Location: Richard's Bay, South Africa
Our long-anticipated first full day on land was great. We had a class in the morning after breakfast and watched the ever-entertaining and educational Finding Nemo. After class, we made sandwiches and then had free time the entire afternoon. Many of the crew worked on assignments, and some went shopping, but everyone kicked back for a while and relaxed. As it is day 65, we are more than 2/3 of the way through this adventure, and we all have agreed that we are getting to know each other better. I asked what people admire about the person sitting next to them at a squeeze. I know that I admire some quality or characteristic about everyone on this boat, and it is clear that the same sentiment is shared throughout the crew. My question had its desired effect as people went around the circle, genuinely digging into the question and saying what they admired about the person sitting next to them. As a note, no one knew I was asking this, but everyone, regardless of who they were sitting next to, had more than one thing to say about their neighbor. After the squeeze, for the first time on this trip, we all went out to dinner together (all staff and students). We agreed prior that even though many people are WiFi starved and desperate to get news from the home front, no one would use the WiFi in the restaurant, which made the conversation livelier. We ate, we drank, we talked, and we laughed. Everyone was happy to be sharing a table as we reveled in the passage that we had just made. Crossing an ocean is no small feat, and we were all in the highest of spirits at dinner. To put the cherry on a great night out, we were informed that we would have breakfast at eight instead of 7:30. It is only 30 more minutes of sleep, but everyone rejoiced. I guess that’s the closest I’ll get to sleeping in until I get home.