Zach's Excellent Adventure

My name is Zach, and I am 12 years old, (13 next month). My mom found out about Seatrek this winter (on TTOL!) and ever since then I had been excited to go to the BVI again. This time I’d be going without my family, though. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous to go on the plane alone, but it was SO worth it in the end!

Highlights of my Trip

The Moorings base was awesome! It was like its own little town, with stores and facilities. I first got there on July 6, and we spent the first night at the Moorings.

We sailed to Sandy Spit and stayed there for a few days, doing training dives. We also had a bonfire on the beach. We had to practice taking off and putting on our masks and removing and replacing our regulators UNDERWATER. That was hard to get used to! The instructors were patient and helpful when I had a hard time with dive tables and mask and regulator clears. After a few tries I was doing just fine. We did close to 20 dives, 3 were night dives and the deepest dive was 85 feet.

The best dives were on the wreck of the RMS Rhone and at the Dogs. The fish and coral that I saw were colorful and friendly. I even saw dolphins at Great Dog! They swam around us, appearing to show off at us, and then one pooped. (EWW!).

We also did alot of snorkeling. When snorkeling at Diamond Cay with my boats captain, Danielle, (a marine biologist) I saw a Caribbean Reef Shark! It might have been around two to four feet long. Diamond Cay is a really fun place to snorkel, especially with a marine biologist at your side to tell you what everything is!

We hiked on land a few times, at the Baths, Peter Island, Guana Island, Salt Island and Jost Van Dyke and Sage Mountain, Tortola. At the Baths and Bubbly Pools, there were even rocks to jump off of into the water. On the other hikes we saw cacti, salt ponds, cool trees, and great views.

The food served on the boat was great. We participated in the cleaning and cooking duties. My favorite meals were the French toast, the breakfast burritos and the three-bean enchilada. We also ate on land a few times. I had tasty conch fritters at Leverick Bay and an awesome burger at Rhymer’s on Cane Garden Bay. Then, on our last full day, we had a pizza party at Pusser’s in Roadtown.

All the people were really cool. Everybody on my boat was near my age, and had similar interests to me. All the instructors were very friendly, and had alot of cool stories. Everybody had a wonderful sense of humor and increased the overall enjoyment of the trip.

If you would like to, feel free to pitch in to the “Zach Going To SeaTrek Next Year Fund.” <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> Or if you need your lawn mowed…..


See my pictures at my Mom’s webshots link below…some of the ones at the end were taken by Seatrek instructors.

http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?a...security=nAKyFT