Location: Puna'auia, Tahiti, French Polynesia
We Are In Tahiti! We woke up today to the sounds of singing roosters. They were announcing the dim light as the sun managed to creep over the huge green mountains just in front of the dock. I was so glad I woke up early and enjoyed the beautiful sunrise here in Tahiti. Soon after, the whole crew woke up, and I got to witness everyone’s decaffeinated morning faces and had a great breakfast. After breakfast, the staff showed us the ins and outs of Argo. My favorite room is the engine room that’s humming alive and strong, continuously keeping this huge sailboat alive and going. It is very impressive. Also, I can’t wait to start learning how to put up the sails– really looking forward to that! Later on in the day, we had the chance to go explore the island a bit. We got to enjoy some amazing fruit that looked like it came from an alien planet, and we got to stock up on snacks and other essentials for the trip ahead. Finally, we gathered back on the boat for a great dinner. I ate three plates.
One big piece of learning that we’ve done throughout the day is our cleanup jobs. We have a job wheel that tells us what our daily chores are onboard. Since I was skipper today, I woke up the students, helped announce the schedule of the day, made sure everyone was present for meals and wrote the first student blog post! Right now, others are cleaning the deck, washing dishes, sweeping the salon, or tidying up the galley. Every day, the wheel will turn, and we will learn another job. Now we have a demo of line handling and deck safety. First thing tomorrow, we are getting fuel and then getting underway for our short passage to Mo’orea. We can’t wait to see Argo on the move!
Pictured: Beautiful sun and clouds with our view of Mo’orea off the bow of Argo; view of our neighboring boats with Tahiti in the background off the stern of Argo; Lucy, Cat, and Garrison practicing sweating; Evan, Panos, and Ryan observing some line throwing practice.