Location: Slipway, Antigua
The day started rather early for Audrey, Grace, and I. The three of us woke up at 5:45 to walk to the beach to see the sunrise and take an early morning swim. The water was so nice and refreshing. We had to rush back so that I could wake people up on time, and Audrey could help chef up breakfast. I chose to wake everyone up on the last full day to the most bangingest instrumental song ever (called Tamacun), and Jesse asked me what the song was called which actually made my day. For breakfast, Boston, Max, and Audrey made the freakiest-looking grey slop eggs ever; it was a reminder that when we get home, we should appreciate the good food. After breakfast, we immediately started finishing the intense boat appreciation that we had started the day before. Every square inch of deck in sight was scrubbed along. We also all had to pack up our belongings (which proved difficult for those of us who acquired a few new possessions over the course of the trip). Cleaning and packing took up most of the day, with some intermissions for visiting customs and lunch. Smash put out a whiteboard in the salon that displayed all of the passages we did and how many days, night hours, and miles we traveled. It was crazy to look back on all that we’ve done and that we have been moving nonstop for literally three months! After boat appreciation was over, we had some free time. Yet again, Audrey, Grace N, Lillian, and I took the trek to the beach. Once we got there, sweating from walking up the huge hill, we saw that Mac had brought over Chloe and Luke in a personal dinghy ride, so…. at least we got our steps in, I guess. We all swam again in the beautiful water and splashed around. Chloe and Luke swam away, and Audrey and Grace went to look around the beach, so Lillian and I packed up our stuff and started to head back to the boat to get ready for our final night. (For the sake of my mom’s sanity, the next few sentences are completely fabricated). Lillian and I were completely uninterested in walking up the insane incline back up to the boat, so I stuck out my hitchhiker thumb like they do in movies, and a car actually slowed down to pick us up. I’m not stupid. I’mknow that’s a bad idthat’st it was super cool. He just drove us to the top of the road,d which was great! Most people got back to the boat really close to the time we had to leave, so we took quick showers in our heads (one thing that most of us won’t miss) and won’t to the cockpit for a squeeze. The squeeze question was: what was one way that you grew as a person since being on the boat? People had many thoughtful responses. After the squeeze, we headed to Shirley’s restaurant to have our final dinner. The catch, however, is that Shirley’s is a minute hike from Vela. So, we all trekked to the top of the big hill, through the woods, in our nice clothes. It was a great view. You could hear the steel drum band coming from the restaurant about 20 minutes away from it. When we got to the top, people bought ice-cold beverages and went to look at the view. It was so cool to see the bay from a Birdseye view. The steel drum band was playing really fun covers of songs we all knew. We got in line to get our barbeque and then took our plates to picnic tables over on the grass. We were sitting between a big group of French people smoking and a big group of British children playing limbo with a chain of glowsticks. The food was good, and the music changed to another live band. We all hung out there for a while before getting in cabs to come back to Vela. When we got back, we gathered in the cockpit again to have another surprise squeeze led by Theo. This time, the question was, what was your appreciation for the whole trip, and what would you tell the version of yourself from 90 days ago if you could? A few people started to get a little teary answering those questions. Watson also gave a really nice tribute to Tom and Smash on our behalf, thanking them for leading this trip and wishing them the best in their next adventure. We did one final count-off, but it was reversed this time, from 31 to 1. It took us a few tries, but we got it. Then, we all left the cockpit to hang out in different areas of the boat for the last time. At some point, Ben went to give the port six a bedtime story. Which is sweet? maybe? That leads us to now. Some people are hanging out on the bow, soaking up their last minutes on the martingales, listening to Brendan play guitar. Some people are lying on top of the chart house chatting. I accidentally kicked over a jar of salsa left on deck and stained my white pants. All good things. We’re just tryiWe’re soak up the last few moments we have with each other before parting ways. It’s crazy to tIt’s about how fast 90 days passed. It has been the best experience of our lives, and I guarantee that these memories won’t be forgotten.
till next time (there is no next time:((((((( ),
your skipper,
Talia