J is J
Location: Komodo to Bali passage
Last night, Amanda M, Amanda D, Juliette, Kiley, Hannah, Ava, Travis, Ainsley, Ali, and Charlie all agreed to be woken up at 4:45 AM this morning to go on a hike. Allie, Kackie, and Will were the staff who accompanied them, while I, alas, was left to sleep until 7. While I may not have been on the hike this morning, I was on it three years ago, the last time Argo was on this leg of her circumnavigation. I probably remember it well enough to guess what it was like today.
As the students stepped onto the dock that sits at the base of the trailhead, I bet the first thing they heard was a terrible crunching and ghostly wailing sound. I'm sure that they all huddled close together and imagined the worst: another group of foolish hikers being chomped by a wily pack of Komodo dragons. Little did they know that these sounds were actually just a tame beach deer munching on coconut husks. They must have scurried up the mountain in the dead of night before sunrise. When they finally reached the summit, huffing and puffing for air, they probably all gathered under that one tree that was up there and watched in awe as the morning illuminated the archipelago that stretched out below them. Then they realized how hot and steep it was going to be to climb back down. Philip and Bodhi slept in and went snorkeling.
After breakfast, Ben taught a scientific instrument class, and all the students got in the water to play with the equipment. I cleaned the mud out of the anchor wells, and Meg pumped tanks. Then it was lunch.
At lunch, Hannah and Ava asked me what my squeeze question tonight was going to be, but I refused to tell them. Then they tried to guess what it was.
"Are you going to ask, 'What would you do if you got kidnapped by an alien and taken to Mars, and then you fell in love with the alien because of Stockholm syndrome, but then you two broke up, and the alien kicked you out?'" said Hannah.
"No, that isn't what I'm going to ask," I replied.
Hannah and Ava then announced an open audition for roles in their new play about someone who is kidnapped by an alien and taken to Mars. Auditions are on October 4th.
After lunch, Travis and Juliette gave a presentation about Bali, although they had to restart powerpoint several times to get the file to load. We then moved on to passage prep to get the boat ready to sail back to Bali. I got to do one of my favorite things: walking around the deck holding a clipboard. The whole operation went exceptionally well, and Argo was ready for sea just an hour and a half later. Everyone had worked together skillfully and efficiently, except for Kackie, who dropped the shackle pin for the flying jib halyard in the water. I reassured her that everyone makes mistakes.
My actual squeeze question at dinner was, ' Between the person on your left and the person on your right, who would win in a duel?' Everyone's answers were very funny, creative, and a little gruesome, so the squeeze went on for almost an hour, which meant we had to wash dishes in pitch darkness.
I have an axe to grind. We recently spent the day on shore in the town of Labuan Bajo. For some reason, for years, Seamester staff have been pronouncing it as "LOO-BAN BAH-HO," as if it were a Spanish name where J is H. It's actually an Indonesian name, and in Indonesian, J is J. It's pronounced "LAH-BOO-AHN BAH-JO." J is J. I hope the Vela crew pronounces it correctly next year.