Location: Avatui Harbour, Rarotonga
One of the skipper’s duties on board is waking up the students around 710am while in port. As this is my favorite job onboard Argo, my morning could not have started off better, and I would like to think neither could have the crews! After some delicious banana bread and fruit salad, we had Oceanography and Basic Seamanship class. The attention span was short, though, as everyone was itching to get onshore for the first time in five days! Unfortunately, everything was closed on Rarotonga today because it is Sunday. Still, we ventured off through what seemed to be a ghost town and passed a packed church and some beautiful pristine beaches. Some students spent the remainder of the day at the beach and managed to scrounge up some local fried chicken.
Others, including myself, headed back to the ship for a scrumptious (and free!) tortilla soup prepared by the Head Chef, Nick, with Lindsey and Sully following his capable lead. It’s quite a strange and happy feeling walking up to the port, seeing Argo’s two masts, and thinking, let’s go home. I wouldn’t have it any other way for the next seven weeks. She is quite the spectacle in port, too. I think we get about five visitors an hour asking about the ship and the program from the dock. We are certainly the largest and most beautiful ship in this small commercial port and attract plenty of attention from locals and visitors alike. After dinner, some of the students expressed the desire to go ashore to see the world premiere of the newest Superman at the local cinema. So, after dinner, we joined what seemed like the entire island of 6,000 people at the movies. Some students stayed to watch it. Others decided that while we have embraced the cramped lifestyle on Argo, we didn’t want to bring it into the non-air-conditioned theater with us. So, we came back to the boat and enjoyed a quiet and relaxing evening, watching the movie Pitch Perfect in the boat’s air-conditioned salon. Shout out to my Mom and Dad! Love you guys!