Delta 1 Day 5: A Sail Over To The Indians
written by Mate-In-Training, Megan Lundequam
June 28, 2017
This morning, we were able to have a bit of a lie-in before we were bright eyed and bushy tailed ready for some egg “sangos” (translation: sandwiches) by 8:15a.m. After a yummy breakfast, the day was in full swing and a group of our Delta students were able to have a nice morning sail on Opal Bella, Sail Caribbean’s very own 26′ training keelboat, as part of their ASA 101 course. Although a few hearts skipped a beat when she keeled over for the first time, it’s safe to say everyone on board had an amazing time and was immediately wondering when would be the next chance they would get to take her out. While the first group of ASA students were sailing Opal, the rest of the crew was either diving or on shore playing beach volleyball, wading in the water or cooling down with a refreshing soda from the restaurant onshore.
Everyone made it back to their boats in time for some pizza quesadillas that turned out masterfully creative and deliciously messy leaving us all with full bellies and a rather cheesy cockpit. Once we finished eating and cleaning up the aftermath, we were off again, dropping our Open Water students off on docks for their second to last dive of their Open Water course. We then took the rest of our ASA students to Opal Bella and the remaining students to Attila for a sail over to the Indians.
Once at the Indians, we all hopped out and had a nice snorkel around the interesting rock formations being careful to watch out for the fire coral we learned about in our marine bio lesson a few days prior. Having seen more parrotfish than we could ever dream of counting, we swam back to Attila, dropped the mooring ball, and sailed back to Norman just in time to meet the students on Opal and have a bit of shore time together before heading back to boats to shower.
While showers were underway, burritos were being prepared below decks so we could have enough time to eat before sending off our divers on a night dive and then heading to shore for a sunset hike to the helipad on the top of Norman Island. We played “Oh Captain, My Captain” and basked in the oranges, blues and purples that flooded the setting sun.
After returning to the base of Norman, we stayed a shore for a bit to enjoy a fruity drink and a dessert while socializing with the rest of the fleets. By the time the divers returned from their night dive, we were all ready to head back to the boats. We sat around and listened to the divers’ stories about lionfish, nurse sharks, porcupine fish, moray eel and octopus spotted on their underwater adventure. Shortly after, we were lulled to sleep by the soft rocking of the boat in the Norman Island mooring field.
