Location: Langkawi, Malaysia
Today marks the beginning of our passage to the Maldives. Because of this, it was a busy morning for the shipmates on Argo. We started off the day with some passage preparation, followed by an exciting stop at the fuel barge. This entailed tying ourselves to the tiny wooden barge for an hour or so as we pumped fuel into the tanks. It was surprisingly similar to any old gas station! This was followed by some shore time in Langkawi, where we did our final provisioning, said our goodbyes to friends and family over WiFi, stocked up on some last-minute snacks, and, of course, stopped by the local Starbucks. A few of us even spent a couple of extra minutes on Langkawi buying an ice cream cake for the group to be part of our Bon Voyage celebration. As I write, we are doing final preparations up on deck. This journey will be our longest and most intense passage yet, and we have a lot to do. From preparing lines and sails to checking engines and cabins, there’s no shortage of work to do. We, shipmates, are both nervous and excited about this passage. Day-to-day life on Argo will be immeasurably different, but I feel confident that we can handle it. In just a few short hours, we’ll be headed off into the big blue ocean. We even had a few dolphins swim alongside the boat to see us off this afternoon, a sure sign that our journey will be a great one! We can’t wait to let you know how it goes, but for now, goodbye land, goodbye Malaysia, and goodbye lovely blog readers. We’ll see you on the flip side!
Until next time
-Anna
(PS: Hi, mom!)
The crew of Argo is beginning passage to the Maldives today, but don’t worry. We will continue to upload blogs as we can via our satellite phone to let you know how we are doing.If you don’t see a blog for a day or two, be patient; we will get them up as soon as we can!