Location: Vela
In the blur that has been the past number of days on passage, there was a firework. Today was our captain Tom’s completion of his first-ever circumnavigation, falling to third only behind our chief mate Smash and our boat Vela. The day started with a horn blaring and lots of cheering as we reached 0 on Tom’s 10-second-long countdown (which actually took about a minute). During lunch, a water fight formed between Jake and Ruby, which ended with water bottles flying and a few innocent bystanders getting wet. After lunch, we had a cake made by Kasey and Siena, which, unbeknownst to us, had been dropped by Ava. Despite being dropped, the cake was a nice treat for a fun occasion, and spirits ran high all around. As the day wore on and the groups on watch changed, there was yet another bright spot. We saw whales (or at least some of us did)!! The whales were followed by pasta for dinner, which eventually led to me writing this. As I write this, Tom and Jake are putting on their Garmin watches, which sense stress levels, while playing Mario Kart to see whose stress level goes higher. As the day comes to a close, it marks the halfway point on our trip, which has been amazing. There have been lots of highs and lows (mainly highs), and I think I speak for everyone when I say that this trip has gone by so fast. This whole passage, which has been about nine days so far, has felt like 2, and it feels like we were in Bali just a week ago. Despite the trip going by so fast, I am so excited to see what new adventures await us in Mauritius and South Africa, and can’t wait for everything to come.
I love you and miss you, Mom, Dad, Riley, Spencer, and Abby
-Griffin