Location: Young Island, St. Vincent
We started today off like any other, with the smell of breakfast in the air and the peaceful sound of some music; this particular morning was saturated with some John Mayer. Brahm was head chef today and outdid himself; as usual, he started the day off by waking up at 5 to make bagels from scratch by himself, and all that work definitely paid off because they were absolutely delicious. After breakfast, we had marine bio where the only real information we retained was that the mantis shrimp can see 9 more wavelengths of light than we can and that their punch can break an inch and a half of glass. Immediately after learning that information, a good 4 people still thought it would be cool to put their fingers near one if they ever saw it. Proceeding that we took our Competent Crew exam in seamanship class, everyone luckily passed, and we then had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. As the crew came up from taking the exam, we were all met with a very interesting sight. Henry, in an attempt to go on land faster, had started floating off of the boat, honestly quite majestic. Luckily I was able to snap a photo in time to prove that it actually happened, although Brahm chalked it up to the resident boat ghost Victoria. After that, we all resumed relaxing, although still shaken by what we had just witnessed. To calm us down, Brahm cooked some Israeli couscous, although the dishie pit didn’t seem too happy about cleanup. After lunch, Keaton announced she was feeling extremely sunburnt and was going to take a nap. At the same time, a group of people excitedly sat down to watch the most anticipated movie of the trip, “Matilda.” However, nobody could find the right adapter for the TV, so they all had to scrunch around Johnny’s computer. Later, Celia, Grady, and Henry went out on a fun dive to pass the time. Once they got back, they recounted seeing many cool things, such as lizardfish, some very interesting coral structures, and an octopus Addisen would affectionately name Ocho. Among these things, they also found 7 of our forks that had gone overboard the day prior. After everyone dried off from the dive, we unloaded provisions and then relaxed some more. Keaton’s “nap” lasted approximately 5 hours, and she almost missed dinner, making most of the crew jealous of someone getting better sleep than all of us. Around 6 O’clock, everyone collectively noticed that the Salon was basically turning into a sweat-lodge; Brahms most recent dinner conquest, spetzel, involved multiple stovetops as well as the oven, and multiple people were forced to retreat above deck to avoid a heat stroke. After spetzel was finished cooking, we all gobbled it down under the full moon; it was *chefs kiss* magnificent. Following dinner, the dishie pit had a collective groan before getting to work on the literally overflowing dish bucket. Literally coming back to finish this blog, a flying fish decided to do a kamikaze right into my foot, and luckily we were able to throw it back in. Overall today, even though it was mostly free time, was chock-full of some very interesting things. Everyone is very excited about what tomorrow has in store… Literally.
Picture 1: Cattle after grazing
Picture 2: Island
Picture 3: Bow sprint ft. Saint Vincent
Picture 4: The cattle cleaning the eating trough
Picture 5: Brahm saying something so profound Ash is left speechless
Picture 6: ‘Topher having a grand ole time in the dishie pit
Picture 7: Floater Vibes
Picture 8: Henry and Liam chillaxing on the deck
Picture 9: Henry, Addisen, and Liam doing a really bad orangoutang hang
Picture 10: Henry explaining how dry Dasani water is
Picture 11: Something I wish I had
Picture 12: Ocho the octopus (very cool guy)
Picture 13: Grady, Henry, and Celia whilst diving
Picture 14: More grass for cattle
Picture 15: Unloading provisions
Picture 16: People chilling up on deck
Picture 17: Johnny doing god knows what
Picture 18: Liam being God that knows what
Picture 19: Julian doing a fantismal dive