Location: Falmouth Harbour, Antigua
3:50 a.m., the lights go on in my cabin. My first thought was, “I’m going to kill whoever decided to wake up my cabin mate for anchor watch by turning on all the lights.” My second thought was, “Oh, wait, that’s right. We have to get up and set sail for Antigua.” I walk into the saloon, and people are already about ready to get started. It’s incredible how eager we all are to set the sails so we can go back to sleep, depending on what watch team you are. We all get up on deck and do the finishing touches on passage prep, everyone in a slightly sleep-deprived giddiness. Watch team three set the main, two set the main staysail, and watch team one set the forward staysail. We thought we had the forward staysail this time, but right at the end, we saw that once again, we had been bested as we missed one shackle on the stay (we still think we would have been fine if there had been light). Watch team three took over watch from 5-8, while watch teams one and two went back to bed. Last watches were a little sad, but most of us tried not to think about it too much. Within 20 minutes of Antigua, we all sat down for dinner at 6, seeing a beautiful pink-fire sunset, and then we set anchor. Our day wasn’t over yet, though, as we still had to present our research projects. Around 9:30, we were able to stumble to bed and recharge for the well-anticipated all-day boat appreciation the next day.