Location: Andrixtol, Mallorca
There’s a rather interesting phenomenon about existing on Vela that makes writing this blog and communicating our journey somewhat tricky. On the one hand, we’re on a ship sailing throughout the Western Hemisphere, seeing everything from medieval cathedrals to the literal bottom of the ocean. We’re living with people who were strangers mere weeks ago, juggling storms and social situations and taking college courses on top of it all. Then on the other, slightly less glamorous hand, we’re flushing our heads four times, throwing up over the side of the ship, and sleeping, well, never.
I think today encapsulated all of these things. It was a cloudy and chizzly (Riley, 2022) day. I woke up my shipmates with some attempted ukulele playing, followed by my family’s sea shanty playlist once I gave up, and we dined on fruit turnovers. Our Head Chef of the day was Ghost/Lo Balls/Tiki Feet, who poured her 987-year-old soul into each and every meal. After Temps Du Fromage, the advanced-in-training divers took giant strides off the stern and descended into the crystal-clear water. We reached the bottom, where Carolyn and our brilliant DMs (Girl Skylar and Big Rache) facilitated the greatest exam ever – a buoyancy test involving astronaut backflips, reg bowling, and limbo. Everyone else was enjoying their practical Emergency First Response training, where Jimmy brought Matt to sobbing tears with his acting (pictured below).
Speaking of Jimmy, one of my favorite moments of today was witnessing him, Max, and Max lose their minds in the water today. I was getting my dive kit prepped when all three boys started screaming their lungs out. Turns out, not only had they seen some of the mauve stingers who were responsible for Anna and Mia’s wounds a few weeks ago, but they had also just discovered that the heads empty directly into the water where they were swimming. I’ve never seen people swim so frantically, hindered by their own laughter.
After lunch, the folks who didn’t dive yesterday headed off today while most everyone else tackled Nav Master. Joel, Wilks, and I watched an interminable EFR training video in the chart house, doing our best to pay attention to learning CPR and not to the questionable early 2000s actors. The afternoon dives were magical for everyone involved, especially Sam when she witnessed Ghost flat on her back, tank in the seagrass, fully entertained by the silvery bubbles. The divers got to see goats (not underwater, we had to clarify this) and practice some more open-water skills. At this moment, we can still hear the goats screaming. While Tia and Angkarn ferried people back to the ship, more people braved the water. Cooper and Sophie even attempted backflips off of the bow. Calum helped Wilks, Joel, and I go over our EFR knowledge review as well as work on our South African and Canadian accents.
We had a brief lull where people got to work on essays before dinner, which was TACOS for Taco Tuesday (literally the only way any of us know the day of the week at this point). Mia and Jimmy also made some wonderful flan for dessert. As I’m typing this, Sophie, Julia, Ghost, and Alison have come to inform me that they just fit ten people into a single head, so that photo will also be included below.
To everyone reading this at home, thank you for getting us here. This journey is extremely hard and even more rewarding. We are here because of the sacrifices that you all made. I think I speak for all of us on Vela when I say that after this experience, we might never be the same. Mom and Dad, I miss you so much, and I am so grateful that you raised me to do things that scare me. Riona, I think about you and Endless Oceans every day, and I never take the bracelet off. Baba, I’m slowly catching up to you with adventure stories, and I can’t wait to sit down for hours and trade. Megan and Bates clan, I’m so sad that Tinybeans isn’t loading, but I imagine that Alex is getting so big, and I miss you all very much. And lastly, to the Woods at Night, I’m counting down the days until we’re reunited.
P.S. Mom, I know you’re scouring the pictures for me. I’m on the far right of the 8th one. 🙂
Pirate queen out.