Location: Rodney Bay, St Lucia
The day started with (you guessed it) Here Comes the Sun; HOWEVER, it was a super cool, quirky, fun version that really put a nice twist on our morning routine. Riley, Chubs, and her one remaining barnacle leaped out of bed at 7:15 and began the grueling (hehe) work of prepping yogurt and granola for breakfast. Special thanks to Lenox for cheffing on her birthday!! Breakfast was followed by Oceanography and a Leadership class also led by Lenox. Thinking that we still had an hour and a half until lunch, I was ready to give everybody some nice siesta time. Alas, just as the words left my mouth, someone yelled down the companionway that Calum was panicking in the water. It was time for our first rescue scenario. We all rushed to our respective jobs – some people were in charge of snorkeling and diving, others stayed back to help with first aid, emergency oxygen, and VHF/DAN communications. With all of our attention on Calum, we didn’t notice that Isabel had slipped on deck and broken her ankle (in the scenario, don’t worry). Zoe, who we really thought was on our team, had launched herself into the water after Calum and been stung by a jellyfish. Since I was in charge of the medkit, I splinted Isabel’s ankle and then went to Irv, where Zoe was being pulled out of the water to attend to her sting. While this was happening, Calum was being given oxygen for an air embolism, and Adelaide was a missing diver who, unfortunately, was dead when we found her and was unable to be resuscitated. The scenario wrapped up when EMS (Ash) arrived to assess the damages, at which point Zoe broke free from the straight jacket I had put her in. Huge appreciation to all involved, except for Zoe, who I had to physically and vocally restrain by various methods for most of the rescue scenario. While it wasn’t perfect, it was a good start, and we know what we need to work on for next time.
Lenox has really been perfecting her bread-making skills, so lunch was some excellent sandwiches with pineapple and leftovers. Then, Steve started cleaning the gray water tank, so we threw ourselves into the dinghies as quickly as possible and headed to Rodney Bay for some shore time. Highlights include: Indian food, big rain, ice cream and milkshakes, cats, WiFi, and apparently Mike getting chased by a horse? We got back on board in time for yet another fantastic meal by Chubs and the Barnacles (yes, Pearse has officially been replaced by Riley). My question for squeeze was: “if you could body swap with someone else on the crew for a day, who would it be?”. Needless to say, we got some interesting answers, but watching Will struggle to choose for a good five minutes definitely takes the cake. Speaking of cake, we held a memorial for Malcolm X, an honored Civil War veteran, by serving Xonel some chocolate birthday cake with rainbow sprinkles (exhibit 8).
I think we’ve all had enough sugar for today — everybody’s gone to watch Notting Hill.
Good night and good luck.
Margeaux
Photo 1: Birthday girl, birthday cake
Photo 2: American Gothic
Photo 3: Ben and Zoe (reluctantly)
Photo 4: Rodney Bay Marina
Photo 5: CHIEEEF
Photo 6: Irv ride!
Photo 7: Mike’s horse
Photo 8: Cake<3