Location: Christmas Island
Setting the scene, anchor watch 5-6 am. Started my morning so refreshing with a cool breeze brushing onto my face, 30 minutes into anchor watch, a rush of motivation hit that made me spark up with a good 20-minute workout that set my mood for the ENTIRE day. During my watch period, Zeke so kindly made fresh bagels for everyone, even though he is the master and NOT a chief#kindsoul. Lets skip an hour, and its 6:58 am as Im rushing to wake up Henry to get his speaker, which then unleashed the most amazing birthday for Miss Maia, and that of course is birthday bitch because how else would I wake the boat and birthday girl!!! A little late start to breakfast, being closer to 8, but I had the most beautiful bacon, egg, and cheese, really making me miss the St. Pete bagel back at home.
The prep for Cocos Keeling has begun. I was handed the mighty clipboard of responsibility/tasks, doing the most intensive check marks to make sure everything is prepared for tomorrow. I didnt just have clipboard responsibilities, but also music choice, putting on some island tunes/reggae. Once the passage prep was coming to an end, a laundry party was starting. Being our last day for 4 days, on a morning ball, Zeke, Hannah, Thaxton, and I were all doing laundry, trying to get some fresh clothes before passage.
Lunch hits, chicken nuggets with veggies; random? No, delicious and nutritious. A very rainy, wet lunch was happening, but it felt so refreshing having some cold water hit our skin after it had been a scorching morning. The first surprise was coming up. After lunch, we took dinghy rides to shore, taking a cute little walk to a cliff jumping spot. The adrenaline kicks in as everyone is looking over and overthinking. But of course, the birthday girl goes first, Maia takes the most beautiful leap of faith, jumping into her 20s!!!! (happy birthday again) Emma follows with another grateful jump, but funny enough, all the boys jumped from the lower cliff #girlsbetter. It was my turn to jump, and Ive never felt more pain in my butt than this jump, fully sitting as I hit the water, not fun, but fun. Jewel is last to jump, and with 10 songs and 5 minutes of singing, she takes her beautiful leap of faith.but also falls on her butt; butt twins! As we all took what felt like a marathon swim back to shore, the surprise was sprung upon us that we were having a competitiondiving and fender rodeo. Backflip, dance pose, yoga pose, double back flip, lemon drop, and death dives were all executed with Fin and Zeke fully sending it to the MAX. Now, the rodeo, Wiley, and Thaxton took the crown on that, really showing everyone up.
Fast forward, the Christmas Island seminar happened, teaching us and the locals about native birds and ants, but then Rai-Ching did an amazing job by presenting our slide telling the people what our purpose is; literally, no one else could have given that presentation but her. Did amazing!!! Surprise number two hits as we were all zombies walking back to the dock, but then we wait. Theres no one there. Why is that? BARBECUE. Most magical dinner yet with burgers and a delicious chocolate cake made by Kyler for the big 2 0 birthday girl, MAIA!!! The day has come to an end, and now until the next birthday, Zeke.
Hi mom and dad, I love you and miss you guys! Tell Ari and Atlas hi!