Location: Young Island, St. Vincent and The Grenadines
I was woken up at 6 am today by Riley for my one-hour anchor watch. Riley said after she tried multiple times to wake me up. I proceeded to roll over, sit up very fast, and smash my head on the ceiling above. This is fairly common as I sleep on the top bunk and only have a foot and a half to work with. I started my anchor watch by finishing my rescue diver knowledge reviews and enjoying the beautiful sunrise over the horizon. Once I was finished, I was greeted with the beautiful smell of banana pancakes that Pierce (known as Chief) was cooking. Breakfast was so scrumptious that not a single pancake or piece of bacon was leftover. I myself enjoyed seconds and thirds until I was stuffed to the brim.
After breakfast, Adelaide taught us about the Transmission of Energy in water. Did you know sound travels 4.5 times faster in water than air? Neither did I. After a short break between classes, we all gathered on the deck to review our 5 sections of diver rescue knowledge reviews. This was my favorite part of the day as we all gathered on the stern of the boat to learn with the bright, beautiful ocean surrounding us. When our review was over, we had a little bit of free time where I decided to take some pictures of my surroundings. For lunch, we enjoyed glizzies (hot dogs) with caramelized onions, and fresh-baked bread from a local St. Vincent bakery. Thanks, Chief!
Then came our afternoon of in-water rescue exercises. Before we entered the water, Adelaide and Ash taught us how to throw the life rings off the boat to the swimmers in the water. I volunteered first, and after missing my throw three times, I hit Calum. With a swift motion, he quickly covered his face. I thought I hit him in the noggin! Unfortunately, after a brief skills test in water, we had to call off class for the day because the current was consistently sweeping us away from Ocean Star. To wrap up the night, Chief made a delicious chicken parm and, according to Steve, made the salon a “Sauna” in the process. I was on deck having Adelaide check over my literature review when the fire alarm went off, and we quickly mustered in the cockpit. Poor Chief burned his hand in the process but continued to persist till all the food was out of the kitchen. What a day! I can’t wait to climb into my bunk and fall asleep, as we have a hike coming up and possibly some land time where I can buy large amounts of snacks.
Fair winds and following seas,
Mike
Photo 1: Last nights sugar craving (We made just frosting)
Photo 2: Sunset view
Photo 3: Our fly kill count that Luke and I update daily.
Photo 4: Picture off starboard
Photo 5: Adelaide teaching Oceanography
Photo 6: Ash and Adelaide explaining our skills for the day.
Photo 7/8: Us chained together so we wouldn’t drift away, and us drifting away.
Photo 9: An aerial view of dinner through the galley hatch.
Photo 10: Will working diligently.
Photo 11: Another picture off starboard
Photo 12: The sunset and our dive tanks 🙂