Location: Some blue blue and more blue
Picture this: It’s 6:42 in the morning. You were on watch from 8-12 pm the night before listening to some good old Bon Iver, jumping for joy, looking up at the stars with your three girls, Zoe, Emma, and Shelby (you too, Johnathan 😉 ), and all of a sudden you hear WHALE. You literally jump out of your bed, grab your PFD (super dope life jacket), and sprint up the companionway. You see Charley, Emma, and Anda jumping with joy, telling you that they just saw orcas. Of course, Dan was there with his camera, taking awesome footage. All of a sudden, you see it! It’s a possibly once-in-a-lifetime spotting. During this spot, Anda tries to throw his leftover cereal into the ocean, although, despite his good intentions, all the milk comes back onto the boat, hitting Michelle in the face. Being optimistic to the point of delusion, she said: “Oh, that milk tastes pretty yummy.” Yep, this was the morning/ night I had. T’was pretty darn cool! After this amazing spotting, my watch team (Garrett, Zoe, Johnathan, Joey, Emma, and Shelby) had to keep the boat afloat from 8-12 am. She’s still here, so I guess we did a good job! It was a bit of a rocky start because everyone was still a little sleepy, but after a few hype-up songs, the group was ready to go! Unfortunately, we lost a few players to the galley (Johnathan and Shelby), who joined Charley as head chef in the galley to make some super awesome tacos! However, this wasn’t before her super duper cool flying fish dissection. At the end of the watch, our friends Nate, Runyon, Lucie, and Tom came to chat with us, which made the time fly by. After lunch, which was amazingly delicious, we had leadership class, where Charley presented on working within organizations and groups. Nora and I did a skit, which made it impossible for me to keep a straight face, but it was lots of fun! After a tiny power nap ( approximately 6 minutes), we jumped right into nav master. We have finished all of the course material; now, we are just practicing. Andy has been a great help during class, so thank you so much to him! We should be taking our test in the next few days, so wish us luck! Little did we know it, but it was almost time for dinner. Although, I did something bad 🙁 I broke a mug. Not just any mug, but everybody’s favorite mug, so I felt really bad. That’s what happens when you don’t have 40/40 things in the galley! (40/40 means making sure things are put away in order to endure 40 knots of wind and a 40-degree tilt). Lesson learned! Right before dinner, Mac was practicing his loon calls. He’s getting better, but no one will ever be better than the master himself: Will. Maybe it was the calls from the master or just sheer luck, but all of a sudden, Ara yells DOLPHINS! Second spot of the day. I tell you, the people on this boat have a great eye for marine life. These dolphins were sooo cool! After the watch party and dinner, which was some great chicken spaghetti accompanied by some of the best garlic knots I’ve ever had (courtesy of Shelby. Thanks Shelby!), we did squeeze. The question was: What is your favorite thing about Vela? There were many blog-worthy answers, but Joey’s took the gold. He said that he truly enjoys the music that the galley makes during the night, which comes from the pots and pans sliding around in the cabinets. Come to think of it, I truly enjoy these wonderful melodies as well. I sure will miss it when we are docked. That being said, we are going to arrive in the Azores in 2-3 days! Not that we do not like passage, but 18 days of just blue, blue, and more blue can make you feel a little blue sometimes. Although, I can’t say that I won’t miss it! Thank you, guys, for reading the blog, I hope you had as enjoyable a time as I did. Until next time! -Florence