17
Location: Road Harbor, Tortola
Today we woke up, and the staff had already started sailing the boat. We left Jost Van Dyke and headed for Road Town, the capital of the territory, and it is located on Tortola. Once in Road Town, we split into groups to do different jobs for VISAR. Virgin Islands Search and Rescue has one full-time employee and 30 on-call volunteers that go out and help with problems around the islands. Unfortunately, they are extremely underfunded, so they need other volunteers to help with things around the base. While we were there, we helped dredge out the silt from where the boat is dropped, we painted things orange, and the driveway gravel was moved to be evener. Also while on shore, groups would go to different sites and plant mangrove seeds and record others’ growth. After a day of good community service, we were told that as a surprise reward, Mexican food would be moved to tomorrow night to get rid of breakfast for dinner, and tonight we would get Pizzas. Every single person on both boats was on board for the proposition, leading to an excellent dinner on Catalinaville. -Austin Griffiths