ActionQuest

Every summer I sit at home solitary while pondering what to do with my life and how to spend a whole three months school-free and somehow the best thing I come up with is tv with a summer gone to waste. However, this summer was different. This summer was filled with excitement. In March I decided I wanted to spend the summer at camp and found a camp called ActionQuest. Once I saw the video about what the camp contains I immediately knew I wanted to go there. I was a long four months of anticipation but when the day came (July 7th) I was off on a plane with my sister, her friend Maddie, and my friend Jenna heading to the British Virgin Islands. We woke up at four o'clock in the morning and headed to the airport. Three flights later I was in the U.S Virgin Islands and the next morning took a ferry to my final destination the British Virgin Islands. There I found out the boat that I would be living on for the next month was named Sambamba later that day I met my eleven other shipmates and three instructors. The day after we set off sailing around the British Virgin Islands. Here is where my camp story begins.

Me and my shipmates at the beach

Day one started off with a swimming test which in my personal opinion I thought was very unnecessary considering we were at a sailing and scuba diving camp and everyone knows how to swim or else they wouldn't sign up. After the swim test we went for a quick snorkel then took ocean showers (showers where you jump into the ocean then apply shampoo jump in again then put on conditioner and body wash then jump in again and last wash yourself off with a fresh water hose).  The next couple of days consisted of scuba dive training, sailing training, water sports, and hanging out on the beach. Every night we slept on the bow (front) of the sailboat looking up at the bright stars with only a single sheet to cover us and a pillow to rest our head. We occasionally stopped in the towns where we got to talk to our family and friends over the phone. Like when we stopped in Spanish Town and got to eat burgers which tasted especially good considering my diet on the boat mostly consisted of PB&Js. We also go to go to the shops and buy stuff for ourselves or family and friends in those towns. After a couple days of training I finally got to dive and it was the most wonderful thing I have ever experienced but nothing like what I imagined. Breathing underwater is exhilarating and the animals you see underwater are so exotic. On our first dive we ran into some jellyfish but they were moon jellyfish and don't sting. There must have been hundreds around us and it looked absolutely remarkable. I grew close with everyone of my shipmates and when it came time to go home I didn't want to. Not only did I leave camp with a scuba certification, sailing and boating passport, and coral reef preservation license but also new friends that I made for life and new life lessons.  

Sailing day!

Scuba diving Lilly (on the left) and Me (on the right)

Now this experience wasn't all about scuba diving and sailing even though it may sound like it. I learn many important life lessons. First of all I learned how to not be so reliant on my phones. We barley had the chance to use our phones while at camp. They were locked away at all times while we were on the boat and when we did stop at towns (every 5 days or so) we got to use them but that was a maximum of two hours. We also had lifeworks meetings every couple of days that taught me some really important things but those things will come in a later blog.