Location: Young Island, St Vincent
I woke up at 12 am to the most beautiful display of stars I’ve ever seen. My watch team and I had watch until 3 am while on passage from Grenada to St. Vincent. Mars was shining brightly above us, and we could see the silhouette of St. Vincent slowly appearing in the distance. We took the helm and steered towards our destination until our watch switch at 3 am.
At 7 am, I awoke once more, but this time to the smell of bacon being cooked in the galley. As I headed on deck, the sails were being lowered, and we were arriving at what was once only a silhouette in the distance. I could now see the colorful houses throughout the island, the birds sitting in a canopy in the trees, and other small islands surrounding where we were to anchor. As we pulled in, we all were amazed at St. Vincent’s beauty, exclaiming, “This island is more beautiful than the last!” (which we’ve said every time we arrived somewhere new thus far).
After dropping our anchor, the gophers brought up a breakfast of breakfast sandwiches, including choices of; eggs, bacon, cheese, avocado, and potatoes, all on a bagel. Being from New York, where I often have a bacon, egg, and cheese for breakfast, this meal felt super homey. Following breakfast, we grabbed our shoes (which hadn’t been used in a while) along with our masks and took the dinghies to land for our COVID tests. While not the most comfortable thing in the world, our quick little brain massage from the q-tip will allow us to land in a few day’s time. A small price to pay for a result is well worth it.
Once we got back, the chefs entered the galley and began cooking lunch. I could smell the grilled cheese being cooked on the stove, only building suspense for the meal. After lunch, we had free time following the prior day’s sail. This meant catching up on some sleep after having watch the night before and getting some work done for the coming week.
As I walked out of the doors from the salon after having done work for hours, I was greeted by a beautiful sunset. The clouds were pink with an orange sky below. This was a perfect end to the day. Tonight, it was almost as if the chefs were meteorologists and had predicted the cool and breezy weather as we were met with a chicken soup and vegetable soup. As the soup warmed us up, we looked around us from the sea to the land, to the stars, and appreciated the new place we had arrived in.
-Kiara
Photo 1- Mike half asleep after a long watch
Photo 2- Will on the way to our COVID tests
Photo 3- Zac flipping some grilled cheeses
Photo 4- Sophie enjoying the water
Photo 5- Lenox being brosun
Photo 6- A cute island on the way to our tests
Photo 7- Our new friend
Photo 8- Zoe and Ruth-Reily enjoying the sunset
Photo 9- Pink clouds and orange skies
Picture 10 – Sails down at sunrise
Picture 11 – Happy times at the COVID Test Tent
Picture 12 – Slightly less happy times at the COVID Test Tent