Fireballs, More mapping, and a day off.... woot woot.

Ok so since the last update, I have working hard and hardly working at the same time. For bits of the day I have been stuck in the shop cleaning retail and shelves, wiping away dust that has been sitting on the shelves far too long to be good. And as many of you know... I really don't do cleaning... hahaha. But in any case, past the cleaning I have gotten to do alot of mapping of dive sites around the islands, most in places rarely visited by the shop, especially on the north side of the island cuz its calm in the summer months. So thats been awesome, I think I have mapped probably 3 or 4 sites since I last wrote anything here, but no 'fun diving' so no pictures... sorry! Well, no pictures of diving. But pictures of other random daily activities that I have been doing.





On the 15th, we had a full moon, and here on Tortola that means a party... unfortunately since its the slow season, it wasnt as hopping as usual apparently. But it was a good time nonetheless. You pay 20 bucks and you get as much food as you want, including sooooo much stuff that you cant really fit seconds: mac/cheese, potatoes, bbq chicken, jerk chicken, rice, pork, curry goat, cole slaw, and salad. Wow. lots. they also had drinks (which were extra) and ice cream (also extra). I got away with two free drinks and alot of mosquito bites. The fireball part of the party was basically they have alot of metal shaped things filled with wood that they light on fire... unfortunately they didnt soak the wood in kerosine for nearly long enough so they didnt really stay lit... until they doused one so much that it eventually caught for a brief time. Thats when I took a picture.





In addition to the fireball magic that was going on, one of the staff here, Rob (who is also my 'Mentor' for my internship) played rave with some flaming fireballs and made for some great pictures... luckily he didnt catch himself on fire that night, which apparently has happened before.

The day before yesterday was my day off! Woop woop, so three of the other staff (Neil, Matko, and Tom) and I went to go sailing. We got into the RIB, which needed to be charged a little before we left to get it started and headed out with crazy Tom driving. Maybe about 5 minutes after takeoff, right outside the channel, Tom hit the key with his knee and knocked the ignition off... and stranded us... with Tom with his paddle and me with one of my freediving fins we kept ourselves off of the reef while Harri came to rescue us and tow us back to the dock so we could get recharged and leave again (carefully without hitting the key)... we got to the harbor without incident and found the boat.








Unfortunately once we got to the sail boat, the owner (the guy who runs this joint) called us on teh phone from afar and said that we couldnt take it sailing really because the insurance hadn't gone through yet. But he still wanted us to move it from one harbor to another. Which in the end was fine because there wasn't much wind so we motored most of the way. Once back, two of the previous three staff (Neil and Matko) and I went to go snorkeling on the north side and then get a nice bite to eat... we ended up getting sidetracked and going hiking on Mt. Sage; we got to the highest point in the BVIs. Whoooowieee... then we went down to Cane Garden Bay and had lunch/dinner and then drove back to base. It was a good day, though there were alot of mosquitoes on the mountains, and they all just love my tasty Hawaii flavoured blood.




Then yesterday, more mapping! We went all the way to Tobago (no not Trinidad and Tobago, just Tobago) which is the farthest of the BVIs. We did two dives, not great viz, but thats ok cuz nobody has really gone there much ever before, so it was great to get to go! Then we went to Jost Van Dyke to get lunch and then after lunch we got in the boat itching to get going for our third dive when, klunk. Engine doesn't start. NOOO!!! So we sat trying to get it fixed, calling and calling everyone on base or Cooper Island, etc etc... eventually we got ahold of the main boat man Steve and he tried to talk us throught starting it up and looking and what the problems might be when Dale with the magic touch got it started. Unfortunately we didn't get to do our third dive since we got going from Jost so late.

Today just work cleaning the 46' and crewing for training. Such is the life of a SCD intern. Enjoy the pics.