Location: Saba
Today was a great day! As we ventured towards one of our last islands, Saba, we all held our leadership positions seriously. Yesterday, we started underway on our student lead passage. Conor, Arielle, and Christina did a very good job navigating us through the Caribbean, avoiding rocks and buoys. Our watch team leaders, Sophia, Mads, and Nate, did a splendid job leading the three watch teams. Frida and Charlton had very tough work, but they pulled through and brought us to victory. Frida learned quickly how to be a good chief mate, and Charlton led us unscathed through the Caribbean as the skipper. The engineer, myself, did a very good job running both of the generators, the main engine, and the water maker. Learning what every valve did in the engine room was a bit overwhelming at first, but it quickly became a job that I didn’t have to think about too hard. The control panel and breaker switches, on the other hand, still arouse a bit of confusion. We are all a bit sad today due to the realization that our last real watches are over, and we now only have nine real days aboard this wonderful vessel, VELA. Tonight’s squeeze question was thought of on the spot with the help of Freddie, “what will be the most frequently told story when you get back home?”. Some notable answers were swimming with the whale sharks, losing one of our anchors in Noronha, and having four students go to the hospital in St. Helena. My answer was swimming with the whale shark that was right around our boat at 7 am, forcing people to watch Pirates of the Caribbean, and pointing out all of the spots I have been to. We are all looking forward to a fun day of diving and shore time tomorrow while cherishing our last few days together on VELA.