Location: Underway to Sumbawa
My day 6 (today) began at 3:50 am when I was awoken for my turn on anchor watch. It was very peaceful getting to sit up on deck as the only soul awake on Argo. I was able to spend some time in prayer, which was really awesome, especially with the almost full moon and the beautiful stars present. Then it was back to my bunk for a few more zzzz’s before waking everybody else up at 7 am because I was skipper today! We all had a lovely breakfast prepared by Granola Daddy this morning (yes, to the girlfriend of Granola Daddy; the name lives on!) Then it was chore time before the finishing touches on passage prep so we could pull up anchor and head to Sumbawa to swim with whale sharks!!
After the chores were done, we got the menus to chat about in the saloon because shortly, we students will take over the head chef job, starting with Travis as the first head chef. While the menu chat was happening, the rest of our lovely staff family got the Argo moving, and we started our passage, which will take us through the night with arrival time around 1 am in Sumbawa. The most exciting part of the day was getting to put up sails for the first time!! We were able to raise the forestay sail, and mainstay sail with instructions from Gabe and Kackie. It felt empowering to sweat the lines and work as a team to raise some of Argo’s beautiful sails. I am starting to feel like a real crew member. Before lunch, I had my first introduction to hand-washing on Argo because I needed some clothes refreshed, so I pulled out some tubs and got to scrubbing. Most of my day was filled with talking to everybody and getting their favorite memories on the trip so far, which will follow below! The afternoon was filled with introductions to most of our classes. We sat and listened to the first classes for Oceanography, Marine Biology, and Nautical Science/Seamanship. As classes begin, I think things are about to get a lot harder, but I am ready for it. Time management will be key.
P.S. Hi, family! I am feeling pretty good, having an amazing time, and miss you all. I send big hugs and am excited to tell you guys all about my adventures. P.P.S. Dad, my carabineer has been a big hit. It is the biggest/strongest one and has been commented on several times, so thank you for giving me this one! Love you guys!
Best Quote of the Day: “Just change the shape of your mouth… idiot” ~granoladaddy~ (in good fun & about whistling, no feelings were harmed).
New named item on the boat: Babaganoosh (a place where we hang our water bottles in front of the helm) ~Hannah~
Best memories of the trip so far:
Phillip: “Being on anchor watch, because it was peaceful, quiet, and I could whistle until my heart’s content.” (This conversation is where the quote of the day came from)
Ali: “The 1st time we got to go swimming because it was so refreshing in the heat.”
Travis: “The longest minute, when I popped off my mask in the hellscape of underwater with no visibility, and I had to do my mask skill, I survived.”
Amanda D.: “The first day in Lombok, we had shore time and then had to Olympic hurdle over all of the boat ropes on shore to get to the point where we saw a really cool resort.”
Juliette: “The harvest moon, how spectacular it was. Then, I played Harvest Moon by Neil Young, while the moon was orange, really cool, and harvesty.”
Charlie(or nickname: Gram): “Sitting with people on deck and laughing and talking.”
Ainsley: “Shore time, it was so spontaneous, it felt a little like real life again because I was not constantly rocking and we were able to go a restaurant and order some drinks, I got coke zero.”
Hannah: “Scuba diving and making up sign language with Ava underwater. Also, last night after passage prep, we were eating Tim Tams and hanging out with everyone, getting more comfortable with each other and getting to know each other better.”
Kiley: “Doing backflips off the boat and the ocean showers.”
Ava: “On the 1st night, doing tarot card readings with Hannah and making babooshka’s. Also, the 1st time we were underway and the red lights came on, feeling super disoriented but thought, “Wow, this is actually happening.”
Bodhi: “Breathing underwater for the 1st time at 30 feet, it was pretty awesome, and I felt like a real diver.”
Amanda M. (me, the blogger for the day): “Getting to begin learning about sailing, we are starting to learn the terminology, some of the line names, how to coil excess line, and some of the knots.” Learning how to sail is the main reason I chose to come to Seamester, so this is a true dream coming true. Thank you to everyone who believes in me and supports me.
Granoladaddy: “The 1st moon rise and the 1st passage because then it started to feel real properly.”
Kackie: “Filming everyone for the movie on day one was really awkward filming and so fun to do.”
Meg: “Seeing all the faces coming up after the confined dives yesterday, after the 1st day of muck with no visibility, everybody looked so excited and said it was like diving in an aquarium.”
Tomer: “The bursts of Joy from the first ocean showers, when everybody jumped in together and were laughing and having fun.”
Gabe: “Pumping water out of the bilges with Phillip today.”
Allie: “Watching the confined divers and interviewing all of the students for the movie on the first days.”
Ben: “Open water dives 1 & 2 because they were a massive improvement from the day before, and the reef was lovely, and the divers all felt like real divers.”