Location: Petite Piton, St Lucia
I suppose- although it was not today- the blog should start with last night’s activities. The group was given their second sign-out night of the trip last night, and it truly was a spectacular evening. After dinner, we were all in a rush to begin the festivities; An evening full of mojitos and daiquiris was surely the right way to say goodbye to Marigot Bay. Although our good time lasted fairly late into the night, our day today began at seven o’clock nonetheless. Head chef Sam cooked up some veggie-packed frittatas, and they were definitely a crowd-pleaser. As soon as we cleaned up our meal, it was time to set sail. By 9 o’clock, we left the Marigot Bay Resort and started our short journey to Petite Piton. Although some of us were disappointed to leave the wifi and showers of the resort, getting to sail to a new destination is always a pleasure.
As usual, we raised the sails for our trip across the island today. The one thing that made today’s sail raise different was that we were introduced to a brand new sail- the jib. Instead of our typical three sails, we had four- a small but distinct difference. The water was calm, and the sky was clear- perfect conditions to gaze upon the vast cliffs of St. Vincent from our vessel. To spice up this trip, we were surprised by the staff with a man overboard drill. In the blink of an eye, our peaceful sail turned into serious situational training. Everybody handled themselves very well, and all jobs got done with speed and efficiency. However, the true highlight of today’s journey was our first whale spotting of the whole trip. Once we got a little closer to the coast, whales began spouting from the water right and left- Keaton was definitely the most excited, and that’s saying a lot.
We arrived at our new destination for lunch and enjoyed our meal with an incredible view of the mountains of St. Lucia. Once we finished lunch, we could hardly contain our excitement for the impending oceanography quiz. Ok, maybe that was a little sarcastic. But to continue on the trend of sarcasm, after our quiz, we had the pleasure of BA- or for non Seamester students, boat appreciation, or essentially just deep cleaning the whole boat. What fun! Although it is not the most fun to clean the boat, we are all very appreciative of having a squeaky clean place to live- especially considering how dirty it really gets.
As soon as our planned activities for the day concluded, everyone enjoyed being able to jump in the glassy water and take a nice evening swim. The coolest part, and not to toot my own horn, but I heard whales songs during my swim. I pointed it out to everybody, and we all had a lot of fun diving into the water and listening to the calls of the gentle giants. Soon after, from the deck, Liam spotted the whales breeching just 200 ft away from the boat. For our first day seeing whales on the trip, we were spoiled with the amount we saw- probably around seven.
As the sun began to set over the horizon, we capped off our lovely day with a picturesque view of a sailboat gently gliding across the sun as it touched the water. Although we have seen many beautiful sunsets over the last 47 days, I think it’s safe to say that this was one of the best. Despite the sunset being so hard to follow up, dinner did just that- a delectable green chickpea Massala served over fluffy white rice. Alone that dinner would have been amazing. However, thanks to Keaton, it was capped off with crispy chocolate chip cookies- a commodity on our boat. Not surprisingly, the cookies were consumed in a flash. Without a doubt, a sweet way to end a sweet day.
1. Henry, Celia, Meg, and Grady having fun on our night out
2. Group picture at the night out of Henry, Celia, and Grady- where did Meg go?
3. Sunset in Petite Piton
4. Views from the boat
5. Dinner on deck
6. Last look at Marigot Bay Resort
7. Mountain tops in sight