Location: Pain de Sucre, Les Saintes
Before the sun had even come up, several crew members were dinghied into shore to start a hike. They climbed all the way up to Le Chameau, needing headlamps until the sun started to peek over the horizon. At the top seats were taken on large boulders to enjoy the sun coming up from behind Terre de Haut. Once there was a bit more light, it allowed for a quick poke around inside the remnants of the ancient watchtower that sits on top of the mountain. Back on board, the rest of the crew had awakened and set up a delicious “French” breakfast, complete with baguettes, croissants, and pains au chocolat! Once everyone was back from the hike and on deck, we gorged ourselves on pastries, Nutella, and fruit, then moved in to clean up to clear the deck so we could set up SCUBA gear. Dives that took place included AOW training dives, fun dives, and research dives (collecting data for Oceanography projects.) After this, there was some downtime before lunch, which to everyone’s delight was Mediterranean bowls served with homemade hummus and tzatziki sauce. All gathered in the salon for a Marine Biology class, during which the student crew learned about continental shelves and the neritic zone. The rest of the afternoon was spent studying and lounging on board; everyone happy to have a bit of time to themselves. Head chef Carolyn sent up tomatoes farcies for dinner, a French dish that involves stuffing tomatoes with ground sausage, bread, and various herbs. Full to the brim, clean up was done in double time, so everyone could get ready for their first-ever night dive! Armed with flashlights, the group was split in two for a dive on the nearby reef. Upon surfacing, excited chatter could be heard across the anchorage as they regaled each other with tales of bioluminescence, squids, lionfish, various shrimps, and other critters. The stars out and shining, everyone headed back to the boat to dry off and pack up for the night, going to sleep dreaming of the underwater world.