Location: Dominica
After an unexpectedly long passage, we finally arrived in Dominica! This place is quite beautiful — as agreed on by almost everyone during the dinner squeeze.
Finally, going back to some normalcy in the daily schedule, we woke up at seven and had breakfast as usual. Aidan was the head chef today and claimed to have made the best-scrambled eggs ever cooked on Ocean Star — the verdict was “good” (but maybe not the best ever ;)).
The whole crew then went ashore for the Indian River tour, where we saw lots of crabs, iguanas, cool plans, and did scientific testings. We split into two boats, and our tour guides rowed inward on the Indian River. We brought the scientific gear and did salinity, temperature, and turbidity tests along the way. We stopped at the Bush Bar (no sign-outs, though), where we walked around the quaint little area and waited for the rain to pass (that started right around when we got to the bar). We turned around and stopped by Calypso’s cabin, where the scene in the Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed — that was cool!
After we returned from the tour, everyone got the long-awaited shower. It was very refreshing, and everyone certainly felt much better to be rinsed off and clean again from the two-day passage. Elling especially appreciated the showers.
Then we had lunch, then an Oceanography review on the deck while the ship was on passage around Dominica to the mooring line, instead of the anchor point we were at. It was quite enjoyable to have class on deck; the view and wind were nice to have.
At dinner, we had pasta, chicken, and mushrooms. They seemed quite popular as there weren’t many leftovers. After dinner and clean up, we had Seamanship class, where we learned about the boats, anchors, etc.
Now, at night, every crew is sitting in the salon watching the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie now! We need to wake up early tomorrow for the island fruit tour, so hopefully, people will get enough sleep.
All the jobs today have been done very smoothly and nicely. My question of the day was, “what is one thing you would miss about this trip after you leave,” it was kinda emotional, but everyone acknowledges that it’s nice to have everyone around.