Location: Civitavecchia
To start our very first morning, as today’s skipper, I had the pleasure of waking up the rest of the crew. The plan was to get up early, grab the speaker, and blast some awful music into each cabin. One problem: everyone was awake before me. I’m unsure of what motivated everyone to rise at such an ungodly hour, but there I was, already failing in my duty on day one.
The start to my morning would have been a disappointment if the galley team (James, Grace, and Mich) hadn’t prepared a delectable buffet of bacon, eggs, and fresh fruit. Immediately after, we were briefed on our personal safety equipment, including our “gumby suits,” which made us all look absolutely ridiculous. We were told that these bright red suits were for safety, but I’m convinced the staff just wanted a good excuse to laugh at us. James’ birthday was today, so we all sang to him while sweating in these crazy costumes.
We were then divided into four groups, rotating around different parts of the boat, learning the details about how everything operated around our new home. An incredible amount of information was presented to us throughout these lectures, all of it important, but I retained exactly none of it.
Next was most people’s highlight of the day: lunch. It wasn’t the delicious sandwiches we ate or the camaraderie between shipmates that made lunch so great, but instead, on the yacht next to us, there was an absolute specimen of a human being. When I tell you this deckhand had a body of Neptune, I am not kidding. His shoulders were the size of melons, and I imagine you could grate cheese on his abs. Watching him scrub the deck was definitely a site to see.
After that show, we had some free time to explore beautiful Civitavecchia. One group went out to the grocery store, and a gelato ran. The others lounged aboard the ship and napped. We then began our dive course, which consisted of watching an introductory video for beginners. I actually had no idea what the advanced people did.
For dinner, James “Meat Master” Antonson and the rest of the galley team made us delicious burritos, and we got cakes for James’ birthday. After all the food we had eaten today, we couldn’t possibly finish all the cakes. Thankfully, Eliza made the day of the fishermen in front of us by bringing them our leftovers.
All in all, it was a fantastic day, and I look forward to many more. And lastly, Mom, I am deeply sorry for my abysmal grammar in this post.