Location: Prince Rupert Bay, Dominica
I know this sounds cheesy, but today was a great freakin day. I just don’t really know a better way to put it. One, I conquered my fear of the lower laz, two Keaton and I found a pool noodle in said lower laz, three we swam in the rain, four I ate a Kit-Kat, five the Connally Kitchen was back in business, and we ate very well today. Spirits are high here on board, and we are counting down the last couple of days of our quarantine here in Dominica.
Meg and Katie were both already out of bed when I woke up, so sadly, there is no early morning feature of their “smiling” faces on today’s blog. I feel like every time I am skipper; it is a rainy day. We very, very rarely have rainy days except for every 18 days when it’s my skipper turn on the wheel. Addisen, our own personal boat mermaid’s, dream has been to swim in the rain… Perfect day for that. In fact, most of us swam in the rain today. Some people don’t like rainy days, but personally, I love them. For those that don’t know me, I am a ginger. I thoroughly believe that I have a tan soul, but sadly I am trapped in a pale person’s body. Sooooooo… I thrive on cloudy days on this boat. I also think that the rainy days make us appreciate the sunny days that much more.
Our first order of business today was to get sticks shoved up our noses AND down our throats. And in my case, both nostrils because the nurse “accidentally dropped mine” Not really sure how that happens, but let’s just say my eyes did a lot of watering this morning. We spent the rest of the morning swimming, crafting, and napping, Ocean Star essentials. Apparently, the boys on this boat are throwing it back to middle school and have taken up mind craft again. I don’t understand it, but also am not working very hard to get on board with it.
The Connally Kitchen jump-started the afternoon with some delicious Tortilla Soup, and we were off! Keaton presented on plastics, Sam taught more about fisheries, we collected water samples, and we ended our afternoon lab session peering through a microscope at different substances. These substances included jellyfish, seagrass, biofouling, larvae, Grady’s wart, Katie’s water-bottles lid fungus that has been growing for a while now, and a weevil Noah found crawling on the table. All very interesting finds that resulted in most of us deep cleaning our water bottles and bleaching the absolute life out of them. 60 days’ worth of growth is a little terrifying.
The rest of the day, we had free. Another fun fact about me is I have an irrational fear of air vents. More specifically, getting stuck in an air vent and not being able to move. I wouldn’t call it claustrophobia, but maybe I am just lying to myself at this point. My least favorite place on this whole boat is the lower laz. For those that don’t know what the lower laz is, it is a very small compartment that you can barely sit up in that is so far down in the bilge that you are actually below the waterline completely and pretty much standing on the bottom of the hull. It is also jam-packed with stuff, very little light, smells like mildew, and is basically just everywhere I don’t want to be. Well, Steve started a rumor that there was a pool noodle down there at the beginning of the trip, but no one had been able to find it. Today was the day we needed to find it. Keaton and I made the very long climb down there, pulled up the floorboards in the laz, and descended into the hole. AND WE FOUND IT! Ocean Star now has a pool noodle that will make shower time 100x more fun. The rest of the time till dinner was full of us wrestling over the noodle, swimming in the rain, and playing king of the fender. I’d say Meg won, but we all put up a pretty good fight.
I am trying to rush through this blog because I can hear Passengers starting in the salon, and I don’t want to miss movie night. I also smell popcorn, so I am extra motivated to get over there. I am bad a putting things into words, but I hope you all understand how great of a day it was. Call me dramatic or call me happy, but we are making the most of these last 20 days onboard.
Photo 1 – so many timer cams today; just bear with me
Photo 2- Topher getting ready to kill it in the kitchen today
Photo 3 – I wish I could say they are working on their research papers, but they are just intently “crafting” (mind crafting)
Photo 4 – More timer cams in class
Photo 5 – Meg and Keaton before the horrid covid tests
Photo 6 – Connally kitchen in full swing
Photo 7 – Grady and Liam 🙂
Photo 8 – Again, Brahm with the beautiful smile
Photo 9 – Katie being a great deckie. All three brushes at once
Photo 10 – Should we be cleaning? Probably
Photo 11 – Bosun Henry ready to go!
Photo 12 – Poor Erin, her neck had to hurt after this nap
Photo 13- Meg being a great Gopher
Photo 14 – Meg volunteering to go into the Laz for me, Thanks MEG!
Photo 15 – Henry deciding that the Gopher hole is his new exit from below decks
Photo 16 – Keaton teaching us all about the harmfulness of plastics. Maybe don’t ask her how you spell banana.
Photo 17 – Professor Sam
Photo 18 – Mermaid Addisen in the rain
Photo 19- Sample collecting
Photo 20- Sample research
Photo 21 – You don’t want to know what this is
Photo 22 – Time for DIN DIN
Photo 23 – Conquering my fear of the lower laz, which surprisingly has good lighting.
Photo 24 – this is the hole you have to climb through to get into the lower laz… terrifying, I know.
Photo 25- King of the fender in full force
Photo 26 – LASAGNA
Photo 27 – Max and Katie with big smiles for lasagna
Hey to everyone back home!! I miss y’all! Hi Teagan! See you soon.