Location: Oranjestad, St. Eustatius
We woke up before the sun today. Some of us jumped in the dinghy early in the morning and drove on shore for a little sunrise hike adventure on Ille Fourchue. We climbed up one of the island’s peaks so that we could see the sun come up on the other side. We found ourselves on top of the rocky hill in time for a beautiful sunrise. After the daylight joined us, we started playing a little ninja game. But it had to be abruptly interrupted due to the imminent arrival of a rain squall. Our efforts to make it back down before the rain was upon us were futile. It did not bother us much, though. We embraced the wind and the rain and made the best out of it. In addition, once at the bottom, a rainbow was waiting for us. With the picturesque image on our retinas, we made our way back to Ocean Star. The timing couldn’t have been better: Breakfast was about to be ready, and the rest of the crew was waking up.
After breakfast, we had an Oceanography quiz, the fifth and last, with the exception of the last exam, and later, we prepped the boat for another student-led passage. The students led all by themselves the sail from Ille Fourchue to St. Eustatius, a passage of about 25 nm through a somewhat swelly sea! It went really well. We made it to Oranjestad before sunset and enjoyed dinner in a new country! At this point, the crew is getting ready for movie night, cookies and popcorn included. We are going to watch “Deep Water,” a documentary on some intrepid sailors who took part in one of the first solo sailing races around the world. Although the situations are not exactly the same, maybe we can relate to some of the aspects of our little adventure on Ocean Star.