Location: Les Saintes, Guadeloupe
Ten days left. Ten short days until this voyage officially ends and we say goodbye to our shipmates. Its a bittersweet part of this lifestyle; Crews come together and learn the ropes. As a voyage goes on, time often passes slowly from moment to moment, but seems to race by in hindsight. Crews come on board as strangers. Many who are just beginning to get their first taste of independence are asked to learn the importance of interdependence when living as a part of a crew. The importance of cooperation: choosing your battles wisely but setting and guarding your boundaries fiercely. Ruffled feathers, hurt feelings, and bickering are almost inevitable in such a small shared space. You learn quickly to talk things over and remedy any bad blood. We learn each others strengths and weaknesses and adapt. Through mutual hardships, through the shared highs and lows of a program, those who were strangers come out the other side changed. A unified crew full of individuals more capable than before. People who, through teamwork, have become more independent and, through personal growth, have learned how to work together.
Then, after 3 months, we part ways. It is often difficult to express to people who were not there just how exactly it was what it is like to do what we have done. So many small moments went into making this program what it has been. You get so used to living with your crew that at times it feels surreal to come back into the normal rhythm of life on land. It can feel a bit isolating that nobody around you can really relate to what you just went through. Some people just need time to reflect on the experience. Some people dive back into sailing in some way or another. Many of our staff, including myself, were former students.
How each shipmate responds is different, but one thing is certain: there are 28 other people out there who get it. People you can reach out to. People you know through and through because you have seen them at their highs and at their lows.
Anyways, enough high-level sad boy thoughts and reflections. Today we woke up to a nice breakfast and taught the students how to drive our tiller-steered dinghy, Plaii. Everybody learned some outboard basics like how to start and basic troubleshooting if it doesnt (aint got no gas in it). We practiced approaching a mooring ball, tight turning maneuvers, and docking. After lunch, we ran our first solo dive (with a buddy, of course). Every diver on board has technically been certified to dive without an instructor for some time now, and its important that our students leave Argo fully capable of diving without us looking over their shoulders. Our divers were given the opportunity to buddy up and run their own dive while Nacho ran the dinghy as surface support. After dinner, we went on a night dive, which I was lucky enough to attend. We dove along a shallow reef wall and saw all kinds of critters out and about, not normally active during the day. Many lobsters, cleaner shrimp, and some eels were wandering about. I had a UV light, and some of the undersea life reflected it in such a cool, fluorescent way that it was mesmerizing. Near the end of the dive, we doused our lights and waved our hands around to see the bioluminescent plankton in the water. Rachel calls this fairy time.
Well, thanks for reading. This sailor is going to bed.
-Shane