Location: St. Vincent
We started day 17 aboard Ocean Star with a delicious English breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs, sausages, and oven-roasted tomatoes, all of which were made with love by our 3 chefs (Max, Jaden, and Cleo). Before lunch, some of us started our Nav Master course with Smash, during which we were introduced to charting. While half of us discussed latitude, longitude, and charting in the salon, another group of us dove below Ocean Star (completing our first boat entry into the water) to do a peak performance buoyancy dive.
Our galley crew cooked up some more scrambled eggs for lunch (so many eggs!) with bacon to make BLT sandwiches, although we lacked the L and T given that we are nearing the end of our 11 days’ worth of provisions (which means that more food is soon to come!). This hearty lunch fueled our next group of divers and gave the remainder of us some brainpower to begin the Nav Master course.
Despite all of this activity aboard Ocean Star, the true highlight of our day was receiving our negative COVID-19 tests back, which CLEARED US INTO LAND! At long last, after 17 days of living at sea, we took our first steps on land. It was quite a procession to reach land seeing that Ash had to do 3 voyages to and from Fort Duvernette to dinghy us all to this spectacular, historic island. Upon our arrival, we found stable ground and praised the land that we had missed so dearly for the past 17 days. After climbing the 256 steps to the top and seeing old cannons along the way, we settled on the rocks and watched the sunset over St. Vincent. From this viewpoint, we could see Ocean Star swaying in the evening’s calm waters. It was peaceful, and we were all very grateful for this breathtaking sight.
Back at Ocean Star, we were greeted by a wonderful meal of lentil Shepherd’s pie. Gathered around the cockpit under our new fairy lights, we then started our Squeeze with the question: What game or movie universe would you most like to live in? This question brought upon some truly interesting answers, including “the first Harry Potter” (some of us were slightly confused by this because then one would die after the end of the first novel since it’s a series). We also had someone specify that they would be a muggle in Harry Potter (how odd to want to be an ordinary person!). A few other (more normal) answers were Percy Jackson, Pandora, Narnia, and Lego Star Wars. This wrapped up our evening and our first day of stepping foot on land since our arrival in Antigua!
Sea ya later!
Captions:
1. The galley crew (Cleo, Max, and Jaden)
2. Classic Joel showing-off
3. Canned fruit for the win with Grace/Chloe, Sophie, and Kris
4. Max passed out after arduous lunch duties
5. Sunset at Fort Duvernette
6. “We can see Ocean Star from afar (cause we’re on land!).” featuring Sophie and Jacquie
7. One-piece twinning featuring Maria, Grace/Chloe, Kris, and Cleo
8. Wanna be prom pic
9. Smiling for trees and leaves
10. Heatwaves
11. Marles’ massive cannon
12. Missing something Grace/Chloe? Featuring 2 cameras and an iPhone
13. Hanging on for dear life featuring Kris
14. Laundry lines featuring Grace/Chloe and Amelia