Location: Underway to St Helena
Hello from Argo! It’s day 3 of our passage, and not much has changed. We’re still sticking to our course headed northwest and following the breeze, which has slowed down quite a bit today in comparison to yesterday. We were gusting 40 knots around 2 am this morning, so watch group 3 had the job of lowering the main sail in the dark and starting the engine for the first time this trip. Since then, the wind has steadily declined, and we’ve backed off the engine and hoisted the main sail again. My group took over watch at 4 am this morning and got to spend two or so hours in the dark looking at the stars and bioluminescence before the sky started to lighten up. It was much easier to sail once the main sail was down, so helming was a breeze compared to yesterday. I’m not going to lie, I spent a lot of the time at night hypothesizing how I would survive if I fell overboard and talking to Beau about deep sea creatures and squids that hunt in packs of thousands, so it was a chipper morning for us all. I was expecting a bit more for my first sunrise during passage, but it was too cloudy to see much. It was still an amazing time watching the sky get brighter as the night slipped away though; it made me smile to listen to Here Comes the Sun in the middle of the Atlantic ocean as we sailed into the day. Once the sun was up, my watch crew and I made coffee and breakfast while waiting for 8 am to roll around. By the time we were relieved by watch team 2, I was feeling awake and not super inclined to crawl back in bed, so I stayed up and guest-starred on their watch. They had the lovely job of raising the main again, and I got lucky enough to get roped into that as well. Mostly though, I passed the time holding coffee cups and listening to music while watching the waves. A good amount of time was spent working on my secret handshake with Brina or watching the spray cover the mast when the boat pitched further down. I was determined to stay awake for lunch, but I did pass out on the stern of the boat for 30 minutes or so right before we ate (pictured below). But honestly, it’s been a lovely day!
Things are starting to get a little bit less rocky, and the boat feels less chaotic as we begin to find our sea legs. I’ve been lucky enough that I haven’t felt nauseous yet, but we still have a few people feeling under the weather. We had our first two classes below deck today, and a solid 2/3rds of our crew were wearing their PFDs in case they needed to run up the deck to yack before continuing on with class (almost everyone made it through). Everyone is much more lively than the two days before, and those who were feeling the worse for wear seem to be on the mend. After class, I spent a little time on deck watching the waves before working on my species logbook with David, Nick, Brina, MG, and Nolan. We all lost it a bit around dinner time, at least in my corner of the foxhole (fo’c’sle), and there was a lot of laughter, considering there wasn’t much to laugh about. We ended the day with a squeeze, and I’m writing this as watch team 2 belts Taylor Swift on their 6-8 dogwatch. Shoutout, Ellie, for doing the boat check right now next to me, she’s killing it with the barometer reading. Everyone is excited about the bed and a little less excited to wake up at the crack of dawn and do it all over again. Argo goes back and forth between being a place of personal challenges or potentially hysterical giggles, but I guess that’s life at sea. I’ve never felt better.
Finally, a shoutout to Brina’s dad John. Everyone on the boat wishes you a happy birthday! And hi, mom and dad 🙂 Goodnight from the Argo!
Emma Wetsel