Location: Underway to Christmas Island
To me, today has been the best yet on this 90-day voyage. The crew of Argo awoke for a standard 0730 breakfast with coffee cake (I mean, come on, any day that starts with cake has got to be a great day!!) After breakfast, the crew quickly and efficiently finished passage prep and made Argo look and feel as though she was ready to venture out into the Indian Ocean. Benches were stowed, cabins cleaned, down below was 40-40, and dock lines were thrown off as we cast away from Bali and Southeast Asia. As we motored out of the channel and prepared to raise the mainsail, staysail, and forward staysail, the student crew began to take charge as their knowledge of Argo and her lines started to become second nature. We quickly raised these three sails, and watch team three began our watch team rotations for this passage. As we came around the coast of Bali, we raised the jib and fisherman sail as well and maintained 7.5 knots. After lunch, when my watch, watch team two, was on deck, we saw multiple pods of dolphins throughout our 2-6 watch time. We used a camera with a great lens and our dolphin and whale ID book to identify some as Rissos Dolphins and others as Spinner dolphins. It was amazing to watch the dolphins smack their tails on the water to stun their prey and jump feet out of the air while doing multiple spins. It was a truly memorable experience! Not long after our many encounters with dolphins, the wind picked up slightly. We eased the sails out to a beam reach and turned off the engine. It felt great to officially be in the Indian Ocean sailing Argo under (almost) full sail while the sun was beginning to set. Right as we had gophered, Argo’s term for bringing meals up on deck, another pod of dolphins graced the entire crew with their presence. Everyone was able to witness this magical moment of no land in sight, a beautiful reddish-orange sun setting with dolphins jumping all around. As we all gathered around the cockpit for our squeeze, everyone had to show off their best dance moves for 5-10 seconds. My personal best is the scuba instructor regulator recovery, but other notable ones were the orangutan dance, the hula hoop, Bollywood, and the finger guns. This evening is coming to an end with all 30 of us sitting around the cockpit enjoying a great dinner of Sloppy Joe’s with smiles on our faces. Words can’t explain how excited the crew of Argo is to finally start the crossing of the Indian Ocean.