Location: UW to Mauritius
Greetings to everyone not on Argo from Helmnibal Lector, aka Amanda M. Today was a very special day, as one from my own watch team 1 was knighted with their new helmsona. Juliette completed her 4 hours of helming on our 12-4 am watch this morning. As the most recent member knighted, it was my honor to welcome her with the name “Helman of Troy.” Congratulations, Juliette. Now, three of our four watch team members have their helmsona: Philip (The Helmlich maneuver), me (Helmnibal Lector), and Juliette (helman of Troy). Ava will hopefully be knighted soon, stay tuned for that! Today also included a very special birthday for one of our own on board. Charlie turned 21 and joined the drinking class of the United States of America. The first happy birthday was sung at 12:01 when watch team 3 handed it over to us. The following watch was at bedtime at 5 am. After an intriguing conversation with Philip, we were an hour past watch. Then a glorious chance to sleep in until 11, am was needed and felt very refreshing.
Today followed the schedule of most passage days, except for one difference. Our oceanography midterm loomed as a small grey cloud off in the distance, waiting for us after lunch. So, before lunch occurred, an hour study session was squeezed in between waking up and an amazing breakfast for lunch, prepared by none other than Drazka with her sous chef Tomer (Drazka gave Charlie the day off from sous cheffing as it was his birthday). She created a masterpiece called Eggs Done Argo’s Way. She prepared an excellent breakfast tailored to each of our specific likes. I personally had a gluten-free muffin made by Kiley (yesterday’s bread maker), which was delicious, topped with two over-medium eggs, which became scrambled as Argo scrambled all the eggs except for one (which was Charlie’s fried over-medium egg), bacon and spicy aioli sauce. It was extremely delicious. Lunch, of course, began and ended with songs number 2 & 3 of Happy Birthday to Charlie.
Following lunch, I had the chance to helm by myself as everyone else went about their daily cleanup. It was really cool and a nice chance to thank God for allowing me to be on this boat in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Meg took over for me so I could attend the oceanography midterm. The midterm commenced, it went well I think! Then following our midterm was Navmaster with Kackie! It was fun, as it always is! We learned how to chart our estimated position today, including wind and current, in our calculations. At the end, Will came in and said this was the most A’s he’s ever seen on one of his tests, so that is amazing! Following Navmaster was dinner time! Our chef came through again with delicious Teriyaki beef bowls, followed by birthday cake for Charlie and another happy birthday song, the last one of the day. Then, to wrap up dinner, my squeeze question was rather long today. “What is one piece of advice or life lesson someone has taught you & tell the group one thing about Charlie, whether it be a memory, a story, a life lesson he taught, or something else Charlie related.” To end squeeze, because it was his 21st, I felt it only right that Charlie had to chug a glass of water (we don’t have booze) while all of us circled around and chanted his name. Then, once he finished, we all cheered for him and took a selfie! This is where I would normally wrap up, but following cleanup, we still had to play Charlie Family Feud, created and hosted by Ava & Hannah! So, we went to the salon and battled it out to see which team would be victorious. My team consisted of Charlie (yes, he was allowed to play a game specifically tailored to his life), Philip, Travis, and me. We were the “Charlie Horses” and came out victorious after several dance battles, worm dancing, and the tiebreaker of Philip beating Kackie at eating half of a lime covered in salt, peel, and all. It was brutal, but we were victorious!
Now, this is the end of the blog JUST KIDDING! A FEW MORE THINGS I heard through the grapevine that I missed a secret ball at dawn, which consisted of a dance party for watch team 2 at dawn for Hannah, Ali, Bodhi, Kiley, Kackie & Ben. It was great fun and will hopefully occur again! Will was invited and stood them all up, so he had to wear the shorts of shame at dinner and see pictures. Watch team 3, consisting of the birthday boy Charlie, Drazka, Ainsley, and Travis, had some excitement as well.
A beautiful surprise rainbow welcomed Argo into the Lemurian Diamond on their watch. A rainbow is a sign of peace, which was needed as the Lemurian Diamond is where four wizards with three eyes were swallowed up by the sea. Just a tad bit of information from yesterday to explain the significance of the Lemurian Triangle: Gabe told us the story of the Lemurian Diamond last night after dinner, and it went something like this: “Has anyone heard of the Flying Dutchman?” Well, take what you know and throw it out. Disney lied to you. (So, no Davy Jones??? unclear). A long time ago, this area of the Indian Ocean was above ground, and a thriving civilization ruled by four wizards with three eyes lived in harmony with their people. As time passed, the Lemurian people knew something terrible was coming. They knew that the end of the ice age was coming and that the glaciers would melt, destroying their city. So, the only logical thing to do occurred. The Lemurian people threw a huge party for the wizards, and they all partied, danced, laughed, and drank until the glacial water overran them. Fast forward to this time period during the reign of the Dutch East Trading Company (DETC). The Flying Dutchman was a ship in the DETC fleet that was tasked with bringing goods from Indonesia to South Africa over Halloween, the exact route we, on Argo, are making right now. As the Flying Dutchman entered the Lemurian Diamond, they were greeted by the four wizards with three eyes who told them to put on a performance in order to pass through the triangle safely. They did not do a performance and were destroyed by the Kraken, cursed to sail the Indian Ocean as a ghost ship for the rest of the time. Since then, sailors have said on stormy nights, they have seen the Flying Dutchman in the haze. This is the prime time for attacks”. It is currently slightly squally outside, so let’s pray not to run into the Dutchman. We entered the Lemurian Diamond this morning after passing the halfway point on our passage to Mauritius. The time will come, as it is October 28th, for us all to do our performances for the wizards if these talent show performances are unsatisfactory, punishments will ensue I wish everyone luck on their talent show performances. Let us all please the wizards.
SHOUTOUTS Meg- Happy Birthday, Mom! I love you! (Happy Birthday Michele, from the Argonauts.) From the Amanda’s-For Melissa-we love you, Mom!
Travis- To none other than DD, our honorary member of Argo, Hi from Travis P.S. 52% (whatever that means)
Juliette- Hi JU JU!
Amanda M. – Mom, dad, Robby, Jaci, Jess, Joe, Clayton, and the extended family, I love you all and I miss you guys. Uncle Mike, thanks again for the daily prayer book. It is my favorite little red book
. Amanda M. Again- Uncle Jeff- Thank you for the wisdom/life advice I used in today’s squeeze question. When we were driving by the lake in your jeep, you told me, “If you have enough money to do something, then do it because you will never get that experience again. You can always make money again, but you won’t always get to have the experience again.” This life advice was my main motivation for coming on this trip, this once-in-a-lifetime experience, so thank you for giving me the advice that pushed me to come.