Location: Young Island, St. Vincent
If you clicked to read this blog because you were intrigued and wanted to figure out what it meant, I am sorry to break it to you, but we still have no idea. That is kinda the theme for the day as we sped through the ever-narrowing streets, whipped around sharp cliffs, came within arms distance of passing cars, and clung tightly to our seats as we flew over the mountain peaks of St. Vincent. Let me back it up to how we ended up in this golden taxi ride of chaos.
My day started the exact opposite of how my day ended. I watched the sunrise on the stern and woke the crew up with some peaceful Lumineers. A nice quiet morning per usual on Ocean Star. I walked in to wake Meg and Katie up, bunk traditions and all, and was greeted by Meg staring deadly at me from her top bunk in her foulies yet again. Was I surprised to hear that she had decided to have a full dance part by herself up on deck to Hamilton on her 4 am watch and then couldn’t fall back asleep all night? No, not at all. Johnny and Sam proceeded to wake the rest of the crew up by beating the living crap out of the whipped cream that just wouldn’t whip while head chef Topher spread the delicious smell of french toast through the salon. A solid way to wake up am I right?
Come 9 am, we all made our way into the dingy and started the dreaded shuttle to our covid tests. I’d give it a solid 3 out of 10 as I think I saw spots as the lady pushed the stick further and further into my brain. Some of the boys played frisbee, others played mafia, and Steve paced around in his crocs as we all filtered through the tests and waited for the taxi to arrive
Picture this, a giant gold taxi bus pulls up and Fiona jumps out. She is wearing purple lipstick, purple sunglasses with purple-tinted lenses, and a big purple hat that says “Dirty Sexy Soca” in bold letters. She is basically the Caribbean version of Ms. Frizzle with her magic golden school bus. She and her trusty companion, Junior, proceeded to show us the island from “her local” point of view. This included stories of partying at random bars, skinny dipping on beaches, introducing us to her neighbors, picking us fruits from the side of the road, and introducing us to Soca music. Now on to explain the little we understood of Soca. She described it as a mix of Christmas carols with a calypso beat and the ability to get anyone up on their feet. Having a hard time visualizing that? Don’t worry, us too so she cranked it and we jammed as we sped, whipped, and clung our way around the island. Honestly, an experience of a lifetime that I will hold dear to my heart now that we all came out safely on the other side. This crazy tour consisted of the five main towns on the island, Pirates of the Caribbean set tours, a cave walk full of bats, roaches, and tasty sea grapes, juicy coconuts from a stall at the side of the road, lunch on a black sand beach, and the very important and highly sought after grocery store run. This grocery store was like heavy on earth. Looking through people’s carts as they were checking out was very exciting. Things ranged from cinnamon toast crunch to dried papaya, straight cake frosting to carrot wedges, and chocolate bars to apple sauce. It’s weird the things you crave on a boat. Personally, never really been a juice person and now all I want is a good old fashion orange juice box. Max on the other hand…craves the whole grocery store.
The day came to a close as we made our way back to our little mooring ball off of Young Island that we have all come to know and love. We ate some lasagna and tried to make sense of the chaotic and confusing day.
Side note…Fiona didn’t know her lefts from her rights so you never actually knew where you were supposed to be looking.
Photo 1: Me and Meg wishing St. Vincent Good Morning
Photo 2: Meg’s “I didnt sleep at all” stare and Katie’s “I am not awake yet” stare
Photo 3: A fort museum
Photo 4: Meg and Topher
Photo 5: Meg, Erin, and Keaton nappin it up on the bus
Photo 6: Addisen, Keaton, and Katie
Photo 7: Isnt Katie a cutie?!?!?!
Photo 8: Look at that view over the Mesopotamia Valley
Photo 9: Henry and Tophs sharing a coconut
Photo 10: Erin and Keaton pretending to like a coconut
Photo 11: Me and Meg demolishing a coconut
Photo 12: Grady and Johnny slurpin
Photo 13: Meg in her thoughts with her ring pop
Photo 14: Try and spot Jack Sparrow
Photo 15: Meg coming to terms with her fate of the gallows
Photo 16: Liam on the black sand beach
Photo 17: Crew rolling up to the cave
Photo 18: Crew in the cave
Photo 19: Me and Keaton on the dingy back home
Photo 20: Erin and Meg also on the dingy
Photo 21: LOOK AT THAT SUNSET!
Hi family back home, Hi Jess, and Hi Teagan! I miss y’all a lot!