Location: Underway to Dominica
Happy Halloween, followers of Ocean star’s blog!! Today has been a spooky one, for sure.
Picture this:
You wake up to a figure in the doorway, who happens to be sporadically flicking a deck of cards into the 6-man. You want to ask, “who’s there?” or say, “what are you throwing?” but words don’t seem to work for you at the ripe hour of 3 am. So instead, you just lay there, watching as the cards fly out of the mystery figure’s hands and into the 6-man bunks. Within a minute, your brain starts to work again (which is good because, as we know, on Halloween, zombies like to roam and hunt for people’s brains. The last thing you want is them eating yours. Its kinda important when living on a boat) and realize its mischief night. Of course. It’s Aidan carrying out his plans for a night of mischief that he has been plotting since his arrival on the boat. For a man like Aidan, who is a self-proclaimed “night man”, a night like last was an opportunity he could not give up. As I awoke for my watch at 5 am, I noticed the duck tape streamers hanging from the 6-man, a container of bread in Carli’s bed, the broom in Kate’s bed, and the trashcan in the head; I knew the day was only getting started. Chef Carli killed it with the scones for breakfast, putting everyone in an excited and sugared-up mood ( as most people are on Halloween). Talk about sugared up– Kebo and Sean both finished an entire bag of skittles today. That statement in itself is something that should scare you to death. Kebo’s voice is still reverberating in my head as I imagine him saying (over and over as he did today), “I ate red, I ate green, I ate orange, I ate yellow, and blue” as he raced back and forth on deck. How old are we, you might be asking? Coupled in with passage prep activities, we had Marine Bio with Steph, where we learned some cool things about coral but also some scary~news — the declining rate of coral )): After class, we got the anchor up and the sails raised. I think it is safe to say everyone is feeling a lot more comfortable with the boat, which is encouraging at more than halfway through the program!! At times we weren’t talking ourselves in circles with random topics — we’ve resorted to calling this phenomenon Ocean Madness— the boat engaged in a friendly (off-tune for sure) sing-along of “Nightman”. You might ask what Nightman is. It is the most amazing piece of musical art ever created on the sitcom “ts Always Sunny in Philadelphia”. I won’t ruin the art by trying to replicate it through this blog, but I suggest having a peek (a-BOO) after this. Be afraid, be aware– it’s incredibly catchy. Steph just told me “Nightman” is stuck in her head, and I don’t think she has ever seen the show or knows what the song is about.
Another scary thing that occurred today (unfortunately) was the spilling of half the guac overboard due to some rolling waves on our passage to Dominica today. When you combine quesadillas (thank you, Alexis and Aidan) with guac, beans (candy), corn, and a series of rolling waves, queasy stomachs, and lack of light, you’re bound to get some scary outcomes (that being the spilling of all the food). Despite all these scaries, today was a great yet wildly interesting day full of bad jokes, erratic laughter, and Nightman. What more could you ask for?
Photo 1: Mia and Kate sweating the foresail sheet
Photo 2: Sean asking Drew a question about raising the foresail
Photo 3: Drew checking the foresail mermaid line
Photo 4: Kebo looking dapper
Photo 5: Drew preparing the jib sheet
Photo 6: Last views of St Lucia
Photo 7: Waring leading the jib raise
Photo 8: Ashlyn coiling
Photo 9: Sean satisfied with the sail raises
Photo 10: Ryan, during sail, raises
Photo 11: Steph and Heather dressed up for Halloween