Location: UW to Nuka Hiva
This morning, watch team 2 woke up at 7:30 (or 7:45 if you’re Shane and me, so kindly forgot to wake me up for 15 minutes) to be welcomed to our last full day of passage. We spent most of the 8-12 getting Argo clean again after sailing more than 3,000 nm over the last 16 days. Nacho deep-cleaned the galley, Ani and Jonas cleaned out the saloon bench bilges while watching some Harry Potter, and Sydney, Avery, Sarah, Skylar, and Mars all took turns scrubbing the floor or hanging out with me on deck. We reflected on the long passage and all the things we learned or funny moments that had happened, while also salivating over the first meal/ice cream we are going to order when we hit land. As our watch came to an end we had hearty dense bean salad for lunch cooked up for us by Avi and her sous chefs Kaitie and Martin G.P. We were greeted at the end of lunch by the king of time which did ruin some peoples’ land ho’ time guesses. Classes this afternoon consisted of an oceanography quiz and leadership, followed by a long nap or double movie afternoon, thanks to the extended day. With many people in the saloon or bunk during the 2-6, everyone was quick to run on deck around 5:15 when we heard the exciting shouts of ‘LAND HO’ coming from watch team 1. The calls could not have come at a more perfect timing as Avi was ready to pass up dinner to wrap up our day. The rest of the evening is most likely going to consist of many of the crew sitting on deck, refreshing their phone service, trying to get a signal as we make our way closer to the first island we are going to sail past on our way to our final destination. That is all from me, but I am going to hand the blog off to Skylar, who wanted to give you a more poetic version of the day.
Today feels like a dream.
Picture this: we have been at sea for a little over two weeks. For most of us, it feels like it’s been an eternity. The days are blending together. We don’t know where yesterday ended and where yesterday’s yesterday began. We are getting more creative with our meal plans. We just had a full moon. The game of Assassin is still going, leaving the few still alive being extra paranoid. We all know that we’re approaching our waypoint, but there is still no land in sight. We’re all antsy. It’s like the three-minute safety stop of the dive before reaching the surface: we are so close, and we have this bubbling feeling, and we are so ready but cannot quite reach where we are aching to be.
Note to whomever it may concern: don’t let Sarah press any buttons. Especially the fish it button.
We continue on our day as we usually do during passage: our 4-hour morning watches, and eat lunch at noon. Today, the King of Time graced us with his presence, and we gained an hour. We have our two classes of the day led by our two lovely professors, Prof Nacho and Professor Aidan. Kinda weird that we are nearing the end of the oceanography lectures, and nearing the end of student-led presentations. What an odd day to be hit with the realization that the end is near on day 67.
Since we gained an hour, we were done with classes by 2:30a blessing for 2/3 of us, a curse for the 2-6 folk. People were spread out as far as they could be on our 112-foot ship: napping, hanging out, writing apologies to Meg for not turning in their essay on time, doing laundry, eating canned fruit with a buddy, and reading.
I was in the middle of writing a sentence at 5 pm when I heard the first Land Ho.
Of course, my ears perked up, interest piqued. On one hand, we have a group full of pranksters, and I didn’t want to let myself get my hopes up. On the other hand, the timing added up, and at this point it would be too cruel a joke even for the most mean-spirited of folk. And, considering that Colbie only pranks Shane and I am not Shane, I chose to believe her.
I will admit that when we rushed to where Grace and Colbie were standing at the bow, it did feel a bit like looking for an oasis in the desert. But Colbie insisted that she saw a slope of land. With various instruments (sunglasses and binoculars), more people began to see their vision, and saw that faint hint of sweet, sweet land that we’ve been dreaming about. However, since the land was aligned with the sun, we had to do a mental calculation of whether we wanted to be like Icarus, or play it safe, whether to decide to believe everyone, or choose to sadly tell ourselves that it’s not real. Most of us chose to be like Icarus, looking a little bit too directly into the sun, but we were vindicated, for we got our sight of land.
I’ll admit, it was far, far in the distance, but it was there. And we knew we were only going to get closer.
By dinner, everyone was able to see land. The sun was setting majestically between the TWO slopes of the island that I could see with my own eyes. The cinematography was immaculate. It was as if the sun was celebrating our first sign of land with us.
Because of this sighting of land, we ended our day in high spirits. We have yet to get cell service, and we have yet to make port, but this land sighting has made those things all the more tangible, and so we are able to sleep soundly like kids on Christmas Eve, knowing that the wait for Christmas will be well worth it.
Meg is tearing me away from the blog to help drop the jibs. That is another one of the signs that we are close to our final destination.
Best fishes from Watch Team 2 (there are many benefits to being marine biologists)