Location: Cape Town
It was the last time being woken up at odd hours of the night to walk up the companionway and see the roaring seas. Watch team 3s last night watch was spent huddled together wrapped up in a blanket, using each other to stay warm, and the gifts from Leoni of chocolate to keep us up for the night kept the conversation and the laughs flowing. The night turned into morning and we were welcomed with sunrise with 7 different shades of grey and sea lions popping their heads up to say hellowww. Around 9 am we made the turn around the Cape of Hope. There was so much excitement on deck everyone was up on bow watch to look out for kelp patches and lines in the water. As we made it around the cape we saw a blow come out of the water as time goes on we saw another then a wale came to the surface, then another. Soon we were seeing two whales breach. We make it around the coastline and the fog cleared, as well as the spirits. Cape Town was revealed. We had a whole welcoming crew greeting us in that our marine bio exam was put on hold to admire the wildlife upon entering cape town a cloud of dolphins was emerging from the water. We approach the dolphins and soon Vela was a part of the dolphin migration. The pod looked like it had almost 100 dolphins. As great as it would have been to follow the dolphins back to the sea we turn back towards the marine near where we were going to anchor for the night. We anchored and put Vela to bed. Then it was finally the time for the marine bio final focusing our attention on testing after so much commotion was a struggle but we thankfully prepared enough and got through it. Then we had dinner of some pasta with red sauce surprisingly exactly what I wanted after a long day even though that is our most frequent meal but noodles and parmesan cant get old. We finished our day with an hour-long squeeze, we shared our first impressions of each other, and hearing how much has changed and how much relationships have grown truly shows how far weve come. After the crazed clean up the day ended with some card games and prep for nav master!!
Photos;
1. Group shot on the bowsprit
2. Max and Sam
3. Vela with a cloudy CT in the background
4. A few of the amazing dolphins that welcomed us