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Location: Underway to San Blas

Today started at midnight for watch team 1. If we weren’t already awake from being thrown around our bunks by the waves, we were woken up by Gabby telling us to put on our foul weather gear and head straight to the cockpit. Normally, we congregate in the middle of the ship, so being told to go straight to the cockpit was a forewarning that the night would be intense. This was our first experience with waves this large, and some were excited while others were nervous. Being the watch team leader, I was given the briefing from Elise (watch team 3 leader for the day). She informed me that we should prepare to “get soaked” and “just enjoy the ride.” Watch team 1 take over and had some great conversations while surfing the 16-17 feet (5 meters) waves. Lately, the watch team 1 conversation has had a lot to do with the weird boat dreams we’ve been having, the ideal way to sleep in our bunks, and which watch schedule is our favorite (although it sounds unappealing at first, the 12-4 am seems to be the favorite). I’ve been told that watch team 3 has been doing a lot of riddles, and team 2 has been slowly working through a “36 Questions to Fall in Love” conversation starter list. After four hours of chatting, watching, and getting sprayed by the occasional large wave hit just right, we got to hop back in our bunks and enjoy sleep until 1130. I don’t think anything feels better than getting back in your bed after a late-night watch, except for maybe enjoying the first sip of a cold drink again when we’re on land. After wake-ups at 1130, we came up on deck and enjoyed Chef Morana’s cinnamon roll brunch. After another challenging cleanup while underway (as I’m writing this, a big pot just slid from midships all the way aft to the chart house window I’m looking out of), we had a marine biology lecture, followed by a study hall period that a lot of people used as an opportunity to work on navigation homework. Dinner was pad Thai, and my squeeze question was, “what’s something you like about the person sitting to your right?” When not on watch or in class, people have been sleeping, working on assignments, finding an opportunity to shower, or chatting with people from other watch teams (despite being within 112 feet of each other at all times, this is hard to do when you are all up at different hours). The past 36 hours have been extremely rolly, making normal, everyday tasks difficult. I think people are starting to look forward to being anchored by the end of tomorrow (hopefully).

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