A Soggy Day
Location: Underway to Palau
For watch team two, today started with the 8-12 watch, where we got busy on deck cleaning some lines and scrubbing away some rust stains. Three of our watch team members were working on lunch (Ansley, Luna, and Jill as bread makers) and made a delicious meal of eggs, biscuits, and baked beans.
All of the students onboard have been studying really hard for their navigation exam, which took up most of the afternoon. As we get closer and closer to the equator, the water gets calmer, but we still dodge squalls throughout the day. As dinner approached, we were covered by massive rain clouds that poured for the next several hours, soaking all of us as we ate. Fortunately, the rain does cool things off, and the deckies were happy to have help washing the deck.
After dinner, we changed our clocks back one hour; another sign that we’re getting closer to Palau! We used our extra hour to listen to music and have a watch dance party in the cockpit, while keeping our eyes peeled for the fishing boats we’ve been seeing the last few days. We’re planning to cross the equator tomorrow, and there is a lot of anticipation and excitement for the equator crossing ceremony. Everyone is planning different songs/dances/offerings that they hope will please the Court of Neptune, allowing us a safe passage :)