Location: Dickinson Bay, Antigua
Our day, as usual, started at seven a.m. with some music played by Cat. The “Tom Hole,” as usual, was forgotten in the process, allowing Ian, Ethan, and Tom to sleep in for a precious 40 minutes. Breakfast was some delicious oatmeal and apple made by our head chef, Dylan, and his sous chefs, Sydnei and Steve. After breakfast, we tidied up the deck and prepared to head towards Dickinson Bay. Since Dickinson Bay is so close, instead of setting sail, we decided to motor towards our destination. During our course, we had a Seamanship class with Calum and practiced our navigation skills on charts. Although there were many new concepts, we worked through the problems together and steadily worked towards our Navigation Master certifications.
Lunch was a delicious bacon-grilled cheese and tomato soup. Despite Dylan’s humbleness, lunch was incredibly delicious, so much so he was talked into changing his next meal plan to include this again. With full stomachs, we headed to land for a hike to Fort James. Although we were warned about the heat, the two p.m. sun in Antigua was no joke. We weren’t even halfway to the Fort when Ethan and Tom declared their empty water bottles. With overwhelming vitality and, in my opinion, slight craziness, Dylan, Tom, Ian, and Sydnei decided to sprint towards our destination. They reappeared in front of a small bar chugging some life-saving Arizona tea. When we thought Fort James was a scam made up by our boat mom, Ash, stone walls and canons appeared before our eyes. Instantly, Ian adapts monkey-like abilities and climbed on walls, trees, and cliffs. The stunning view at the fort made our hour-long trip entirely worthwhile, and the bond within our group got stronger. On our way back, the weather started to cool off. The energy of our group was so uplifting that locals exclaimed Cardi B’s got nothing on us. We then went to a grocery store where we stocked up on groceries, snacks, and miscellaneous supplies.
We came back onto the boat along with Calum’s provisions at roughly five p.m. Although mentally we had a wonderful experience, physically, our bodies are dissatisfied with the overuse of our lower limbs. After a day of sun and sweat, we all took a refreshing salty shower and waited for our last meal of the day, chicken pot pie. Our dinner ended with a humorous squeeze question – if you can either add or get rid of a body part, what would it be?