June St. Croix Day 9

An incredible Day 9 began with an 8:00 a.m. wake up and a satisfying breakfast. After loading up our snorkel gear, lathering on sunscreen, and filling our water bottles, we headed to the Christiansted dock to board the Jolly Roger. Once aboard the sailboat, we began our journey to Buck Island. The wind carried us swiftly across the turquoise waters as we approached the island. On the trip, we saw sea turtles and floating sargassum. We set anchor near the island's surrounding reef to begin our snorkeling adventure. Upon entering the water, both groups followed the underwater trails which led them through a collection of grottos. The depths of the grottos were sprinkled with a plethora of life. Within the grottos we saw barracuda, nurse and lemon sharks, parrot fish, trumpet fish, and schools of blue tang. After completing the trail, we ventured beyond the reef to the island shore. The Jolly Roger provided us with both a vessel and a playground as students spent the afternoon diving off the bow of the boat and swam underneath the catarmaran. Once our fun filled day came to a close, we sailed peacefully to the mainland of St. Croix. After eagerly awaiting our final dinner on the island, we were served a delicious assortment of caribbean kabobs, mashed potatoes, and watermelon. Our final circle up time was bittersweet as we celebrated Ethan's birthday and the highlights of the trip. While we are sad to leave this beautiful island behind, we look forward to sharing our many stories and experiences with friends and family. 

Mr. Snead and Mrs. Lyle

June St. Croix Day 7 & 8

Yesterday everyone woke up later than normal and began the day off with arts and crafts. First everyone finished up their calabash jewelry/pottery making. Then we made sea glass and seed necklaces. Once we were drenched in sweat we made our way to Cane Bay to cool off. After everyone make it back to DG Ty showed us how to make wooden rings out of red mangrove trees. We were eagerly waiting to see the end results of our rings. Then we headed to the bio bay to see the glowing bioluminescents. Before we paddled out on our kayaks we had some delicious pizza. When we made it to the bio bay we were able to jump in and see the jelly fish and dinoflagellates. Everyone splashed around for a while and when we got tired we went back to DG. -Kai and MaryGrace

Today we awoke at 7:30 to the sound of birds chirping. We quickly finished breakfast and hopped into the van for a hike and snorkel trip. We hiked a mile at East End Marine Park and learned about the dry arid ecosystem. After the hike we reached the beach. While snorkeling at Issacs Bay we were able to

discover the different reefs... algae building reefs but mainly patch reefs. Next we traveled a whopping 500 ft. to the eastern most point of the United States called, Udall. We ate our lunch at Cramer's park then later made our way to the town named Christiansted. This is where we spent our afternoon shopping and feeding tarpons. Then we drove over to the boys and girls club and played nonstop in the heat.  When we arrived back at discoverygrove we had dinner. Finally we circled up and went to bed. 

 - Konrad and Ethan 

June St. Croix Day 5 & 6

Due to a fun adventured, packed day, yesterday we were not able to blog. June 8th was a day full of adventure. We woke up to good breakfast, packed our lunch then headed out the door to go on a 5 mile hike. It was a long and exhausting hike, but we learned a lot about the islands's plantlife. In the end we were rewarded to jumping in some cool and refreshing tidal pools. This was the highlight of the hike for many. When got back, we packed up our stuff then headed to the boys and girls club. We were able to meet and connect with the kids on the island. We played games like 4 square, volleyball, basketball and more. After we had an exposed and putting us out there type of event, we came back to discovery grove and prepared for a flaming fire. We made beautiful hotdogs and delicious s'mores. We we were able to learn together how to properly cook a hotdogs on an open fire. After a relaxing, fun dinner, we ended the night with circle up, then headed to bed. 

Today we awoke to our usual breakfast and hopped into our car to learn to dive. When we got there we learned all the ways to be safe underwater. We split up into 3 groups and explored the amazing life underwater. One group was able to see a turtle, one group saw a lion fish, and some saw barracudas. When the three groups rejoined, we shared what we saw and the exaggerations began to fly. But we all concluded that the diving was an amazing and life changing experience. Then we hopped back in our mobile and had some free time to enjoy to ourselves. Afterwards we had a delicious birthday dinner in honor of Kellen. Irie 

-Grace, Landon, Stock, and Shanyn

June St. Croix Trip Day Four

This morning, we woke up early to the smell of our breakfast, which was made up of pancakes, sausages, and eggs. Then, we prepared for our kayaking trip to Salt River at 9:30 by packing our lunches and applying plenty of sunscreen. When we arrived at the kayak launch, we met up with our guide, Adrian, who helped us to set up our equipment. When we got out on the river, we saw many mangrove trees and birds such as green herons, yellow crested night herons, pelicans, and a frigate. We also learned about the river and its ecosystem, and got to surf some waves from the barrier reef. After we ate lunch and went back to Discovery Grove, we had a lesson on African drumming and dance, where we were pushed outside of our comfort zones. Then, we went to the art room to start our first art projects. Today, we worked with calabash, a unique round green fruit with a hard, shiny skin. After that, we had a traditional Cruzan dinner consisting of slow-roasted chicken, rice, and "Johnny Cakes". We complete our adventurous day with circle up and an early night.

Martin and Alex

June 2015 St. Croix Day 3

We woke up just a tad bit earlier than yesterday, around 7:00-7:15. But that didn't stop us from being excited to start our day. We started the day with cereal, bagels, toast, and some yummy fruit. After our tummies were full we ventured to the local market. We all split into groups and were assigned some special foods to search for. We also had to find a new fruit or vegetable that we had never tasted. There were papayas, sugar cane, pomegranate, and some tree of life seeds. We went to each stand, excited to learn about all the new fruits and vegetables, but first greeting everyone with a "good morning". After finding our unique fruits we headed back to discovery grove to taste them. Many priceless expressions were sought seen among the students. Then we had a coconut class where we learned all about the differnt types of coconuts. We tasted the coconuts through a straw and most were not thrilled by the tangy taste. Although a few of the boys loved them and stayed to make coconut milk while ther other split into to two groups and made island jerky and tropical fruit smoothies. After we marinated our jerky and the smoothies were blended, we went fitted for snorkeling. We tried on different types of masks and flippers till we got the perfect fit. We also were provided snorkels. Then the bell rang for us to eat lunch. We had a choice between ham and cheese grilled sandwiches, or a normal sandwich. After devouring our delicious lunch we cleaned up and headed to Shoy beach to begins snorkeling adventure. Again, we split into two groups. The first group headed out and saw lots of unique creatures, such as a stingray or lion fish. Once the first group headed back to shore the second group headed out to snorkel. We all gathered and prepared for the departure of the beach. We came back to discovery grove and cleaned up and showered. After freshening up we ate some tacos for dinner. It was a very messy process. We are now ending the night with the daily circle up.  

-Charlotte and Madisen

June 5, 2015 St. Croix Day 2

At the start of the day we did team building activities. The first game that we played was "scatter". In this game we dispersed and came back together to complete a task. The next activity was run and "scream". In this activity we tried to see who could run the farthest while screaming. While we ran, we looked like chickens with heads chopped off. Then we tried to move a rope  that was shaped to be a oval around the circle while all of us were holding hands. When this was done we tossed a duct tape ball around while saying the abc's. We failed the first couple time. Then we played "everyone's it", in this game you had to tag each other and the last one standing won. When this was over we played coconut mind field. In this game one person was blind folded and your teammates had to help maneuver the person around the field to the enemy's flag and back. The final activity was the centipede walk, in this game we were on two wooden planks and we had to make it to a certain spot. In this activity a team, red torpedoes, struggled very much. When this was all over went to Cane Bay for a while.The water was very salty, and rocky a distance away. Even with the rocks, we still had a blast at Cane Bay! When we got back from the beach we rock climbed on a sugar mill that was reconstructed into a kitchen. We ate hamburgers, fries, and phenomenal fruit salad for dinner. 

-Kellen and Taisho 

June 2015 St. Croix

Day 1-June 4

This morning we woke up at three to make a journey at six fifteen. We met in the airport looking very tired and exhausted. In the plane the group sat towards the tail of the plane. When we arrived at  the Miami airport we had a three hour lay over. During this time, we all ate brunch at different restaurants. While we were waiting for the flight we got to hear Colombian music. Once again the group sat towards the back of the plane. When we arrived at the airport we were greeted by the discovery grove members. They took us to the baggage claim and Shanyn couldn't find his luggage. It turned out that his luggage was right in front of him the whole time! After this we got a tour of the discovery grove facility. Jake prepared fantastic food for all of us. When we finished eating we learned our responsibilities for the week. We ended the evening with music led our leader, Ty.

-Kellen & Taisho