Written by Hilary C., Mate
Today we woke up bright and early on the beautiful waters of Cooper Island. Melea and Charlotte cheffed up a delicious breakfast buffet to fuel us for a day packed with diving, exploring, and fun. After breakfast and cleanup, our open water, advanced, and fun divers all shuttled to shore.
The open water group began their confined water dives as part of their certification, while the advanced and fun divers headed out on the dive boat for their morning dives. Meanwhile, the DSD (Discover Scuba Diving) participants and a few fun divers were RHIBed over to Salt Island for a short hike with stunning views. After the hike, we cooled off with some swim time before the AOW and fun divers returned to join us back on board for a sandwich lunch.
In the afternoon, we all geared up and hopped in the dinghy for some shore time. We relaxed on the beach, browsed the local shops, and treated ourselves to ice cream. Later, the AOW and fun divers went back out for another dive, while the rest of us returned to the boats for water sports and Colgate sailing.
I went out on the Colgate with Dean, Jackson, and Harris, where we had a blast practicing tacking and jibing. Other students were out tubing and wakeboarding, soaking up the sunshine. Afterward, we had our classic ocean shower party before enjoying a delicious burrito dinner made by Juliette and Dean. In the evening, the Sierra students headed to shore for a fascinating fish identification lesson. Everyone was super curious and engaged—and we even enjoyed some cookies while we learned!
We wrapped up the evening with a solid boat clean and a cozy boat meeting. We kicked off our “hot seats” and had so much fun learning more about each other. By the end of the day, we were all completely powered down—happily exhausted after such a full, fun day.
