Foxtrot 1 & Sierra 1 2015 – Day 18

written by mate, Kathryn Broderick
July 9, 2015

Key Point to Dead Man’s Bay

Students woke up a little earlier than usual to start the day off with some watersports in gorgeous and glassy Key Bay. Liam, Alejandro, and David all showed off their wake skating skills. Then everyone grabbed some breakfast and prepared to up-anchor. On Spyglass, Nico held the helm while Emily and Kayla spotted the anchor chain, guiding the boat forward, and Matt helped take off the snub line. Eric was the skipper of Miss You, and Paige spotted the anchor chain while Matt and Vin undid the snub line. Once everyone was off anchor, both boats cruised south, to navigate around the backside of Peter Island. The southern side of the island was windy and rough, and everyone had fun navigating the rougher-than-usual seas. Aidan was the navigation mate on Spyglass, while Julie was the navigation mate on Miss You. During the sail, Mayra and Liam spotted a school of flying fish!

Passing between Dead Chest Island and Peter Island, both boats prepared to anchor Dead Man’s Bay, a favorite anchoring spot as it is shallow and sandy. Lunch prep began after both boats successfully anchored. Kayla and Matt prepared some delicious pizza quesadillas on Spyglass while Paul and Dylan prepped lunch on Miss You, even making a special cream-cheese and salsa dip for their quesadillas! After lunch, Foxtrot students went turtling! Paul caught a nice healthy turtle after only a few minutes of swimming along the seagrass bed. Paige took measurements while Reese filled out the data sheet. Then, Ish tagged the turtle with a flipper tag, and the little guy was released back to his home.

Divers got ready for their last dive of program, which . While the divers were gone, Eric, Julie, Mayra, and Marley continued turtling. Everyone was in the water for a while, and although several turtles were spotted, none were caught for the first hour or so. Things were starting to look grim, when all of the sudden, Ish and Oliver pulled up the biggest turtle we’d caught thus far! With a carapace almost three feet long, he was too big to hoist onto the boat! All the measurements and tagging had to be done in the RIB, but everyone was calm and acted fast. Eric and Julie took the measurements and read them off to Marley, who carefully wrote them down on the data sheet. It took four staff members to get the big guy back into the water! All the students loved getting the chance to interact with such an awesome creature.

In the late afternoon, divers returned and everyone prepared for the Chili Cook-off! Miss You decided on a Project Runway theme, and made a towel runway along their boat. Their secret chili ingredient was pineapple, and the three Chilean judges loved it! Spyglass set up a haunted-house scavenger hunt, and spooked the judges as they searched for their chili. Everyone had a blast setting up and serving delicious chili! After the fun-filled evening, both boats cleaned up and powered down for the night.

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