Location: Sorong, West Papua
HI! so excited to be skipper for the first time. It’s wild to think I’ve already been here two weeks. I couldn’t have dreamed of a more welcoming, wonderful crew to join. Today we had a bit of a lazy day while waiting to finish being cleared into Indonesia. Where we are anchored outside, Sorong is nothing notable with dirty water and a constant fear of dinghy pirates, but all the passing boats have been very friendly, always waving to whoever is on deck. We woke up this morning to a breezy clear sky (the cooling wind very appreciated) and a delicious breakfast of overnight oats and eggs made by Kygrstan with some quick thinking after weevils completely took over all of our flour, ruining her original plan of French toast. After breakfast, those who are doing their rescue diver certification took the final test and then picked up anchor to move to the fuel refill station. Once we were docked and met by the wonderful smells of trash and fish, we all headed back inside to get our Emergency First Responder tests back and go over them as a class. After class, we had time to ourselves to relax, catch up on homework, touch in with friends and family back home, or hang out with our new friends on the barge next to ours. Said friends were a group of three girls between the ages of 6-10 that ended up growing into a group of around 12 children who stuck around for hours and hours learning everyone’s names, making handshakes, trading dance moves, and making friendship bracelets. The little girls loved Jack requesting many photos with him and begging for him to come back whenever he went below deck. Ben was also a huge hit with all the kids, and they showed their love by screaming his name when he came back on the boat, then collectively flipping him off. Sydney and Nora were also a big hit and spent almost half the day with the kids (besides a brief intermission of yummy enchiladas).
We left the fueling dock late afternoon, and once we were anchored again, everyone headed downstairs for class, where we had a presentation by Margaret and Heloise on “Understanding Yourself” and your leadership qualities. Mid-presentation, we got a nice unscripted meditation session by Margaret, who asked several incredibly deep questions giving us all 3 seconds to think on each of them. All in all, though, they did a wonderful job, prompted many meaningful conversations, and definitely deserve an A. After class, we had some more free time until dinner with another gorgeous sunset. Kirstyn kept everyone’s bellies full with stuffed peppers and some side salad, then left everyone free to study for the Marine bio test and Oceanography test tomorrow. Everyone is going to bed refreshed from a very relaxing day and majorly stoked for the short passage to Raja Ampat tomorrow and Weezes birthday!! Another amazing day, and sad to see my time left counting down. Until next time.
– Larkin
PS – Mom, Dad, I love it here
Miss you, Ben, <3