Location: Underway to St. Helena
I don’t think that I’ve truly comprehended that we are sailing across the Atlantic. Every morning when I wake up, I am somehow surprised by the lack of land in sight. Walking up on deck for my 8 o’clock watch this morning, I was greeted with 360 degrees of just horizon. Now, it’s truly incredible, but I’ve found if you think about it too much, it is truly enough to make you seasick. Talking about seasickness, all of our recent patients seem to be on the up and up. The wind has calmed down some, which is sure to be a contributor, but it sure is nice to see everyone sleeping in their own beds instead of the saloon. My watch started with us putting up the flying jib…. which we then took down less than an hour later. Hey, it’s all good practice, right? About halfway through my watch, I left for my PSCT course, where Freddie taught us all about how to use different light sets up to identify a boat at night. I still don’t fully understand the difference between underway and making way, but maybe don’t tell him that. Unfortunately, between the PSCT course and the chefs cooking lunch, watch team 3 was left with a grand total of 4 people. Don’t worry, though, because they crushed it even if they were missing their best member (me). After lunch, we had a marine biology class taught by the one and only Ben, where we learned basic ecology and worked on our ID log books. Next was Gabe, teaching us how to be right and proper seamen. He did this by showing off his drawing skills in a number of diagrams where he attempted to explain every piece of rigging on Argo. I enjoyed that, as it made me feel more confident in my knowledge of the boat.
Following classes, I caught up on some of my work and then joined Audrey in the hunt for her missing computer charger. Dinner was prepared by our head chef Ben and our sous chefs, MG and David, and can I just say that they killed it? Chicken tenders, brussel sprouts, and mashed potatoes? Scrumptious. The endless horizon over here seems to be shaping up for a brilliant sunset which I will get the privilege of witnessing on my 6-8 dog watch. It’s been super cool to see everyone adjust to life on passage, and it truly seems like we’ve started to get our routine down, which has been so cool to see. Still crossing my fingers that we’ll be able to see whale sharks in St. Helena. Excited to wish the endless ocean goodnight before going to bed in prep for my 4 am watch tomorrow morning.
Signing off,
Zoe
ps. Elvis, I miss you.