Location: West End, BVI
As I write this, Argo is secured to a dock, and land is within stepping distance for the first time in 5 days. Our last day of passage was graced with two more dolphin sightings. One was earlier this morning with mainly only watch team one present, but right before noon, everyone (acting totally out of character) chose to forgo the lunch line and run to the bow to watch as a whole pod of dolphins swim and play in our bow wave. After they left, the heavens opened in typical Caribbean fashion, and we had to bring the meal down below. The afternoon passed with an OCE class about Aquaculture, and another MTE session to practice our navigation and charting skills () (just kidding Kris). After class, we got our boat appreciation started early to maximize shore time by striking and flaking sails (with an all-female team tackling the forward staysail all by ourselves, ahh yeah), and giving the deck a good old scrub. Everyone was super excited to get to shore, and the candy-colored buildings of West End were greeted with cheers of joy. Dinner was a frenzy, with everybody going land-crazy and itching to get their feet on solid ground. Unfortunately for the PSCTers (people taking their professional skipper and crew training cert), we had our COLREGS test after dinner, a tough examination of our collision regulation knowledge, with a required 90% to pass. After the test, the crew liaised at Pussers (onshore restaurant/ bar) to enjoy some well-deserved downtime, and to get some long-awaited internet. So far, the BVI’s have been great!