White Bay guana to Scrub Island
Written by Annabel, Mate on White Pearl
We started the day bright and early, with Kat and Tommy heading out at 6:30 for their first dive of the summer, while Emily and Azra enjoyed a sunrise snorkel. We enjoyed some tasty pancakes for breakfast before our Colgate team headed out to sail some of our smaller boats. Richie and I also got some dinghy practice in, so we’re certified for the summer.
Those of us left on the boat spent some time mastering our backflips (or mastering-ish) before we raised the anchor. We navigated White Pearl safely over to the mooring balls outside the dock to teach our docking lesson + prep lines for docking.
We deep-cleaned the boat, and our fleet captain, Topher, passed our inspection. Chef Azra and Melissa cooked fried rice for the crew for dinner, and then we moved on to night adaptations.
Azra, Emily, and Miles, our Marine Science Mates, taught a lesson about the adaptations sea creatures have to thrive in the night. We got to take a walk around the Scrub Island Marina and see the creatures first hand: tarpon, scallops, nurse shark, etc. The moonlight was shining so brightly to light the water, and the nighttime breeze was at a perfect temperature to fall asleep soundly on the bow.
Scrub to Bitter end (Virgin Gorda)
Written by Melissa, Provisions Manager on White Pearl
This morning we woke up at 7 am and enjoyed a breakfast buffet of bagels, cereal, and spreads. Some of us walked to the Outpost in the Scrub Marina to grab a coffee or snacks, and then we were on the move.
We took a short hike to North Beach, where we had training on camper dynamics and problem-solving workshops. Having real scenario examples was very helpful for first-year staff to prepare for the upcoming summer.
Back at the boats, we completed PDCs (pre-departure checks). Hillary and Kat practiced docking/dedocking White Pearl, which both went great. We had excellent communication, which carried on into our sail of the day. We swapped some crew with the Grizzslayer to have a chance to sail with a different crew, which was amazing.
After a 3.5-hour sail, we picked up a mooring ball in North Sound, and immediately started ocean showers. We zoomed over to the Grizzslayer for a staff meeting to cover some safety training. Back at White Pearl, Annabel and Emily led us in a lesson on trimming the sail, while we sat stuffed from our delicious pasta dinner.
I close out this trip update sitting at the cockpit table, playing Bananagrams, excited for a day of diving tomorrow!
