Tango 1 Day 5: Invigorating Games, Snorkeling & Diving
written by Alpha/Tango Dive Coordinator, Marina Chissus
June 28, 2017
Today was a fantastic day! It was the first day the divers didn’t have morning dive courses, so everyone enjoyed sleeping in until 8:15a.m. Our breakfast consisted of egg sandwiches on English muffins and the crews loved it! We followed our breakfast by heading to shore to explore the beach on Norman Island. The crews of the Alpha, Delta and Tango programs played volleyball together, and the amount of students and staff involved was invigorating! After our games, we took a dip to cool off and saw different species of silver baby fish.
On Norman Island, there is a nice big open-air restaurant and some students chose to indulge in some mid-morning snacks. Then, our captain Richard took us back to our boat Miss You for lunch. Together, we had fun playing up our creative side with made-to-order pizza bagels. They were so yummy! We cleaned up and some of us went to the dock to have afternoon dives, while the others waited to go snorkeling!
Our divers would be finishing up the rest of their confined! skills work today – what an accomplishment! Our Tango students’ instructor is Rachel from Sail Caribbean Divers and they’ve been loving her teaching.
Meanwhile, our snorkelers headed over to the Indians and the Caves! It was so beautiful and there were so many fish to observe and admire. We saw squirrel, parrot, angel, and many butterfly fish! Courtney, one of the Alpha program captains, led us around the big rocks at the Indians. We then went back to our boat to prep for dinner and take our daily boat showers. The divers came back to the boat following their afternoon of hard work underwater. Dinner was tacos, so everyone helped out with getting the ingredients together and then we built up our tacos proudly!
After dinner, some of our crew went on a sunset hike while our already certified divers had the opportunity to go on a fun night dive! The hike was to the top of Norman Island where the apex clears to a helicopter pad. The sunset was very colorful and awe-inspiring! Polli, the Alpha and Tango Program Director, lead us in a game of “Oh Captain, My Captain”, a nautical version of Simon Says! Then, we headed back down the trail before it got dark. At the lovely restaurant, we had a dessert social with other kids on other programs as well.
On the night dive, our divers saw a lion fish and loads of different species of fish out to play! They had a lot of fun learning to dive with their flash lights and how to respect the night life.
Once the fun divers got back to Norman, we shuttled all back to Miss You. We then began to settle in for the night, eating a bedtime snack before holding a boat meeting. All of us powered down and headed to bed for a good night’s rest.
