Location: Mayreau, St Vincent and the Grenadines
Greetings from Ocean Star!
My name is Tate, and today I had the infamous job of the skipper, a role I have been eagerly waiting for. The day started off very bright and early in a beautiful bay off of Bequia. It was the first morning in a while with no rain, so Sophie, Teddy, Steffi, and I soaked it up with some morning yoga/workout routines, followed by our lovely ocean showers in the crystal clear waters. I wanted to wake everyone up in the most pleasant ways possible, so instead of blasting music and clapping in the sleeper’s ears, I softly played The Beatles classic, ‘Here Comes the Sun’ (it felt fitting), brewed a fat pot of coffee for everyone (because who doesn’t love coffee first thing in the morning???) and individually woke everyone up with back rubs and hugs. I think everyone deserves that once in a while. We then enjoyed a bagel, bacon, and fruit breakfast prepared for us by Eamon, Ash, and William Squilliam. After clean-up, we set a course for what we hoped to be Tobago Keys.
Things started out smoothly, but with our luck, we ran into problems rather quickly. Our engine failed us not once but twice, leaving it up to the sails to take us on our journey most of the way … if only you could see the blisters I have on my hands right now. On the bright side, the technical difficulties gave us much more experience up on deck, and I think everyone would agree. The day was spent finishing up school work, practicing on the sails, and getting to see the beautiful Caribbean coast.
Sadly, Tobago Keys will have to wait for tomorrow because we wouldn’t have been able to get there before sundown, so we pulled into another small bay in Mayreau. We were greeted with a breath-taking sunset (featuring Vienna by Billy Joel playing in the background), and I think that was the highlight of everyone’s day. We also saw two Spotted Eagle Rays swimming alongside the boat after dinner! Tomorrow we will have a short sail to Tobago Keys in the morning, and finally, get to step onto some new land. I think one thing we can all learn from this experience is that plans don’t always go the way we want them to, and it’s up to us to either fight that or accept it and learn how to be flexible and okay with the uncomfortable unknown. Well, I’m going to end this here because I have boat watch at 4 am and need my beauty sleep.
Goodnight everyone! (: