Location: Underway to Tahiti
Our day started at midnight on the dot, as my watch team (watch team 2) purposefully aimed to relieve watch team 1 (Dylan’s watch team) late so both our watch teams could be the first to sing Dylan Happy Birthday! He and watch team 1 then promptly went to bed as one of our team’s weirdest watch began. 12 to 4 watch usually does that to us, but this one was different. Only 5 minutes into watch, I learned that salt had been poured into the big sugar container on accident at some point between dinner cooking and Charlie making tea before his 8 pm watch last night. We had no clues or leads as to who the salt bandit could be, so they are still on the loose, but that resulted in my spending 30 minutes separating the salt from the sugar in an effort to try and salvage as much as possible. We’re in a state of trying to conserve and not waste and be mindful in our use because we are obviously out in the middle of the ocean with at least two weeks or more of passage left, so once some things are gone, it’s gone for good. This sentiment may or may not have come from my mild panic attack that we would run out of toilet paper. That was followed by me counting every roll on board and timing how long five staff take to use a roll. We’ve got 71 rolls, and the staff has been on the same one for the last two and a half days, so we’re doing great and have plenty. Regardless, the sentiment is still valid. After the salt sugar debacle was solved, I joined our team back up on deck to find Miles, who is almost always on aux during watch, playing a playlist of 100 downloaded songs he had on his phone for his dogs. We spent the next 2 hours listening to said playlist, discovering that Best Dog is the best song, followed by the meadow and rested after playing. For the watch handover, you might think we would have graced watch team 3 at 4 am with dog music, but you’d be wrong. Instead, we played I love bugs, which blissfully started their watch and sent us off on the best sleep you can get on passage, your full 8 hours after the 12 to 4 watch.
Things that I missed on watch teams 1 and 3 while I was sleeping included Carla breaking her ramen-making record, which was under 15 minutes this time, quite a bit down from her first go, apparently. Watch team 1 talked about ‘ballcuzzis’ as well as their plans to jump William (a part of watch team 3), break his legs, pee on him, and then Hibiclense him. Don’t worry, parents out there; it’s all a joke and all in good fun; things tend to get weird out in the middle of the Pacific. After the shenanigans of watches last night and a glorious sleep, I was awoken before lunch, which was chicken satay made by William Skyler and Lexi. They may or may not have gotten caught up with the aforementioned salt/sugar debacle when making their marinade the night prior, but lunch was still served. After lunch, we sang another round of Happy Birthday to Dylbo Baggins, which was followed by an Oceanography class. Today I taught about tides and how the moon and the sun create them as we near the end of our physical oceanography section of the class. After science was leadership class with Allie and Matt. They did something called Black and White cards, a classic in the GXG programs. If your parents are wondering what that might mean, you’ll have to wait until we’re in Tahiti and you talk to your personal humans because it’s a little bit of a t secret that I wouldn’t want to ruin for any future students.
What I will tell youiss that it was a very productive and a good bonding experience for all the students at a perfect time in our passage. After a little bit more watch or some free time, it was time for dinner. We (the staff), by this time as well, had just figured out our third and final rendition of watch teams that we were preparing to announce after dinner, so we knew it would be an eventful one. Dinner was pesto pasta with some amazing fresh bread rolls made by Ula, followed by two rounds of happy birthday songs to Dylan, brownies made by Alexis and Morana, as well as a group singing Katy Perry’s Firework. Not as well done as last night’s bohemian rhapsody, but wonderful nonetheless. Finally, it was time to reveal the watch teams. A lot of drum rolls and screaming happened before Skyler read them out. Screams of excitement also followed each team’s readout as many people are with people they haven’t been on watch with before, staff or students, and these will be the people we get to spend every waking moment with for the next 15+ days. A perfect time for a bit of change and one last opportunity to get to know some more people on board, even better, or maybe for the first time. Clean-up is currently happening around and above me on deck, and as the wave sets roll by there are oohs and aahs, and the sounds of bowls flying some amount of distance over the deck keep coming, and soon we’ll all roll back into watch for the night.
I must admit, I was unsure if I would ever actually get the chance to write a blog with the location “Underway to Tahiti.” The last time I did this trip two years ago, it was still the thick of Covid and French Polynesia gave us a hard no on coming into the country. This time with the prop breaking, I was debating if I was the bad juju on board both trips. But alas, here we are. I am very excited for the rest of the journey, as well as for what’s waiting for us on the other side in Tahiti. My blog time on Vela was short and sweet but absolutely wonderful.
Ps Hi mom, hi dad, hi Shaun, love and miss you guys, won’t talk to you soon, but sooner than it was!
Peace out, homies!