Bravo 2, Charlie 2, Delta 2, Foxtrot 2, and Sierra 2: Day 8 & 9 – Cooper Island Beach Club
Written By: Tim Caruso
Day 8
After a rainy evening, the sun was a sight for sore eyes! Students woke from an 8am lie-in and the breakfast teams went right to work to prepare a scrumptious meal for their crews. Following breakfast, students enjoyed a relaxed morning of swimming and some colgating before we said goodbye to Great Harbour and were off to Cooper Island and the first official day of diving for our divers!
Once we reached Cooper, all our divers headed ashore to meet their dive instructors and begin their Open Water, Advanced Open Water courses! The fun divers also tagged along to learn the ins-and-outs of our Sail Caribbean Divers’ dive boats. The divers were away for all of the afternoon joining us for a lunch break before heading back below the waves. Our non-diver students enjoyed a relaxing afternoon of water-sports and relaxation time. Perhaps the best part of the afternoon was being able to venture onto other boats, as we were officially released from our pod quarantines, and explore the differences in vessel type along with meet new people!
Seemingly as quickly as the day started sunset was upon us commencing the beginning of our evening routine. The divers rejoined us and it was time for showers and dinner, followed by our nightly boat meeting before once again returning to our sleeping spots for a much needed rest from a busy day.
Written By: Hannah Walker
Day 9
A bright morning at Cooper as breakfast prep set about gathering the breakfast buffet items. After breakfast open water, advanced divers and fun divers gathered their fins and headed ashore for a day of diving. Open water divers worked on the skills in the shallows while others ventured out to dive sites on the dive boats.
Meanwhile other campers gather on other boats and dropped the ball and headed to Salt Island for a hike. Pools on Salt island were once connected to the sea but have since dried up leaving 2 pink/ orange ponds to salt . The campers surveyed these ponds and the wonderful view from the hill at the peak of their hike.
After that back to Cooper for lunch with everyone then (Mediterranean salad) divers headed back off for the afternoon session. Other campers then headed to Cistern Rock for a snorkel and saw huge shoals of sergeant major fish. Then water sports and kayaking!
Finally back to boats for ocean showers and dinner prep. A delicious dinner of lemon chicken pasta was eaten and cleaned away leaving the boats spotless and ready for a chilled evening on board before power down and bed time. Ready for another exciting day tomorrow.