Location: 7˚ 51.091' S, 63˚ 32.872' E
Where do I even begin?
Oh, I know. How about the flying fish that landed in my cabin today. Thanks for coming to say hi.
After yet another fragrance entered our room today, it was time to get up for watch. Gillian woke me up with a gentle shake, to which I responded with a, “what are we doing?” Rough sleep last night. Nevertheless, I’m glad I had the 6-8 AM watch. Also known as sunset watch. When the sun finally arose from the endless ocean, I happened to be at my favorite spot on the boat: the helm. Since we are motoring westward, I couldn’t see it, but Mads told me it was a great one. After our morning watch concluded, I headed down for a quick study and tea time with Noah, Robbie, and my newfound love, peanut butter, and oatmeal.
Next came a quick cat nap to recharge from watch, and everyone else but the third watch was still sleeping from last night. Lunch came quickly after. I walked into the galley and smelled dough. Oh yeah. Bee was hard at work kneading away while sitting on the fridge. Carly, Gillian, and Valentina were fast at work preparing some gnocchi for lunch. Seth was sitting in the salon reading the dictionary on his computer and writing down his favorite words in the back of his journal. I guess I’ll give you a definition of my own. Gnocchi: the perfect blend of carbohydrates to prepare you for two classes in a row.
When I was in my bunk preparing my materials for class, I heard the most dreaded call any sea-farer can hear: “Saltie bucket overboard!” I rushed up the emergency companionway to see Leoni and Martin pointing at our beloved dishwashing bucket floating helplessly in the water. Luckily we saved it. Lesson learned: always clip-in.
Class time! Amy still isn’t feeling too well, so Leoni stepped in for her and did a great job teaching marine biology. We learned about worms, octopuses, squids, and all sorts of facts about the phylum of Mollusca. Thankfully we learned about the tapeworms after lunch. Soon after that, it was time to watch the end of “Coach Carter” for the leadership class. I know I recommended “The Plastic Ocean” last time I wrote the blog, so we’re going to do that again.
When I was putting away my materials from class, I heard the second most dreaded call any sea-farer can hear: “Prepare to abandon ship!” I rushed up the emergency companionway -again- this time carrying my type 1 PFD and my ‘Gumby suit that keeps us warm should we have to abandon ship. I got to the top of the ladder and being the first one up, I had all the other type 1’s and Gumby suits thrown up the ladder and ushered everyone up to the cockpit. Luckily, it was just a drill. We broke off into our watch teams and discussed what we would do in an actual abandon ship emergency. Captain Tom was very satisfied with our emergency performance and thus ended the most adrenaline-filled bookends to class I have ever experienced.
Soon, dinner arrived, and everyone was ready to relax and eat a good meal after dinner came ‘squeeze’ where we all hold hands and go in a circle, answering our appreciation and question of the day.
Although it might be a rather simple question, I did a lot of thinking and decided it says much more about you than one might think. So, here it is:
“If you were a cat, how many lives would you have left?”
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Photos:
1. Max officiates the post-mortal marriage of two flying fish (I tried telling him that you can’t be married if you’re dead, but he didn’t listen)
2. Noah thinks I’m not listening to him playing guitar
3. Smudge and Lucia celebrate after saving the loose saltie bucket (and our dishes, for that matter) from certain death