The Day the Quill Was Conquered!!
Location: Statia
Good morning from 17°54’ N, 62°51’ W! (aka St Eustatius)
It was an earlier-than-normal wake-up this morning at 6:00 a.m., where I woke everyone up by blasting the absolutely horrendous song “Axel F” by Crazy Frog (0/10, don’t recommend casually listening to it). Sorry to the girls in the frunk (focsle) for the abrupt wake-up — the music definitely made the walls vibrate.
After our first breakfast of the day, which was once again oatmeal with some mix-ins, we started the dinghy shuttles over to customs so everybody could do their in-person face checks. I stayed back on the boat to make us some water. Since becoming the designated water maker here on the Starship, I have become quite a bit more cautious of the amount of water being used. I’ve never felt a physical reaction to watching the hose being run or listening to the water pump go, but every liter of water I feel deep in my soul.
Immediately after that, they went on to conquer The Quill, Statia’s iconic 1,972-foot dormant volcano that has been quietly watching over the island for roughly 8,000 years. They absolutely crushed the 2.7-mile trek and climbed over 1,000 feet of elevation, a much-needed activity after 12 days on the 88-foot Ocean Star.
After the hike, they had a nice sign-out lunch which consisted of ribs, poke bowls, salads, etc. It all looked absolutely amazing. With all that good food, of course, came a side of ice-cold drinks. It’s not until you live on these boats that you realize how much of a hot commodity it really is. The only time it’s truly acceptable to order four different iced drinks in one sitting.
Once they all got dinghyed back to the boat, the rest of the afternoon and evening just flowed. They jumped into an EFR class with Zoe and Perry, then took ocean showers and went for a much-needed swim around the boat. From there, we went straight into dinner, where our chefs, Maeva, Perry, and Hanna, made our second breakfast of the day — a beautiful spread of pancakes, scrambled eggs with spinach, salsa, and peppers.
My squeeze question tonight was “What is one small thing that you just love?” Some people took it super literally, like Gabe talking about small octopi that play tug of war, yellow Vivian and her little gnome collection, Annika’s mini spoon collection, and Morgan’s spice village. Others went more for feelings, like when others are brought joy, the smell of rain, or getting back developed film. Squeeze ended with something I stole from a girl on my Sea|Mesters trip — you squeeze, grab your plate, drop it on deck, and yell “hazzah!!!”
Now, cleanup is over, everyone is down in the saloon with the AC on, and Gabe is teaching a VHF class. As I write this, Annika and Perry are pumping tanks, so we’ll go to bed tonight with full tanks, ready for tomorrow’s dive, sore legs from The Quill, and the phonetic alphabet memorized so well it’s basically second nature.
Love to all those who read to the end. Thanks for following along with this adventure. And to all the parents, grandparents, and guardians reading this — thanks for instilling enough adventure in us all to be here. Sailing the seas in our pirate ship, diving to deep depths with creatures that never fail to amaze us, hiking up volcanoes that, when at the top, hold the best view to the best creation, skies of blues and pinks, the moon for a nice healthy game of “moon I win,” and an ocean that literally looks like it sparkles.
Hazzah to the BDE (Best Day Ever)!
Till next time,