Location: Cocos Keeling
Ello CocUs Keeeling! Did you know there can be 30-minute time changes? Because l did not. I started the day by setting up my speaker to play Tongue Tied by Grouplove to wake everyone up only to see Ben rush down the hall to alarm me. It was only 6:30!!! The gift l gave people this morning was knowing that they had 30 more minutes of sleep. Youre welcome. It was the perfect temperature this morning for the first group of divers to do their dawn dive! We all had breakfast, then set off to do a fun dive around the reef! We saw many cool fish and reef sharks, this was for most of us the first dive as a certified advanced open water diver! After the dive, we had some lunch and then prepared for the ultimate seamester challenge course!!! A brief explanation for how the games work is that there are three teams (the pink team, the yellow team, and the blue team, aka the f goats/team BAAA) that were decided last night by the goblet of fire. We all must work with our team to acquire points throughout each challenge. Whoever has the most claims victory!! Hannah and I fuelled up on biscoff butter and our daily fruit of the day, we were ready for anything and everything this game had to offer Once we arrived at the mainland, there were challenges that definitely pushed our limits physically, mentally, and spiritually. Some words that describe the challenges are struggle, turtles, spit, hunt, communicate, commitment, mini soccer ball, Clayson, and wasps. During one of the challenges, l got split up from my teammates after the pink team was chasing us through the thick forest of palm trees on the island. For the rest of the game (25 minutes), l was lost on this island, with only the hope to see another face again soon and return back to Argo before dinner. Thankfully, after feeling like l was on survival, scratched up and stung by wasps, l made it back to the main path! This was the highlight of my day: to see the path after bushwhacking, to see something other than palm trees. To see Ali walking down the path coming towards me!! The yellow team claimed victory as they gathered most points from the games, well done. After the games were finished, we all headed back to Argo for dinner. Everyone was tired after a long day on shore, although ultimately, they had stories to be told and their competitive spirit filled. My squeeze question of the day was, what ice cream flavor would the person to your left be? And do you lick or bite your ice cream in a cup or cone there were many creative answers. Sending love to home and family, miss you all so much! We are crossing the Indian Ocean in a couple of days; talk to you on the other side!! – Ava R.