Location: Portsmouth, Dominica
Good day, avid readers, by this point, you already know what goes on, on my skipper days, but for those uninitiated, me being skipper means that Brahm is the head chef, which means that all of the pots and pans in the kitchen get used which means that the dishy pit is once again, miserable. Now that the uninitiated are initiated let’s begin.
This morning started out with an early wake-up (at least for me) when Brahm and his massive elephant feet made an absolute ruckus coming down the companionway at 5:41 AM, no concern for those asleep, only concerned about making some fantastic food (a worthwhile trade). At around 7, I got up, queued up some peaceful wake-up music for the crew, and then quickly changed into my swimsuit once Celia asked if Meg and I wanted to go for a swim. We jumped into the surprisingly glassy and comfortably warm water and were almost immediately met with multiple stings from who knows what. This didn’t phase us, however, as we swam out a ways and conversed as the sun slowly rose.
We swam back after a while and got dried off for breakfast; the crew was a little skeptical after gazing upon the 6 bags of spiral pasta the night before that would be used for breakfast this morning. However, our wavering thoughts were quelled once we had a bite. The strata were delicious, and once we had finished, the saltys corralled around the dishy pit for their bi-monthly misfortune only to realize that Brahm had gone easy on the dish load; they quickly rejoiced and got to work.
After breakfast, we were treated to some Oceanography with Sam. We learned about microplastics, pollution, and oil spills. i.e., humans suck at being kind to the ocean. We then learned some more sustainable ways to go about our daily lives to limit our environmental footprint and to reduce our use of plastics. Once Oceanography had concluded, we transitioned to Leadership with Ash. In this class, Liam taught the group how everyone could be a leader and a follower and the difference between being THE leader and being A leader (those would have been in italics, but I guess the blog doesn’t accept italics).
After Liam’s lovely leadership lecture, we relaxed for a quick second while Brahm slaved away on paella (Pi-A-Uh). We then engorged ourselves, cleaned up, and got ready for Rescue Diver class. We learned about how to administer emergency oxygen on the boat. Then in the water, we learned how to help a panicked diver (the goal of the “panicked diver” was to try and basically drown the person helping them, and the goal of the rescuer is to manhandle the panicked diver in a way where you can inflate their BCD). We then moved onto tired diver drills and how to pull an unconscious person into the dinghy. Sam did a masterful job at demo-ing what we were doing and didn’t struggle or have any trouble at all when pulling an unconscious but ever-laughing Meg into the dinghy. After we finished with Rescue Diver, we all relaxed until dinner; some read on the deck, others napped. We then all gathered at 6 for a lovely dinner of potato soup and bread (I can’t put into words how good the bread was, so I won’t).
Keaton and Addisen, and Katie are now in the process of making muffins for tomorrow’s breakfast which I am very excited about.
Overall a very lovely and fun-filled day (besides the sunburns)
Hello Mom and Dad and Chloe and all other living relatives
Picture 1: Meg and Celia jumping into an unknowingly large amount of jellyfish
Picture 2: Dishie pit (the more you look, the better it gets)
Picture 3: Liams lovely leadership lecture
Picture 4: Julian not letting a single ounce of chicken go to waste (go Julian for reducing food waste)
Picture 5: Brahm Pointing at paella
Picture 6: Crew obtaining paella
Picture 7: Celia enjoying paella
Picture 8: Liam and ‘Toph getting seconds of paella
Picture 9: The crew happy and full after eating paella
Picture 10: Grady dancing after consuming paella
Picture 11: People getting ready for rescue diver pt. 1
Picture 12: People getting ready for rescue diver pt. 2 (ft. a business deal of a lifetime)
Picture 13: Rescue Diver
Picture 14: Addisen (Ft. Bucket hat)
Picture 15: Sunset