BVI so far

Well, I'm here in the BVI and have now completed 3 days of work. Overall, it's great. I think this job is going to be one of the more fulfilling ones I've ever had. Anyways, the trip so far...

I took off on Tuesday night on the last bus from Portland, ME to Boston, MA after a pleasant thai meal with the folks in Portland. The bus ride was uneventful and Concord Coachlines has an excellent product. Relatively cheap, clean, quick, no muss/no fuss, and has reliable internet. Done and done. Upon arriving at Logan airport, I set out to find a bar to watch the NBA finals as well as get some booze in me hopefully leading to a nice little nap before waking up for my 7am flight. As it turns out, all bars were closed, so I hopped in a shuttle to the airport Hilton where I watched the end of the game and then back to the airport. Truly bumming it, slept on benches, the floor, wherever I could but in the end didn't really get much sleep due to the incessant noise of the floor-buffering wannabe zamboni and muzac somehow blasted at a higher volume during the night. The morning eventually arrived and I took myself and my stuff into the American Airlines check- in line. Of course it took forever. Of course everyone around had way too much luggage (three to four large suitcases each per person on some international flights). Of course American has different policies posted online in regards to overweight baggage (my dive stuff weighed about 35 pounds at least). But, once all checked in, I gradually made my way through security and blah blah blah, why am I writing about this, what you really want to know is life in the BVI.

So, here we go.

I'm currently staying on a sailboat with 3 other dive staff members and 3 college interns who will be working with the company this summer. It's cramped quarters which is to be expected of a sailboat. Not a lot of storage room at all but I'm finding little nooks and crannies with which to keep stuff, the rest goes all in a big hockey equipment bag which is working out great as a duffel and gets thrown around from bed to floor or wherever it's not in the way. At nights, I've tried sleeping on the deck but sporadic showers from 2am to 5am make that a bit difficult. My hammock is best for the day time to chill in, lacking the true width and size to fit my Cheever derriere for a night of sleep. We've been provided scraps and fixin's for breakfast and lunch and taken out to dinner the past two nights at local places on Tortola. Food is not that great, but we've been working our asses off to a carb/meat heavy dinner is amazing. Hamburger the first night, appetizers and pizza the second night, and bbq reminiscent of Bobbajans on Bonaire last night. Overall, pretty good.

The days are spent helping out the dive staff here with the student programs. We meet up for a daily briefing at 7:30 followed by prepping the boats and heading off to meet the students who are currently on the early Bravo (sail + scuba) program. We've been alternating between dive op training and assisting some of the full-time instructors with their OW (open water) classes. The guy I'm assigned to has a bit of a Napolean complex but it's not so bad. The students have been great and it's made me realize how much I have missed working with kids. They're thrilled to be down here and really eager to learn so many things. Passing on my diving knowledge to them has been incredibly rewarding and I can't wait to get classes of my own.

The diving itself down here isn't as good as Bonaire although I had a dive today which could have very well been a Bonaire dive. Seen a few turtles here and there, as well as eels, and my favorite, creole wrasse. The water is exceptionally warm though and I am quite toasty in my 3mm. It's BRILLIANT to be diving in tropical waters again. My foray into dry suit diving has been nice and all, but let's face it, diving is much more fun in warm, clear waters. Diving is done off a dive boat that meets the students at various docks wherever the sailboats are moored. The boat is staffed by the dive shop which is well organized with great leadership which is really easy to work for. Also, because of the summer camp clientele, everyone has a real upbeat attitude. You can kind of be a big enthusiastic kid and nobody is gonna stomp on your toes for it.

The people here are great as well. Really have no complaints. I think tomorrow we might have off and I'm hoping to get some diving in. Monday and Tuesday we do our Wilderness First Aid classes and then on next Wednesday we have a 10-day staff training sailabout which is a crash course in what the kids get. So yeah, my training is on sailboats and chilling out with fun activities in what I've been told "will never be like any training you'll ever have again".

What have I done to deserve this good life? I dunno, but it's amazing.

Will write when I can, although once I'm out on boats internet will be hard to come by.

Much love from BVI.