Location: St. Vincent
Good day, sailors!
We started the day off by motoring over to the island Jack Sparrow was trapped on for a while in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. I have still not seen the movies, so that might be wrong (sorry, Olivia). I, therefore, as a skipper and person who gets to wake people up, played the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack at full volume at 7 in the morning. In hindsight, it might have been on repeat for a bit too long, but at least everyone got up in time. We all lathered up with sunscreen, got our snorkeling gear on, jumped in the water, and swam ashore. Somehow, nobody got stung by a sea-urchin getting out of that water and onto the island. Steph had made amazing chia pudding, which was gorgeously laid out on a towel on the beach with fruit, granola, and other toppings, too. After eating, we had time for some exploring where we found a graveyard of conk-shells and also a disturbing amount of glass that had not yet fully become sea-glass. We still had an amazing time, though, seeing some cool sea creatures in the intertidal zone. I also spotted a cute little lemon shark swimming in the shallow waters on the beach. He was very afraid of humans, though, and quickly swam away. After exploring, it was time to swim back to the boat, where a lot of people saw a barracuda hanging around.
We wasted no time getting going, with sail-covers coming off and sails put up. And we are off (again)! This time to Bequia. We students had an interesting discussion about whaling in marine biology today. Whaling is a common practice in Bequia (where we are now) and part of their culture. Some great points were made. Is it still ethical to whale? Even if it’s done sustainably and has been for centuries? What if it’s an integral part of their culture? Can we allow some whaling and make it illegal somewhere else? Where is the line drawn? Lunch came at the perfect time to end the discussion.
After a lesson in navigation for seamanship and taking all the sails back down ( 🙁 )), we had some free time to work on the many projects and assignments we had due soon (or take a well-deserved nap). Then, it was already time for dinner. It started raining halfway through the squeeze, so we all huddled under the tarp and tried our best to finish quickly.
That’s all,
Byeeeeeee