Location: Location: 31.29.82N 009.46.60W
What gets a skipper out of bed in the morning? Is it the pursuit of 5 minutes of solitude, the shuffling of the perfect wake up song lineup, or simply the task at hand. For myself this morning it was a cup of yorkshire gold tea, piping hot with an ample amount of milk, yet not enough to turn your cuppa albino. Alas, at 7am, the ardous process of waking up 21 young adults from their hibernations. After a long night of spicy uno, mariokart, and anchor watch, walking up into the crew quarters on Argo is like entering a haunted house. The foulies hanging on the wall sway with the rock of the boat, and become animated to almost look human. A red light may still be on, lightly illuminating the hallway, as ears pick up the droning of fans and snoring. As I went to flick the sterile white light on, it became a scene from 28 days later as your loving children groan and moan there way back into reality, a cold harsh stare is received loud and clear as I make my way up forward. As the heads are used, teeth are brushed, and attire is donned, breakfast is sent up by our in house gophers. Breakfast today consisted of granola, fruit and milk, a very normal breakfast you may be saying, however on Argo, the general (yet incorrect) consensus is that granola is paired with yogurt. As someone who us well versed in granology, it is scientically the wrong move to only have yogurt in your granola, the wet to crunch ratio is transformed into the slop to crunch ratio, a much lesser ratio *scientifically*. Anywho, Im sure you are wondering what your perfect children did today, and unfortunately I dont actually know. What follows is what I would imagine happened, based on the pictures and conversations presented to me throughout lunch and dinner.
Along a pristine stretch of African coastline, a caravan of camels wakes up to fresh grass and foliage. They had water back in 2019 so they are still feeling hydrated. The camels get their orders from a camel whisperer that 24 sailors would be gracing their presence, and entering their kingdom of sand. The camels understood what was at stake and got to work. At around 10am, Argos crew arrived and were assigned to their larged lipped, hoofed mammals. With names like Rocko, Sebastia, and Omar what could possibly go wrong. 23 sailors safely ascended onto the humps of the camels, getting situated atop their furry waterbed, the 24 sailors did not fair so well. Nacho was halfway up the hump when Omar decided to stand up and walk Nick away, at which point a very flexible Nacho performed the splits on the descent, and landed in the sand. An incident report will be filed. Please ask Luca and Liv for the evidence. Soon enough the camels where underway, making good Camel over Ground they walked the beautiful coast, into the dunes, and onto the lush green spaces Morocco is so well known for. During this hike Bryson looked very tasty as he kept getting nibbled by a rather hungry camel. Fish and Sam got their own camels, and Sam made use of his extra space by sprawling out and giving some stratches to Emily and Alexas furry friend. Emily very nicely facetimed the staff onboard while we were on a ramen break and we were lucky enough to live vicariosly through an iPhone. There are some amazing photos and videos from this excursion, camels are actually quite photogenic.
Then came lunch and Argo was brimming with activity again. Im sure youre thinking to yourself, I really want to know what Charlie did during the morning, it must have been epic. Well let me tell you it was. I started the morning by diving into a bilge with Aidan to find some sikaflex. This is one of those situations when it genuinely is black and white, becase we got the black sika, instead of the white, so we had to dive head first back into the bilge. After setting Aidan up with some caulking in the heads I put on my hard hat, got my tools, and entered to engine room to replace the Zincs on the main engine, and to clean out the sea chests. We replace the Zincs on a regular basis because it helps to protect the engines metallic parts from succombing to electrolysis caused corrosion. Basically salt water and metal dont mix very well. This is quite an enjoyable task as I listened to a podcast and caught up on the state of the world. Next came the sea chests, which we have to access by hitting a big wrench with a big hammer to turn a big metal plate. Twice. The sea chests filter our raw water before it goes to cool the generators and engine. Last time I did it I found a crab. Call me a marine biologist. Then I played legend of zelda and Aidan laughed at me.
After lunch Aidan and I got some shore time and enjoyed the local Moroccan culture. The port of Essoauria is a crazy cool place, specifically the marine fishing sector, as opposed to the land fishing sector I suppose. Anyway, the fishing in Morocco is insane, these giant wooden ships go out for days at a time and trawl for everything the sea has to offer. Bycatch is the name of the game. Coming into port the stench of fish and seagulls envelope your sinuses. Aidan and I walked around the fish market for an hour and saw everyhting for sale from stingrays to sharks, and eels. Coming into places like this is truly such a valuable experience becauase it opens our eyes to how fortunate we are to live the lives we live. Being a moroccan fisherman is life or death for many, and as westerners we can sometimes stand on our high horse and say the fishing practicies these communities use are environmentally destrcutive and bad for the planet. But to these hardworking men, it puts a roof over their childrens heads and clothes on thier backs. That is just some food for thought for your monday evening.
As we walked around the streets looking at all the pretty colors and smelling all the smells, a very good local business approached us with a proposition. This proposition was not monetarily motivated and he actually taught us lots of interesting things sitting around a table in the back of his shop. Morocco has a rich and vibrant history that has played a critical role in shaping the sahara desert for millenium. Many tribes call this desert home and have guarded over these monumental landscapes since time immemorial. The encompassing Berber peoples and Taureg tribe have learnt to navigate these vast expanses simply using the stars, much like the sailors of old. The Taureg compass is a nifty little thing that acts a bit like a neolithic sextant. It has a hole in the middle that you align to Polaris and its arms formed a triangle that allow the navigator to visually understand where North, East, South and West are. If me and Rocko were lost in a desert Id be able to use the wind patterns in the sand to find my way home in a few days, I wouldnt need any of that metal technology stuff. I apologize for my lack of explanation regarding the Taureg compass, please contact this email [email protected] for further education.
This wraps up another day as third mate and heads guy aboard the Spooner Argo.
Editor note: Charlie has been writing this blog for 2 hours straight now someone should check on him