Location: Almerimar, Spain
Vela’s adventure started early with a 4 am wake-up for my watch team “2,” where we started our casual delirious conversations. Our first mission was to steer a course that took us further offshore as the traffic was picking up… Our conversations kept us awake and smiling due to the fact that Ghost and Emmy had created a murder mystery that inevitably ended with Matt brutally murdering Allie by strangulation of the sail tie. Zoe and I played our newly traditional game of 20 questions which strictly stays within the lines of Disney, Pixar, and Dreamworks movies. We’ve nearly done all of them by now. I need to throw her a curveball. We are getting too good at reading each others minds. As watch ended, we saw one orca do a backflip over the bow and a sperm whale gives birth to triplets. (At least this is what we told the other watch teams to make them jealous) Then we gave the rains to watch team 3, aka “Club 3,” who seemed to have a party all morning. We eventually arrived in Almerimar around 10:30, where we decided to port in what looks to be a Tatooine look alike which is a desert planet from Star Wars. The landscape is absolutely stunning, with massive mountains in the distance and groovy sand-colored buildings to match the ambiance. Isabelle killed it with both meals! Starting with lunch, she made an amazing pie which was made of some of the most delicious bread crusts I have ever had. It also contained buttery corn, savory sausage, and delicious sweet potatoeshonestly, one of the best meals we’ve had on Vela so far. After lunch and clean up, we split into two groups.
The first group took Nav Master with Matt and Allie, and the second group finished putting the boat to bed. During Nav Master, we learned a new way to calculate our current positions and our predicted plot positions. Rachel. Jack, Asa, and I were defiantly the best group and killed today’s lesson. Soon after we finished Nav Master, we rolled into Marine Bio. This was one of my favorite classes yet! We learned all about jellyfish. Fun Fact: the Australian Box Jellyfish is able to kill within 3 mins due to its ability to induce paralysis and extreme toxins. No need to worry. We won’t be seeing any box jellies during our voyage, but hopefully, a Portuguese Man O War– I’ll let you guys look that one up :). After we had finished class, we had some free time to rest and work before dinner. Some people managed to go for a walk around the port and saw some pretty awesome sights in town, where some found a nice gelato spot to grab a quick treat.
Dinner was a party tonight, literally! Isabelle made us poutine, a Canadian party dish that lightened everyone’s mood. Poutine is made up of fries, cheese, and gravy which was divine. During the squeeze, the question that I decided to ask was, “If you were to assemble a team for a heist that consisted of you and three crew mates who would you pick, and what would you rob.” Some of the craziest answers included 25 bags of skittles, the Crown Jewels, and the Declaration of Independence. We ended our day with a hip hip hooray and a smile on our faces looking forward to tomorrow’s adventures. Allison and Sophie wanted a shoutout in the blog. So here’s the shoutout!