Location: Underway to French Guyana
Our final hours in Brazil. They began with a tray of zucchini bread and fresh fruit complimented with the not-too-often-seen yogurt cup. We lagged around a bit, enjoying breakfast before jumping straight into the final touches of passage prep. It’s awesome how everyone is able to get an order and, without hesitation, go and complete it. This meant PP was done with plenty of time to spare, a good thing because the boat moved an hour ahead to counter the sun setting so early. Very soon after passage prep had been concluded, the blaring of a fire alarm rang throughout the boat as students scrambled to grab type 1 PFDs. Many of us being on new watch teams, this was a good time for us to practice emergency situations with new roles, and in my opinion (maybe it’s just because we were at anchor), it was the best one we’ve done yet. Keeping the fire hose up on deck, we prepared to haul up the anchor out of the mud as ominous clouds approached. Claire and Katie propped themselves up on the bow netting with the hose, and the rest of the crew donned either swimsuits or full foul weather gear as the sky opened up, releasing rain that stung your face and turned the gunnels into streams. We were successful in getting the anchor up with no problems and were off with more showers following. The next couple of hours were spent raising all 6 of the boat sails, a beautiful sight, and trying to find some wind. After lunch, the students packed down below to take the biology mid-term, followed by nap time for many. Watch team 2 managed to turn off the engine for a while, but shortly after a savory meal of pork chops, broccoli, and rice, the engine was turned back on to try and keep all sails full. The crew has quickly fallen into passage life, and at 7:30 PM, many are already in bunks, dozing in and out while trying to study. Tomorrow hopefully brings more wind, delicious food, and new friendships in the watch teams.