Location: Young Island, St. Vincent
This morning I decided that everyone could use a good sleep-in day. I definitely did not forget that I was skipper and was supposed to wake everyone up. The responsibility fell on Grady, my personal assistant. As everyone was getting up, I decided to go for a morning swim. I jumped in, and as I came up, I noticed that one of our mooring lines had chafed straight through. If I didn’t act quickly, we would have floated into the rocks. I gripped the frayed line in one bare hand and the mooring line in the other and did my best impression of Chris Evans in that one scene from Captain America where he holds that helicopter down. Some say I’m nearly as big as Chris Evans, or as my brother would say, I’m almost as thick as him. I’m more of a lean muscle guy, though. I digress; as I gripped the mooring line in hand, I realized that there was another line still holding us, so I climbed on board and told Steve what I had found. Steve is convinced that I did it and tried to doom us all. It might take a few days to earn his trust back.
After the mooring line debacle, we had breakfast and immediately following, a few classes. Then Chris, who we have affectionately nicknamed ‘Topher, had some big news; he was able to get the bean stain out of his shorts! Sadly, the ketchup stain still remains at large. It might take some stronger bleach to get that one out. After classes, we had some free time until lunch. Some chose to work on essays, others chose to read on deck, and Keaton chose to take a nap on top of the chart house in the sun. She probably should have applied more sunscreen, but you know what they say, you have to get a bad burn for a good tan.
After lunch, we separated into two groups for our advanced open water completion dive! This was our last dive before officially being certified as advanced open water divers. Today we reached depths up to 60 ft! We saw some pretty cool stuff but what I saw takes the cake! From a distance, it looked like a brightly colored worm coming out of the seagrass. As I approached, I realized that it was a bracelet but not just a bracelet; it was Celia’s bracelet that she had lost on the first dive group excursion. In the words of our dive instructor / extremely qualified person: “that almost never happens.” After the dive, Steve was mysteriously called to the dock to collect some papers. He didn’t even have time to take his wetsuit off. He still won’t disclose what was in the documents. I’m nervous.
Dinner was cheese and vegetable enchiladas perfectly catered by Grady, Celia, and Max. They were delicious, but I am so happy that I am not in the dishy pit tonight. Everyone knows that the yummiest meals mean the messiest kitchen.
(Hi mom! Hi Grandma!)
Shoots
Pic 1: Steve angry at me because he thinks I broke the mooring line; I promise I found it like that
Pic 2: Actual picture of me holding the boat to the buoy
Pic 3: the mangled line
Pic 4: Keaton’s nap feat. sir lord Ash and Addisen
Pic 5: Meg and Erin working on essays, Johnny also
Pic 6: Ash washing Sam’s clothes. And thank goodness, she was starting to really smell bad
Pic 7: Scuba Steve driving to pick up customs papers in a wetsuit
Pic 8: Celia reunited with her bracelet
Pic 9: A picture of Liam for Liam’s grandma
Pic 10: The messiest the kitchen has ever been
Pic 11: ‘Topher prepping his shorts for another spilled item. He’s already thinking about seconds.