Location: Gustavia, St. Barths

Today began a bit different from the rest so far. While our amazing chefs were preparing breakfast, the fire alarm went off, waking everyone up. Luckily it was only 5 minutes before they had to wake up anyway. We split up into two groups for the day. One group went surfing on the far side of the island in St. Jean and, though there were a few tumbles, overall, people had an amazing time. The other group had half the day to look around Gustavia and buy some more souvenirs (and food) and then went on their first scuba dive after being officially certified! There were a few schools of fish and sea urchins, and it was really cool getting to use the skills we practiced in our first four dives for real. My buddy and I were easily able to communicate using the signals we learned. Pictured are two of our gophers carrying food up on deck so we can all dig in. The pictures of people holding hands are part of what we call “squeeze,” which is a time when we go around sharing our appreciation of the day and answering a question. Today I asked everyone what their biggest fear was coming onto the boat was. Luckily most of those fears have gone away, and no ones have come true.

Shout out to my family. I love you, and miss you. I am so happy that I chose to come on this trip and I can’t wait to see you guys when I come home.

-Ashley E