Location: English Harbour, Antigua
The day started like any other on Ocean Star. The defaulters asleep in their bunks, the fools among the crew up already doing their morning exercises, Peyton Weigel quietly sitting on the dock writing in his journal held together only with a piece of duct tape. Your humble scribe took all of this in with a cup of the best coffee the Caribbean has to offer. It is a rarity that a staff member is skipper whose job is to wake the crew. I considered how I could make the most of this opportunity. Should I wake them wearing my emergency life jacket, or would that lose their trust forever? These are the kind of questions one ponders on a life-changing ocean voyage. Whether it was fear of losing my job or care for the mental well-being of my shipmates, I don’t know, but I opted for a simple prod with the boathook. The day thusly started, we settled down to a hot breakfast of [REDACTED] along with fresh servings of [REDACTED].
Following this promising beginning, the events of the day then unfolded in chronological order. The students had classes in first aid, navigation, and oceanography while still finding the time to explore all English Harbour has to offer. On Sunday evenings in Antigua, a famous steel band plays on top of Shirley Heights, one of the peaks that looks over the dock at English Harbour. The crew piled into vans to listen to some music and have some barbecue. The weather was less than Caribbean with torrential rain and wind, the first half-hour being spent in a small room full of confused tourists with a leaky roof. However, despite the dampness, the crew persevered with dancing until the wee hours.