Location: English Harbour
After an amazing sleep due to the previous night’s massage and reflexology overview and demonstration, I woke feeling as limber as Gumby. I picked up the six-string and headed up the companionway to play some tunes to wake myself. As I strummed, the regular early birds found themselves on deck and hummed along to my playing. The sun rose, and I realized it was time to wake my crew and fall into the normal routine of playing some favorite easygoing songs to rustle up everyone for breakfast. After our French toast, we headed into an MTE class, learned how to estimate our position while aboard a vessel, and reviewed what we’d learned thus far. Another set of skills under my belt that someday might be incremental. Following class, we had free time, and people went their separate ways to continue to explore English Harbor. I, personally, had my eyes set on the local smoothie place for a couple more rounds of the best guava smoothies on the planet. I stocked up on snack foods for our voyage and headed back to the boat for lunch of nacho platters and a marine biology review, both of which we all digested happily. Moving through the day, we had some more free time, and as my classmates went off to explore, I sat back and played some more guitar and talked with Akeem, a local kid whose family has been doing Ocean Star’s laundry for the past few years every time we’re at port in English Harbor. As the sun started to set, I seized the opportunity to run out to the point of the harbor with Matt to catch an amazing view of the ocean. I wondered in amazement at all of the vessels that had sailed through here in years past. Before long, it was time for dinner, and not a soul could complain about the chocolate chip pancakes and bacon on our plates as Akeem joined us for our final night here in Antigua. With our bellies filled, we fell into our full crew scheduling meeting to determine our classes, free time, and activities for the next week. Following the meeting, the crew had some quality study and free time, which turned into a comedy hour. A good laugh is something I always enjoy before resting my head, whether it’s around a group of friends or impressions of Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor. Whatever your cup of tea, laughing keeps you young, and it sent me off to dreamland with a smileanother day in paradise for the crew of Ocean Star, with more stories to come.