Location: Underway to the Caribbean
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Vela blog! Today is day 59 of the program and day 4 of the Atlantic Crossing. Time is quickly starting to become a foreign concept as we rotate constantly through watches. Watch team 1 (Watson, Brendan, Talia, Grace C, Chloe, Edwardo, and I) started our day at 3:30 this morning. With the group up on deck by 3:45, we spent the next four hours talking, telling stories, and playing games. Once watch group 2 (Dan, Jesse, Lukas, Liam, Lillian, Audrey, and Elis) took over at 8 am, most of us headed straight back to sleep until lunch. At 11:45, our esteemed head chef, Ben, woke everyone up for a lovely nacho plate meal.
While we waited for everyone in the cockpit, we saw a shark! After lunch and clean up, we headed to the salon to learn about leadership and oceanography. In leadership with Smash, we played some fun partner games to practice communication, and Mich taught us how every natural system that we learned about is connected. After class, watch one was back on deck, and let me tell you, I am so grateful we were. As I ate my banana with peanut butter, I noticed a big splash in the corner of my eye. I yelled, Dolphins!! without really knowing what I had seen. When I got to the rail, I saw an entire pod of false killer whales swimming alongside the boat. They were incredible and HUGE, and they played alongside our boat long enough for everyone to come on deck and have a chance to see them. But our luck got even better from there! Between class and dinner, we saw a hammerhead shark and dolphins, and Mac caught a baby, Mahi Mahi! Dinner was served at the usual 6 pm, and Ben outdid himself with a fantastic veggie lasagna.
Today was a big day for marine life, and we all shared this appreciation during squeeze and answered my question, What career do you see the person to your right pursuing?. We all got some great answers to this question, really showing each other how much we know about one another. Amy said I would be the organizer on the Netflix show Queer Eye. Im sure my family back home would agree! We are finishing clean up currently, and then watch team 3 ( Luke, Mac, Max, Cat, James, Theo, Grace N, Eliza) is on for the 8-12 watch! Im sure everyone else will be heading to bed shortly to ensure they are well-rested for their later watch. On that note, goodnight from Vela! We will be back tomorrow with Elis as the skipper!
Sending so, so, so much love to my Mama, Dad, Brock, grandparents, and family at home. I miss you guys so, so much!