This summer, Troop 344 was able to have an aquatic adventure at Sea Base, a week-long adventure where we lived off a boat. We cooked on the boat, we slept on the boat and we sailed the boat. For our trip, we decided to do a variation of excursion and went to the Sea Base down in the US Virgin Islands. We first flew into the US virgin islands on Sunday, and we explored the town. Then, we stayed the night at a hotel. In the morning, we went on a tour of the island, and after lunch, we found our way to the harbor, where we met the captains and got on the boats. We were split into two groups, one on Mahala with Captain Justin, and the other on Adastra with captains Bob & Judy and their dog Leo. Each boat had 6 scouts, 2 adult leaders, a captain (or three) and a lot of fun.
During that week, we sailed completely around St. John, stopping in lots of bays and coves. The captains told us the history of the islands and lit up our eyes with knowledge of the beautiful wildlife. Many times, we stopped to visit reefs, just to look at the wonders that lay there. During the times we weren’t sleeping, cooking, or sailing, we snorkeled and looked at the coral. We went snorkeling a lot. The coral was beautiful and there were a lot of tropical fish. Some of our favorites were the rainbow parrot fish, stoplight parrot fish, blue tang, and damselfish. We also saw sting rays and spotted eagle rays, with one of the highlights being sea turtles!! Some scouts even were lucky enough to see a lemon fish and an octopus. Each crew caught a lobster and one was even legal size to eat. We also swam to shore and did some hiking. We saw ruins of sugar plantations and petroglyphs. One day for lunch, both boats had a BBQ lunch on the boat. There were no sleeping spots so we got to sleep wherever we wanted on the boat. I enjoyed sleeping at the bow of the ship, looking at the stars above us. By the end of the week, we knew all the names of the sails, how to jibe, tack, and in general, how to sail a ship. On the final day, we left the boat, visited the gift shop, and got some souvenirs, though the memories we gained will do a much better job at preserving the wonderful experience we had.
Troop 344 