Location: Gibraltar
Another beautiful day in Gibraltar! I woke everyone up at 7:30 to Dancing Queen and the rest of the Mamma Mia soundtrack. It was a slow morning as many people were tired from the night before, grinding out the last parts of their shark essay for marine bio. For breakfast, we ate delicious baked oats with fresh fruit prepared by head chef Eliza and her sous chefs Watson and Talia. As we ate, the staff were refueling Vela, making sure she was ready for our next passage. During cleanup, Eduardo, Audrey, and Tom managed to get into a towel fight with each other. I raised the Ensign flag and went over the schedule for the day. First up was Marine Bio class, where Ben taught us about. Arthropods, echinoderms, and invertebrate chordates. People managed to stack a banana on Max and Boston’s heads as they fell asleep during the lecture. Most of us were still pretty tired, so some people like me took a nap while the staff docked the boat back in the marina. Michelle and Amy spiced up the boat with some Halloween window stickers to remind us it’s October. Around 11, it was time to head ashore, where the boys ran to do laundry, and the girls ran to our favorite coffee shop, Chk, to get one more iced caramel latte and sweet treats. Ellis and I walked around Main Street shopping, and we ran into Lillian and Cat in the most eclectic trinkets and jewelry store. Eduardo had 25 nuggets from McDonald’s for lunch. While Dan, Eliza, James, Watson, Mac, Lukas, and Brendan enjoyed fish and chips at a British Sports Bar. Anxious for our next passage, Max and Boston stocked up on lots of Arizona Iced Tea. Strolling around, Liam treated himself to hot chocolate, chocolate croissant, gelato, and candy. For lunch, Ellis and I ate a delicious meal at Wagamamma. This was followed by a trip to the laundromat, where we ran into Emma and were kindly given cash from Luke. Others were scattered around hanging up on deck( Ruby, Grace C., Brendan, Mac), going to the gym( Luke, Jesse, Ben ), napping (Theo), or catching up on work. Hard at work, the galley team spent the afternoon preparing dinner. Four o’clock came quickly, and it was time for a fun leadership game. Smash organized an activity for us where we each had a food label on our back and had to find our partner by asking indirect questions and then giving an elevator pitch as to why our food combo was elite. My two partners, Jesse and Amy, sold the idea of our breakfast burrito bowl that included beans, rice, bacon, and eggs. It was pretty entertaining as Luke antagonized the presenters, and Theo threw orange peels. To our surprise, we got more shore time before dinner and immediately headed back to Chk for more coffee and treats. This time, Theo, Jesse, Lukas, and Mac got to experience the joy that Chk has brought to the girls. We met back in the cockpit for dinner but realized we were missing people until we saw Grace C., Lilian, and Amy running back to the boat. Dinner was delicious: stuffed peppers with yummy queso prepared by Watson. To finish the day, my squeeze question was, “What would your theme song be like if your life were a movie/TV show?” We got great responses like the national anthem (Theo), the interstellar theme song ( Big Mac & Claire ), and “I Did Something Bad” by Taylor Swift( Emma). Following dinner was a very social cleanup, but we got it done before the sunset. To add to that, Dan took his bosun job seriously by threatening to shoot people with the hose, as well as more towel fights took place at mid-ships. The ensign flag came down for the night. Then, the night ended with a change in passage plans to avoid bad weather. Now, we will be staying an extra night in Gibraltar and possibly visiting other parts of Morocco before anchoring in Essaouira. We all appreciate Tom’s diligence and effort in navigating unexpected delays and preserving the fun excursions we look forward to when we get there. Finally, people split off to get gelato, go for a run, take a hot shower on the dock, or go for a majestic trot around town (Theo, Jesse, Lukas, and Luke). It was a great day being a skipper and having the opportunity to thank all of our friends and family who have supported us emotionally and financially to be on this trip and get to experience these amazing places and make lifelong memories with each other. We couldn’t have been here without you! For my family at home, I love you, Mom, Dad, Makenzie, Grace, Taylor, and Matthew. Say hi to Winston, Shelby, Milo, and Josie for me. I miss you all so much and can’t wait to see you in December!!
With lots of love,
Chloe