Location: Nuka Hiva, French Polynesia
We got a visit from Manta Rays this morning!!!!!
Along with Claire and Anna, Anton, Sandra, Felipe, Courtney, and Pieter headed out on the dinghy this morning at 6 am to try to find manta rays at this special point at the entrance to the bay we are in. Unfortunately, they didnt see any the whole time they were out there. Thats because all the manta rays were hanging out and feeding right next to Argo! Once the snorkelers were back from their excursion, they immediately jumped in, as did everyone else who had just woken up. We witnessed several types of feeding behavior, including Chain feeding (like a conga line), Somersault feeding, and Sideways feeding. As they went deeper down to feed, we all got hungry. We started breakfast, which was a wonderful cooked breakfast provided by Jack and his sous chefs.
After breakfast, the crew started on passage preparation for our upcoming sail to the Tuamotus island group. This passage prep was particularly special as this will be a student-led passage where students will fill the key roles and run watches, plan, and prep the boat. Today, Sandra stepped into Gabes shoes as Chief mate and ran the on-deck prep while Penelope and her team of navigators (Pieter and Chance) planned our route, calculated fuel consumption, and decided on the sail plan, among other things.
Once passage prep was complete, we all packed a lunch so we could get started on our hike to the beach where Survivor was filmed back in 2004! It was a beautiful hike up and over a steep hill to the next bay from where we had anchored. It was a reasonably steep incline, but the height afforded us some spectacular views of the bay. As people arrived at the beach, the first thought was to immediately jump in and go for a swim and play in the waves. Everyone eventually ended up in the water, playing in the waves. We then moved on to playing a beach game called Eyes, Body, Mouth. This involved teams of 3 where the person who is the body is allowed to move but is blindfolded, the person who is the eyes cannot speak or move their feet, and the person who is the mouth is also blindfolded and cannot move. Together, they need to coordinate to navigate the body around the playing field and collect as many points as possible from the staff positioned randomly. It was a triumphant game for the trio of Max, Big Mike, and Klay!
Everyone then started to disperse from the beach, making their way back to town to get snacks and cold drinks. Claire and Anna (staff) were left to live out their survivor dreams and make an audition video. To me, it just looked like they were digging a hole, but to them, it was so much more.