Delta 1 Day 4: Splashing Around With Bioluminescent Plankton At The Bight

written by Mate-In-Training, Megan Lundequam
June 27, 2017

We started our Tuesday morning bright and early so we could have enough time to make breakfast and get the divers fed and on the boats by 8:00a.m. With cinnamon rolls in our bellies and snorkel gear in hand, we shuttled the divers ashore to finish confined water skills for the Open Water students and fun dives for our certified divers while our non-divers loaded up on Attila and sailed over to Salt Island for a mid-morning hike. While our divers were perfecting their buoyancy skills, our hikers were learning about the wreck of the Rhone, a Royal Mail Steamer that crashed into the rocks off the coast of Salt Island in the late 1800’s leaving only 3 lucky survivors, 1 lucky porthole, and what has now become an incredible dive site and the subject of a haunting yet riveting tale.

Everyone made it back to their boats in time for lunch and a quick break before the divers had to turn it around for their second dive of the day while the rest of the Delta crew got back on Attila and sailed over to our next destination, the Bight on Norman Island. After a lax afternoon filled with wading in the beautiful beach or swinging in hammocks on the boats, the divers returned and it was time for some boat showers/dance parties where we splashed around and scrub-a-dub-dubbed while jamming to some throwback tunes. Feeling clean and hungry after a long day, we all sat around some delicious pasta carbonara while we talked about our days and unwound with some friendship and Jack Johnson.

We ended the night with a marine biology lesson where we learned about bioluminescent plankton and afterwards we even got to jump in the water for a night snorkel and see these crazy critters in action. Needless to say, once our heads hit our pillows we were out like lights, earning ourselves some well-deserved mental and physical rest in preparation for another fun-filled day in the Caribbean.