Location: Tortola, BVI
This morning, I awoke with the excitement of knowing that it was finally time to pull off the dock, but before then, there was much to do and prepare. We woke up, and quickly, the crew changed straight into bathing suits and jumped straight into the warm Caribbean waters for a pre-breakfast swim test. After everyone successfully passed, we jumped back on board, dried off, and then had some breakfast. After breakfast and clean up, it was time to meet upstairs in the restaurant near the dock to cover some general program information and policies. Once we finished upstairs, the crew had some time to grab some last-minute things we needed on land.
Finally, after a bit of briefing from myself, as well as from first mate Nick, it was time to pull off the dock. We slipped the dock lines, and I maneuvered Ocean Star through the anchorage and around the corner of Frenchman’s Cay. Just like that, we were off- heading up the Sir Francis Drake Channel, beginning our 80-day voyage. Felt so good to get Ocean Star moving again and to see the excitement on everyone’s faces as we passed some of the islands and got some wind in our faces. We dropped the hook outside of Road Town, where we received our final shipmate, Joni, whose flight had been delayed. The crew is finally complete. We finished off the night by going through rotations of different parts of the boat, learning more about everything on deck, in the engine room, chart house, and down below in the saloon and galley. There is definitely a lot to take in these first few days, but I have no doubts all will quickly become accustomed to boat life and all the adventures that lie ahead.