Location: Saint Vincent
Today was simply marvelous. It started off with me waking everyone up with a super groovy disco snails SoundCloud remix. I only realized after blasting the first 30 seconds that it probably was pretty intense to hear first thing in the morning, oops! We were greeted with a FABULOUS smell wafting from the galley. Nashota and Vittoria made CINNAMON ROLLS!! with cream cheese frosting!!! Literal heaven. So that was breakfast, and right after that, we went into seamanship, where we practiced for our knot exam and got some skills checked off in our logbooks. Then the advanced open water students went on their deep dive, which apparently went well (I hear that Grant even brought a Rubiks cube and solved it underwater, which is superbly Grant-y)! We had quesadillas and some killer sriracha coleslaw for lunch.
After lunch, we cleaned up and had oceanography and leadership, the latter of which was actually doing nominations for our student-led passage! Basically, there are 4 main roles that students take on during this passage, which are Skipper, Chief Mate, Engineer, and Navigator. We get to vote on which students get the roles and can also nominate each other. In the end, I think everyone was nominated or nominated themselves for something! Tomorrow night, those who choose to run for the roles for real will give a short speech to persuade the others to vote them into it.
Afterward, we had some free time. Some of us snorkeled, others tanned, caught up on schoolwork, or just hung out until dinner. Speaking of which, dinner was DIVINE and possibly one of my favorite boat meals ever. It was chicken pot pie, and executed fabulously. Idyllic crust to chicken to vegetable ratio. 100/10. My squeeze question was: would you rather have a normal, modest life with all expenses paid for (house, food, etc) or have 1000 gnomes at your disposal to do anything you want with? You do have to feed and house the gnomes, though, and pay taxes on any income they generate for you, so keep that in mind. The majority chose the gnomes, which is fair enough, as that would be SO whimsical!
As Im writing this, Im watching a gloriously pink sunset that started off pretty but unassuming and has blossomed into this mesmerizingly rich red-hued showstopper! Seeing so many sunsets and sunrises is def one of the best parts of this trip! We are so lucky!!
P.S. Some student messages:
To M4: I miss you so much and am sad Im missing Easter! Love, Erin
Henry sends warm regards to his family, as usual.
To my family and friends: love you and miss you guys so much!! See you relatively soon! <3