Location: Barbados
Hi, fam! WHAT IS UPPPPP! We have made it to the Caribbean (insert head explosion). It’s hard to believe that we are already on day 53 of this program and all of our Atlantic crossing is officially complete. Last night was bittersweet for a lot of us since it was the final full ocean sunset with no land in sight. Now that we’re in the Caribbean, even while we are on passage from island to island, there will never be a moment when we don’t see any land on the horizon. I feel like everyone on this boat has a bit of a differing opinion on how fond they are of passage, but for me, it’s my favorite part. If you remember my blog from 23 days ago, you would know that I’m the chic who fell down the companionway and broke her foot. I actually was literally inches away from being sent home for it when it first happened, but thankfully ended up being allowed to stay. The crazy thing is that now, six and a half weeks later, we’ve arrived in the Caribbean, and my foot is healed. Let me tell ya, the ocean is the most beautiful place to heal. Physically, spiritually, emotionally… absolutely nothing compares to the level of pure happiness I feel out there. Anyways, that’s enough feelings chat… let’s talk about our day!
My day started at 3:30 this morning for the 4-8 am watch (my favorite). Right when I came up to watch, I could already see all the bright lights of Barbados, which was quite the wake-up compared to many previous night watches. Very shortly into my watch, Maddy and I went on a very secret mission to bake a peach cobbler for Laszlo because TODAY IS HIS BIRTHDAY!! Yay, nought WOOHOOO 20! One of the super fun things about cooking on this boat – other than the fact that everything is spilling everywhere while you cook – is that literally everything is a guess, but somehow, it always turns into something. In the case of me and Maddy’s pie, it turned out FANTASTIC. We spent a solid two hours in the wee hours of the morning absolutely vibing and getting thrown around the galley while reenacting the entire Eras tour setlist and, of course, making a pie for Laszlo.
After my watch was over, I worked on a bit of schoolwork, and then Allie, Frida, and I went out on the dingy to attach Vela to the mooring while we waited to enter the marina. It was a lot of fun! After lunch, we did boat appreciation. Safe to say, Vela is looking really clean now thanks to all the hard work that everyone put in today, making her all fresh and clean again. After BA, it was time to bring Vela into the marina, which meant all hands on deck. I helped with some fenders, but other people had jobs such as dropping anchor, watching our depth, and attaching dock lines. After we were all settled into our home for the next few days, we banged out some dive certification videos and tests before dinner as well as some more after dinner. While we were watching one of the videos, we took a brief intermission because we got word that a woman was about to row into the marina after completing a 50-something-day row solo across the Atlantic. It was absolutely WILD to see her pull into the marina and reunite with her family and friends. I definitely cried. Will was the head chef today, and he made some great meals. Dinner was a white chicken chili that was super yum followed by the pie that Maddy and I made for dessert! Squeeze question tonight was, “What memory of the trip so far do you wish you could go back to?” Everyone had a variety of answers, some being places they wish they made a different choice and some just being moments that were so special they wished they could live again. My answer was the first clear night on passage to Saint Helena that we could see the stars. I go crazy for some stars, and they’re pretty insane out there. And now we’re here, and I am SLUMPED, lol. I’ve been up for 18 hours straight, and I would very much like to go to sleep right now.
Fam and friends back home… I LOVE YA, and I will call you once I find WiFi, lol. Special shout out to my brother cause I was a bad sister and forgot to say hi to him in my last blog post… HI BROTHA. Also, shout out to my dog cause it was her birthday the other day… I just love ya! Talk to ya’ll in 23 days!
– Emma, Eems, no longer crip the skip