Location: Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Today started at 8 pm yesterday for me. With the 8-12 watch, we were underway and getting ready for our stop at Port Elizabeth due to a small weather window and an impending storm that kept us from going directly to Cape Town. It’s sad because I really want to make it in time for a rugby game, so please, everyone reading, pray for good weather for us! The majority of watch was making popcorn that did not want to pop due to the propane being temperamental, and taking down the fore and mainstay sails, which, after 82 days, still act difficult at times and really test our flaking abilities. Drazka was in the kitchen prepping her balls (dessert balls of different varieties like almond joy) for today’s dessert. Ben was on the helm, and Charlie, Hannah, Kackie, and I were the big guns on the sail handling. Then later, as we saw the lights of the coast of South Africa and Port Elizabeth some two miles away, we got to hand off watch responsibilities to Watch Team 3, with Allie and Will leading the team of Philip, Ava, Ali, and Ainsley. They, along with watch team 1, led by Gabe and Meg, with Bodhi, Travis, Juliette, and Kiley, and, of course, I CANNOT forget our amazing captain Tomer, did the docking maneuvers to get us safely docked in Port Elizabeth while my watch team got some much-needed sleep.
The next part of the day started at 6:50 am, and Allie woke me up so that I could wake everyone else up on my last skipper day of the program. I did my classic wakey wakey eggs and bakey as I have done on every skipper day on shore.
As our job wheel makes its final spin, I have found myself, like I’m sure many others have said, trying to enjoy these last days and these last times as salty or headmaster or head chef or skipper. It makes every one of these days precious and every squeeze more special as I try to remember everything I can about this time on Argo with some of the coolest people on this planet that I have had the honor of being around for 24 hours a day since September 15th. It made today a special one for no exceptional reason except that it was a day spent with the Argonauts in our home.
Of course, Drazka will be a feature again in this blog, as she was head chef of the day, so I am going to give her a section and then talk about the rest of the day. As previously mentioned, she spent several hours yesterday preparing her famous balls (something that became a bit on board; Drazka’s balls and Mantel’s nuts have also become a running joke since my nuts at Thanksgiving and Drazka’s balls today). Then, breakfast followed with delicious yogurt and granola and toppings, and then, for lunch, we ate bowls. Falafel bowls, to be exact, which were absolutely delicious and very fresh. Followed by dinner, which was another excellent meal of burgers!! It was burgers, with bread from the bread maker, Philip, for us gluten freers, fries, caramelized onions, dill pickles (I was so so excited for these; I love pickles!), and then dessert: Drazka’s balls, and cookies dough for us gf df. Again, all meals were excellent, and head chef Drazka always comes through!
The rest of the day started after breakfast clean up with a leapfrogging of Argo down one Ballard on the dock so another boat could come in and refuel. Then, it was time to put Argo to bed. As skipper, I was tasked with assigning jobs. So, Drazka and her sous chefs, Tomer and Charlie, stayed in the kitchen and started working on lunch. Ava and Hannah did jack lines with Ben; Ali, Juliette, Bodhi, and Travis got to practice their monkey skills by climbing up the sails to take off halyards; then the rest of us, me, Ainsley, and Kiley did sail covers and were joined by the rest once their jobs were done. Then it was time for the second half of people to do their lit review presentations for oceanography, one of the last two assignments for the class!! The people who presented today all did amazing, including Ava, Ali, Ainsley, Juliette, Bodhi, and Hannah.
After that, it was supposed to be study time, as we had our impending final for marine biology after lunch, but it ended up being another leap-frogging exercise of moving Argo down one more Ballard so another sailboat could join us (it is a nice boat, but it has nothing on Argo). Apparently, at some point, someone from the boat yelled at us, asking if Will was aboard because, apparently, she is great friends with his mom, so that was funny.
Then when we all got into the study groove, an EFR Scenario took place unexpectedly, Ben, was the choking victim again, on a chocolate chip this time, (someone needs to teach him how to eat things properly), Gabe was a stab wound victim, and Allie and Kackie were panicking people. It was pretty chaotic, but we all responded well and passed! Yay! So our “study time” before lunch turned into boat maneuvering, saving people in a scenario and about 20 minutes to study, haha. Then, after lunch, was our marine bio final exam, dun dun dunnnn.. it went well, though! And now we are officially 1/4 of the way done with classes! Exciting stuff. Then, we had leadership. It was a deep one today as we answered questions that got us all crying at one point or another. After that was some nice free time, and I got to have some fun chatting with Travis and Juliette and showing each other pictures of our lives outside of this boat, I also looked at photos of my nephew who I am the most excited to see when I go back home. Then, the squeeze occurred after a delicious dinner, with the star being Drazka’s balls.
My question was, “Describe a near-death experience you’ve had. If you have more than one, give us the titles. We will vote on the one we want to hear, and if you have not had a near-death experience, then try to say a statement that no one in the world would argue against, and the next person in line would then have to try to argue against it” Wow, it is a lot longer typing it than saying it. But anyway, this ended up being, I think, the longest squeeze to date, clocking in at almost an hour and a half to get through everyone. It was very interesting to hear all the stories, and a lot of laughing occurred. It turns out a lot of us have almost died but thankfully, it’s almost and not actually. Then it ended with a game of Ninja!
Most of the time, this is where it ends, but not today! We still had our EFR EXAM to get through! As we sat down to take it, Bodhi said what I believe is the quote of the day. He said as he looked at the first question “Wait can I study really quick, I’m not going to pass.” It was really funny.
Now, I am advocating for us to watch Queen’s Gambit, but I think everyone is voting for bed, so here the day ends.
Thank you everyone for following us on our journey, it has been an honor to be on Argo and share this experience with these amazing people. So, I am also sending out a thank you to everyone who made it possible for all of us to be here, every parent, mentor, financial donor, and other contributor, and those who encouraged every person on this trip to come because it would not be the same if one of these people were not on this boat. So, again, thank you to all of those who support us.
Shoutout to my family. I’ll see you all soon! Take Clayton on the swings for me until I get back! I love you all, and thank you for making it possible for me to come on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
Signing off as skipper for the last time, God Bless
Amanda M