EARLIES Day 2
Written by Charlotte J; Mate
Today marks our first full day of the program!!!
I’m Charlotte, a mate on FLX, and I’m here to report about the day on my boat.
We started off at 7 a.m. with a lovely breakfast buffet featuring great bagels, cereal, and more. After that, we began our dive rotations at the dive shop, getting all of our gear sorted for the upcoming program. We’re all so excited to go diving over the next few days and can’t wait to get our certifications!
During this time, we met Jason, the head of diving (who is awesome), along with the rest of the dive staff. My favorite part was browsing in the dive shop; there were so many cute T-shirts and fun floaties to buy!
After that, we had an introduction with all the other boats, led by Mike and Arter. This kicked off our pre-departure checks and our first lessons on how to dedock from the marina. While we enjoyed our brief stay at Hodges Creek Marina, we were all super excited to set sail for the first time.
Once our boat checks were complete, we de-docked with our skipper of the day, Jackson, at the helm, steering, and running the show. He did a great job; we left the dock smoothly without any issues. The de-docking couldn’t have happened without help from Elle, Olivia, Reese, and Blaine.
During our sail, we learned how to raise the sails, use the winch, and adjust the mainsheet. It was so exciting to watch everyone try sailing for the first time! While underway, we enjoyed a lovely Mediterranean lunch prepared by Finnian and Sophie.
The sail to Lee Bay gave us the perfect chance to chill out on the sunbeds near the helm and get to know everyone on the boat. Franny joined us for the sail to snap some sweet photos of everyone, which we really appreciated.
Soon enough, it was time to anchor—and we nailed it on the first try! After anchoring, we completed the swim test, and everyone on FLX passed with flying colors. This was followed by some fun swimming and a trip to the nearby rocks to see some fish. We brought out the lily pad and did a boat challenge to see if everyone could get on it without falling off. Max and Alex were the champions of the lily pad challenge!
After our swim, it was time for boat showers. Everyone learned how to jump in, lather up with shampoo and shower gel, then rinse off in the ocean before doing a quick freshwater rinse, we made sure to count 10 seconds per shower!
Once clean, we had some chill time while dinner was being cooked. Luis and Daphne made us delicious chicken quesadillas. After cleanup, we had our boat meeting with some tasty digestives as a treat.
We ended the night playing a game called “Psychiatrist,” where people come up with a rule the psychiatrist has to guess. We played for a while until everyone was ready for bed.
Our first full day was absolutely wonderful, and we can’t wait for the next one!
To see more photos of our campers’ adventures in the BVI, download the Campanion App and follow us on Instagram @sailcaribbean.
