Location: Mauritius
I woke up to Rileys beautiful face. He was telling me I got to wake up everyone else, which OVERJOYED me since its my first skipper day at port. That means I got to blast Grove Street Party and make everyone mad at me at 6 am; it was great fun. I won back their love by playing Creed. Everyone was excited because today we were diving for the first time in a while, and it was the final dive of the semester. I was especially hyped because we got to dive a huge shipwreck (if you know me, you know how giddy I was). Uh oh, my dive gear got left behind. But shout out to the rental lady for having me fully kitted up in under 2 minutes! The dive boat dropped us directly on top of the 80-foot-deep wreck, just barely out of visible range. The descent onto the boat was both intimidating and exhilarating. As we swam closer, the ship emerged from the gloom; it was possibly the coolest thing Ive ever seen. My dive buddy, Payton, on the other hand, was terrified. Her dive consisted mostly of staring at the open water, opposite the wreck, and glancing at me every few seconds to make sure I hadnt swam inside. After that epic excursion, it was time for, drumroll please, MORE SAILING! But this time on little Hobie Cats instead of our massive Vela. Of course, I had to get in with the fastest dinghy racer I know, drum roll again, RILEY PART TWO. It was Riley, Payton, Rai-Ching, and I on a 15ft Hobie, and it was one of the most fun afternoons Ive had on this program. For context, I come from a sailing background and have been sailing my whole life. Riley raced for many years (hes far better than I am) and obviously works for GXG now.
Meanwhile, Payton and Rai-Ching had never sailed a dinghy. The four of us on a Hobie 15 together was genuinely a blast getting to teach them, race the others, and laugh the whole time (and learning quite a bit from Riley, but dont tell him I said that). After a great day of sailing a few of us decided we were gonna go in the hot tub at the resort the rental place was in but were shocked to realize the hot tub was cold. Not cold as in not hot, like actually cold. Also, it was all of five feet wide, and there were seven of us, so that wouldnt have worked anyway. At the end of the day, we ate dinner and enjoyed another beautiful sunset in Mauritius.