Location: Ronde Island
This morning was pretty exciting. After a coconut French toast breakfast, we pulled up anchor and set off from Grenada. Before we pulled sails up, Captain Eric pulled me to the side and told me about having it become a race against time to spice things up. We separated into our watch teams and took to different parts of the ship. Watch Team 1 take the mainsail, watch Team 2 on the foresail, and watch Team 3 command the headsails. Once out of Prickly Bay harbor, Eric gave the signal, and the sails went flying. After all the sails were properly trimmed and the lines were coiled and put away, the teams yelled, “Finished!” Watch Team 1 end up at 6:22, watch Team 2 at 6:36, and watch Team 3 at 2:25 for the winning time. Although teams 1 and 2 experienced some technical difficulties, watch team 3 won the challenge fair and square. From then on, it was time to sail to Ronde Island. We started south from Grenada until we were far enough out that our tack would successfully pass the southernmost part of the island, but the wind was against us on our way north. Being that our next location was directly north of Grenada, we had to continually tack our way against the wind to reach our destination. After about six hours of sailing, we reached Ronde Island. At the squeeze before dinner, people described three things that they had never done before but had always wanted to accomplish. Many of these aspirations seemed to coincide with the ocean… Perhaps Seamester has affected peoples’ mentalities in a number of ways.