Location: Bonaire
Today was an early start for the members of watch team three (Me, Gabby, Cosmo, Skyler, Magdelena, Lexi, Ben, and Charlie) as we rolled into our port in Bonaire at around 2 in the morning. We all banded together, and with help from Drew, Matt, Smash, and Tom, we successfully got Vela docked despite many worm dances and rounds of the much confusing “Line Game.” We were all pretty happy to get to go to bed an hour early. Then at 7 am, I started up the mellow tunes of “Daydream Believer” by the Monkees and woke everyone up. Alexis. Skyler and Saskia prepared some DELICIOUS fruit turnovers that had everyone going back for seconds. Once breakfast was cleaned up, we all trekked down to customs and pointed out all the places we would want to stop later during shore time. Unfortunately for us, customs were closed until later in the day. But we got to see some super colorful parrotfish on the way over and back, so silver lining. Upon getting back to Vela, we split up and started our very first Boat Appreciation. Cosmo, Nella, and I tackled some line and deck lockers. Others flaked sails, cleaned bilge covers, and scrubbed topsides. Allie encouraged us to think of the Waffles on a Stick that we had spotted on our earlier walk as motivations for scrubbing the deck. We also took care of our cabins by cleaning our beds, popping new sheets on our mattresses, and tidying up the floors. Our chef team prepared a salad bar for lunch which we all gulped down. I heard quite a few remarks on just how good the salad was floated around. After all that hard work, everyone was allowed to go explore the town next to our port. We took showers, shopped around, did laundry, drank smoothies (and most importantly to Daphne and me, drank Coca-Cola), and found Lexi a new waterproof watch. It’s a great little area with tons of shops, food, and activities which prompted a few of us to agree that this was our favorite stop yet; despite only being here for a day. One successful adventure later, and it was time for our first sign-out night. We shared tons of laughs, good stories, and games over an amazing dinner at Umbrella (Seriously, the passionfruit cheesecake was INCREDIBLE). Some ended the night by grabbing Gelato. Some ended it by smacking head-first into a pole they didn’t see on the way back to the ship (unfortunately, that would be me). But nothing could put a damper on another great night with Vela and the crew.