, we had chili and rice, which was not a crowd favorite in the cooking process but ended up being one of our favorite dinners so far. At our nightly squeeze, we had some very creative and problem-solving conversations. The clean-up crew cleaned up dinner, which is something that we all look forward to doing together. #Crazy, I know, teenagers looking forward to doing dishes.
We finished the night with some games and all got ready for bed. Tomorrow we head to Virgin Gorda!
XOXO, #syv