We Are Not Sailing
Location: Deshaies, Guadeloupe
Hello friends, family, and fans, Ben here.
So, we kicked off today with the crew being woken up to a melody of country songs (all complaints directed at this were ignored). We then tucked into an awesome breakfast of bacon, onions, and eggs cooked by Jack, lil-Ben, and Nick. Alev had also served up some truly incredible brownies. After clean-up, we lifted anchors and motored up to Deshaies, successfully dodging hundreds of buoys and fishing pots. In a clear part of the passage, the sound we all hope to never hear erupted from the cockpit: "MAN OVERBOARD! MAN OVERBOARD! MAN OVERBOARD!" (don't panic, it was a drill). Each watch team broke into their various roles as Nick put the boat into a pickup position. My watch team of Alev and Zoe are responsible for the hands of rescue, whether that be launching the dingy, sending in a swimmer (me, not a student) on a recovery line, deploying the swim ladder, or any other various method of person recovery. As this "Man Over Board" (MOB) was a fender tied to a bucket, the most appropriate recovery method was to use the boat hook. With Ella calling distance and direction, we positioned the boat right alongside the MOB and brought it back on deck without a hitch for Heather's Watch Team of Hannah, Rocco, and Jack to administer any necessary first aid. During all this, Kackie's watch team, Ella, Sammy, and Ben, carry out any needed sail handling and always keep their eyes on the MOB. After that excitement, we dropped anchors in our spot for the afternoon/night and had an awesome lunch of chipotle bowls. This led us to the afternoon class. First up was marine bio (the best class) where we explored the deep-sea environment. The lecture is mostly made up of horrifying images showing the crazy creatures of the mesopelagic and below. Feel free to google the following if you want some nightmare fuel: Gulper eel, Red whalefish, Mariana snailfish, Viperfish, Pacific black dragon, and Fangtooth. Hannah and Rocco were extremely engaged in this class and volunteered up even more unique and strange organisms that they knew of. Leadership class followed, and from all reports, it sounded like a good one.
The rest of the afternoon was spent doing classwork and chilling while the chefs cooked up another great meal of baked ziti.
As I write this, I can hear everyone sing while they clean up, it's been a solid day and tomorrow we will be underway to St Barts.
Best wishes, Happy Easter to everyone reading this, and Happy Birthday to my mum for tomorrow.
-Ben (the instructor one, not the student one/lil-Ben)