BONSOIR from Vela!
Location: Cape Verde
This morning I had a lovely, slightly delirious 2-3 am anchor watch with Damian. We got a few more much needed hours of sleep before waking up to a delicious crepe breakfast made by Francisco and his talented sous chefs, Annika and Natalia. The crepes were a crowd favorite for everyone except Dan, who was very disappointed at the lack of soy in the meal.
We spent the morning in study hall, where a group of us took the opportunity to study up on deck and enjoy some time on deck without our PFDs. Lunch was a delicious tuna pasta made with our freshly caught tuna from the other day, YUM!!
After lunch and cleanup, we took the dinghy’s into shore, which involved a rescue mission for Annika’s flip flops, which are part of the unresolved Mismatched Flip Flop Debacle. Thankfully, all shoes and people made it to shore safely. We spent a few hours on shore enjoying our last day on land before the much anticipated Atlantic crossing!
Myself and a few others spent our time on the beach, playing volleyball, reading, and running into the water using the incredibly effective “Makayla method” aka running as fast as possible and gracefully flopping into the water. Annika, Dan, Baxter and Yuval started up a game of football with some local kids. Annika took out her inner rage at the opposing team with a playing style that may or may not have been described as “vicious, dominant and aggressive” by her teammates. However, their tactics worked and they emerged from the game victorious. To celebrate, Annika and Yuval attempted a series of flips into the water, while Sam practiced his face planting skills.
After the beach, we headed to the store to stock up on necessities for the upcoming passage. Side note: Cape Verde is now experiencing a Red Bull shortage thanks to Baxter. We returned to the boat for some much welcomed ocean showers with a glowing sunset background followed by a delectable dinner of pork and bread made (and served!) by Francisco. Sam (of the male variety) has captured the sunset with his newly discovered photography skills, and the photos are included with this blog.
The squeeze for the night involved a variety of superpowers and their caveats, many of which involved fart powered flight. Squeeze ended with a one sentence impression of anyone on the boat, where everyone telepathically agreed to do their best impression of Baxter’s “surely not!”
We are now sitting in the salon, enjoying a screening of Animal Planet 3, and anticipating our long journey across the Atlantic. We are armed with excessive amounts of snacks, several sunburns, and enough Red Bull to fill the entire Atlantic. On the off chance that we are not captured by pirates or thrown overboard by a rogue Annika, you will all hear from your children in approximately 18 days when we arrive in the Caribbean.
And to my lovely family: hello! I am having the time of my life, I miss you all very much, and please give Leia some extra belly scratches from me.
Goodbye and goodnight,
Clara
Ps. For anyone who is concerned, the bilge monkey is alive and well. However, he is currently on probation due to yet another bread cabinet ransacking during our most recent passage. He has requested that any spare bananas be sent directly to Vela via carrier pigeon.