Location: Machico, Madeira
This morning the crew of Argo woke up excited for the day of adventure we had ahead of us. Not even the extra early 6:30 wake-up could hide the excitement. We all got to shore in time to watch the sunrise before being shuttled off to the canyons of Madeira to spend the day repelling, jumping, sliding down, and quite literally chasing waterfalls (sorry, TLC). Arriving at the canyon, we were greeted by our tour guides and quickly changed into the 5mm wetsuits, neoprene socks, canyoning boots, helmets, and harnesses provided. We then were ready to begin our adventure.
We had a short hike to the first spot, in full gear, which proved to be easier said than done, where we had a short briefing and then began repelling ourselves down the canyon. After the first waterfall and dunk into the freezing cold water, the rest of our tour went by too quickly. The tour guides did a great job of keeping our minds off the freezing water that we were jumping and sliding into and documenting the whole experience on their GoPros. We learned the proper way to L-jump, cannonball, and backward slide through the mountains of Madeira and had the best time doing it. Another crazy, once-in-a-lifetime experience making sure that this trip will be a memory that will stick with us for the long run.
Once we got back to the boat, it was time for jump-in showers and, a newfound talent for some, soapy backflips off the bowsprit. Clean and ready for a nap, we all gathered back in the salon for oceanography, where we learned about hurricanes and El Nio in our first round of student presentations from Anna and I. Then we ended this exciting day the Argo way, a great dinner cooked by head chef Wyatt, along with his sous Andrew, JP, and Seve.
Pictured: Canyoning adventures in Madeira