Location: UW to Antigua
After waking up to an amazing breakfast of chia seed and plantain pudding, we cleaned up and took our last Oceanography Exam. We had voted in our student-led passage leaders just the night before, and we got ready to go for our last passage led by us students. The roles were as follows: Amelia as Captain, Emy as First Mate, Skylar, Julia, and Isabelle B as Navigators, Rachel as Engineer, and Hendo, Maya, and Jac as Watch Team Leaders. We put the boat into shape for passage, and all our leaders ensured we did what we needed to get off the dock. With a little help from our staff, our student leaders coordinated when we took off, how best to get to Antigua, how to turn on and work with the engine, generators, and water-maker, when and where to organize our crew to take up anchor and raise the forward staysail, main staysail, and the FULL MAIN SAIL! (So freakin’ cool!), and finally, how to make our way to our final destination. We presented our Oceanography project presentations after Jimmy swam back to our Vela after taking off our dock lines. We presented on topics such as how salinity is affected by various weather and climate phenomenon and what types of fish we saw based on location and distance from land. We rolled into watch teams, the staff giving entire vessel operations over to the leaders. While this was terrifying and a bit stressful, it was at the same time one of the most invigorating and beautiful feelings we had experienced because having that much responsibility and power showed all of us how far we had come as a family.