Location: Pan du Sucre, Les Saintes
For the first time in a few days, wake up was at the regular time, and the regular time felt exceptionally early. The boat had a somewhat slow start (probably because the skipper is not much of a morning person), but breakfast was finished, and Michael and myself headed off to finish dive skills/continue Divemaster training. The rest of the crew geared up for their Peak Performance Buoyancy dive, which would take place after Micheal and I got back. Although I wasn’t there, it sounded like a lot of fun. The group was split up into teams, and the divers swam through hoops and worked on improving their buoyancy with weight exercises and games. There was a buoyancy race/challenge, and the winning team was rewarded with the first dinghy ride to town.
After a tiring morning of diving, lunch was looking exceptionally appealing. A hearty lunch followed, and then it was on to Oceanography. Brandon gave a presentation on climate change’s effect on hurricanes, and a brief lecture followed. Afterward, we headed for town. It was our first time setting foot in Les Saintes, and after a somewhat bumpy dinghy ride, we were excited to be there. Les Saintes was settled by the French and has held onto their French roots since. After spending some time exploring the island and unsuccessfully attempting to talk to some shop merchants, the Ocean Star gang headed over to the laundromat where the staff had delivered our laundry a few days earlier. Unfortunately, the laundry attendant didn’t speak any English either and wouldn’t accept USD. The ATMs to take out Euros were closed, but thankfully, the laundromat did accept credit cards. As soon as we began going through the pile of Ocean Star laundry bags, we began to realize that all of our clothes were all in a different bag than the one we brought them in.
Further, some clothes were mixed in with other people’s clothes, and Eliza’s clothes were in the bag with fresh linens for the bunks. We began sorting through bags trying to find each other’s clothes and determine how much we had to pay for our individual bags. Steve tells us that this is the best place to do laundry for miles.
After town, we hurled the laundry in plastic garbage bags and headed back on another bumpy dinghy ride to Ocean Star. Tom was head chef tonight, so we arrived back to a delicious meal prepared by Tom and did a quick sheet change tidying up of the salon. Tomorrow, we have an optional sunrise hike up the mountain near where we are anchored. I assume it will be an early night for everyone, in anticipation of all of the adventures tomorrow.
P.S. Mom and Dad, I am only one dive away from my Open Water certification! Sending lots of love as always 🙂