Location: Underway to Ahe Atoll
We started our day off with a wet drop off onto the most picturesque black sand beach. In the distance, we saw sloping cliffs and mountains with a range of shades of green. To get to the trail, we walked through a little village when we were stopped by two friendly locals. The first offered us food, and the second offered to take our money. AKA we realized we were supposed to pay a fee to enter the park :(. For a second, we thought we wouldn’t be able to go, but thankfully, Charlie speaks just barely enough French to ask them to let us pay them later, and being friendly locals, they obliged. Our hike entailed crossing multiple rivers and streams. While some of us had Tevas and Keens, others regretted their decision to bring sneakers when their socks got muddy and soaked, so they decided to go barefoot (which they would also later regret). We were prepared with sandwiches, but were pleasantly surprised to find tons of mangos along the way to snack on!! We got a little turned around, but made it back to a trail where we were faced with yet another river crossing. At this point, our trail became the river, and we traversed through it. The group got a bit separated, so we attempted to do a count-off, and it was actually our best one yet! All our voices echoed, and everyone heard Ruby. After we double checked that we were all together, we continued on and finally made it to a clearing and were astonished by the beautiful soaring cliffs surrounding us with lush greenery everywhere!! We walked through the canyon to see our final destination, the waterfall! We really enjoyed the refreshing swim and massage from the waterfall. We took some time to take some gorgeous pictures and eat our sandwiches before our trek back. This time, we found the actual path and didn’t go down through the river. We had some extra floor mangos on the walk back as extra sustenance for our journey.
We were greeted with the most delicious lunch prepared by the locals. We had fresh-caught tuna, plantain chips, fried bananas, and papaya salad. We were finally able to quench our thirst with the yummy limeade. It was the perfect ending to our perfect hike! The entire time, I was just so thankful to be here because the scenery and nature looked straight out of a movie. The pictures definitely don’t do it justice.
When we got back to Argo, our student-led passage was set to begin! We all worked together to get the boat ready to go. We also met some new characters along the way who got a little in the way. Because this is a student-led passage, the staff have taken the role of new students who don’t know anything about sailing. It was definitely entertaining at times. Brittney (Meg) took a nap in the dingy with 6 and 7 (Rachel and Shane) meanwhile Bob and B (Charlie and Aidan) were the opposite of helpful at the bow and wanted to go swimming with the mantas. Together, we worked to get all the sails ready and lift the anchor to start our 3-day passage.
The sky was lit up with streaks of pink as we were sailing out of our anchorage, eating dinner.
My new watch team (2) is now on watch and sailing under the stars, which is such a peaceful way to end such a great day.
PS to my friends and family, sorry I never replied to your messages. We lost service, but I’ll update you all soon. Love and miss u xx
Xoxo,
Helena