Location: Palau
Today started very early for most of us as it was our first night of anchor watches. Despite being super excited for watch before we went to bed, Ian and myself woke up at 12 and instantly knew the next hour was going to be hard. While it was tiring, the experience of sitting on Argo, just you and your friend in the middle of the night in Palau, was amazing. At 12:50, I went to wake up Amelia and Emma for their watch, which proved to be harder than I expected. I was met with much confusion and many grunts. Just under 5 hours of sleep later, and it was my duty to wake everyone up for the day at 6. I played Mr. Brightside super loud and walked outside all the cabins until people started to emerge and join in with the party. We had breakfast and headed off on the dinghies to the dock and then got a lift to Palau National Hospital for our fifth day Covid-19 tests. We also had some time in Koror to visit a few shops and buy a few snacks and gifts. Then we headed back to Argo, which Tim, Lolo, and the other staff members had moved to an amazing anchorage just around the corner. The water was insanely clear and a beautiful temperature, so we all jumped in and swam around for a bit before lunch. After lunch cleanup, we had our intro and first lecture on Oceanography with Amanda (Human). After a short break, we had our first leadership lecture with Tim, which was then followed by a brief of the PFDs and immersion suits by Lolo. Then we all jumped in again to cool down and try our first seawater shower, which everyone agreed was far better than expected. Dinner was a lovely vegetarian chili, and my squeeze question for today was, “If you could do anchor watch with anyone in the world, who would you choose?”. My answer was James Corden because I feel like he would make it really funny. Anyway, tonight, we all have our second round of anchor watches, which should be interesting.
Pictured:
1. Anchor watch at 1 am
2. Handing over anchor watch to the very tired Emma and Amelia
3. The sunrise viewed from Argo’s bow
4. Justin enjoying the dinghy trip to the dock
5. Exploring Koror after our covid tests
6. Whitney waving on her way back to Argo
7. Emma (now more awake) excited for a swim off Argo
8. Will with an impressive backflip off the bow
9. Lunch in the cockpit on a sunny day
10. Tim’s leadership class
11. Everyone trying on the Type 1 PFDs
12. The immersion suits
13. The Dab-Tastic deckie crew from yesterday (still dabbing today)
14. Ian washing himself down after the saltwater showers
And only now it’s dark have I realized I forgot to take a picture of the anchorage, so hopefully tomorrow’s skipper does that, but it’s out of this world amazing. Even Tim said it was one of the coolest anchorages he’s ever been in.