Location: Roseau, Dominica
Good morning party people! Our morning began with some John Mayer to wake up most of the very sleepy shipmates. It seems as though going to bed earlier maybe did them dirty, and they were all a bit sluggish to start. But not to worry, our energetic galley crew whipped up some energy-boosting blueberry pancakes, after which everyone was ready to dive headfirst into their seamanship class with Drew. They went over how to account for leeway when charting your course to steer. Next up on the docket for our Ostar crew were some Emergency First Responder scenarios for those getting certified. Those that are already certified got to help Heather, Drew, and me out playing victims for everyone else. Drew was the wild, weapon-wielding panicked person, Carli had a spinal injury from being electrocuted and falling off the boom, Dani had sawed multiple body parts off, and Kate was just dead.
Not to worry, our newly trained emergency first responders knew exactly how to respond to all of the issues and injuries and took care of everyone beautifully. We then prepared for another meal made by the A team galley squad of eggs in a basket (some Tik Tok thing, quite unsure, making me feel really old over here). Nonetheless, it was delicious and filled our bellies to get us ready for our afternoon of WHALE WATCHING!! We dinghy-ed over to the dock and walked a bit down the road to meet our whale watch boat and headed North West out away from Dominica in search of some sperm whales. Soon after departure, the crew picked up some whale noises on their hydrophone, and we set off to find some whales. First, we saw three sperm whales, one big one and two smaller ones, who hung out on the surface, breathing with us for a bit before they took their last big breath and dove back down to feed. We then slowly started making our way back toward shore and found another sperm whale! This time just one again up at the surface. We turned the engines off and sat in silence and awe, and it seemed to relax in the waves next to us. Finally, it was ready, flashed us its tail, and dove back down to the deep. One last encounter was two bigger sperm whales, again on the surface. The one dove down and the other swam under the boat, and we got to watch it as we drifted away from it. Then it was engines on, and back home we went. When we arrived back on Ostar, none other than Charlie Goodrich was waiting for us with big smiles and hugs all around. We are officially back at full crew, and we couldn’t be happier about it. After the initial first hellos, the galley team served us a delicious dinner of burgers and fries. Now they are finishing up the dishy pit, and after, we’ll get stuck into some marine bio learning about the continental shelf and the neritic zone! Then we’ll be off to bed to get well-rested for our full day on land tomorrow!
Hi Tricia, Hi Larry (:
Photo 1: Sperm whale waving goodbye with its flukes
Photo 2: Kate’s perfect Nutella spread on her pancakes this morning
Photo 3: EFR victims ready to go
Photo 4: Dani is covered in blood (ketchup) as a result of her serious bleeding injury from the saw
Photo 5-8: WHALES
Photo 9: Ocean Star looking pretty
Photo 10-12: More whales!!!!