Location: Fiji to Palau
For those in the fos’cle, there was a bright and early wake up around 6:30 from a visitor. Now, who could be visiting Argo in the middle of the Pacific? That would be a bird, later named Jude, who fell in through their hatch while watch team 3 was reopening them. After a panicked start and dodged attacks, a sheet was thrown over the bird by Kelsey, Lainey, and Casey, and it was carried up on deck. By the time my watch (watch team 1) got up on deck around 8, Jude was still sitting by the corner of the chart house. We soon discovered her beak had impaled itself into the sheet, and she was quite stuck. Steph, Kelsey, and Sidney got to work to free Jude from her cotton clutches. By enlisting the help of a pair of scissors and tongs, Jude was finally freed, with the only casualty being Steph’s top sheet.
After being serenaded by watch team 1’s rendition of “Hey Jude,” she chilled on deck, gathering her strength in a set of squalls before departing Argo around 11. With Jude on her merry way, we tuckered into a lovely pasta salad courtesy of Anna. After lunch, we students were graced with a much-appreciated study hour to prepare for our oceanography midterm. Tucked into the salon with some frantic last-minute studying, we settled in for the exam, which seems to have the general consensus of “better than we thought it would go.” Post exam we were met with an open afternoon. As free time is hard to come by and there are quite a few academic assignments at the moment, everyone was grateful to have a bit of time for themselves. The general thought was to have time to work on our group research projects for oceanography, but most people spent the time finishing their literature reviews, doing laundry, or simply chatting up on deck. Dinner was a lovely veggie lasagna accompanied by some delicious chocolate chip cookie bars (desserts make everyone on board just a bit happier). For the Squeeze tonight, everyone was asked what their favorite and least favorite watch times are. Among a variety of answers, the least favorite tended to be the 8-12 morning session, commonly hated due to the lack of free time in the morning. The favorites were a bit more mixed, but honorable mentions include the 0-4, which provides ample sleep time before and after as well as free time in the morning, and the 4-8, which again has sleep time before and after (can you tell how much we love our sleep) and provides an excellent sunrise when we are following the right time zones. Now showers are being taken, and clean up is being finished as we get closer and closer to the wonderful country of Palau.