Location: Undeway to Bali
Today, 9/30/2025, is our first, full day of passage where were on full watch rotation, as well as Perry’s birthday! The first thing we did on our 4-8 AM watch was singing Happy Birthday for Perry (the 1st time: parenthesized numbers indicate the number of times we sang Happy Birthday for Perry). The sky was also wishing Perry happy birthday, by dying half the sky orange, and other parts a peachy orange-pink, light blue, and light purple. It was a peaceful watch other than dodging a couple of small boats and sang Happy Birthday for him 3 more times (4). Then watch team 3 went to get some precious nap time. I was awoken around 10:30 AM, played a game of very interesting chess with some intense attacks.
Around 12, we went upstairs for a delicious lunch of Pasta Salad. Mac got us started in singing Happy Birthday (5), and, in the rundown of the day, told us that not only would we be having a special birthday edition of Marine Bio, but also told us that Perry has asked that we sing Happy Birthday at least 3 times when he is the least expecting it, which we obviously obliged (5 + 3 = 8).
Now before cleanup, I must sidetrack from the linear narrative of this blog to talk about an underrated practice: bucketing. Bucketing is defined as using a small, black bucket. It is practiced in order to bring sea water on deck for the Salties and Trashmasters, since we dont need precious freshwater to do the first round of dishes or to rinse off the trash. While technically bucketing is not a separate job on a job wheel (it is looped into the responsibilities of Salties and Trashmasters) it is absolutely the funnest job on the boat, especially when were underway.
The first time I bucketed underway, I cant get even half of the water. Heres what would happen: you toss the bucket it, it would land upright with very little water in it. Then you wiggle the string until the moment the bucket turns to the side and immediately! You feel the full force as the bucket catches the water, almost pulling you off your feet, and fight the water to bring the bucket back. Often in the process, you would either bring the bucket up in the wrong moment, spilling half or more of the water, or lose so much of the water as the bucket wavers back and forth in the distance between the ocean and the boat deck.
As time (a few days) goes on and inspired by Perrys one attempt that filled the bucket up to the perfect amount, Ive developed new techniques for bucketing. Instead of tossing the bucket perpendicular to the ships axis, toss it towards the bow and pull it up before it ends up aft enough to fight you; toss in the bucket as the boat is keeling towards the side that youre bucketing, instead of away, so you use less string and need to pull up less; swing the bucket from side to side, so that when it reaches to the tallest point at each side you can pull up, and the force of gravity isnt all on the string, losing a little bit of water but saving a lot of energy. Finally, a more advanced technique that only worked a couple times: tossing the bucket such that it perfectly scoops up 1 waveful of water, ending up with a nearly full bucket and almost 0 resistance in pulling it out, as well as feeling super satisfied with the bucketing attempt.
While exciting and scary and tiring on your back, bucketing is the most fun job because I love feeling of the full force of the ocean waves, its always exciting as you brace for impact for when the water drags the bucket along and tries to pull you away, and it feels like such like a timeless, placeless tradition: such a simple invention yet genius that we still use it to this day. It feels like generations of humans have had the idea of using a bucket to grab water from lower, such as wells that show up in Europe as well as ancient China.
Now back to the day: we had Marine Bio then seamanship, where we set up and striked the Main Sail. It was really cool to see how everyone worked together, split into teams on different lines, and working together on each line to raise it. Then watch team 3 continued the watch until 6 PM, and after the card was passed around down below, and Vera handed the completed card to me on bow watch. Then we had dinner of chicken, rice, and really good bread despite a finicky oven. For my squeeze question, I asked what do you love, and it was really nice to hear people talk about the things they love to do and the people they appreciate.
Finally. The moment of the big reveal. For my squeeze, we surprised Perry with the card of 23 best wishes for his 23rd birthday, including a best wish from himself to himself that I wrote after I asked him what does he want to do in his 23rd year. We sqeezed, then cheered and sang happy birthday (9) to Perry before cleanup. I got to bucket before writing this blog. Its a good day.