Location: Statia
Today, for the last time, we woke up under the picturesque cliffs of the Dutch island Saba. It has been great to get a few days of isolation on a mooring where you’re more like to see a pterodactyl than get phone service. We were up slightly earlier than usual to catch the sunrise, slip the mooring lines, and get underway to our next location, Statia. Everyone was a bit sad to leave Saba but excited for what lay ahead. We had a fantastic cooked breakfast from head chef Meg as the sun came over the cliff and shined down on the deck.
As we came around the south side of Saba, the wind came to our favor, and we cruised on over to Statia. Getting underway is now a slick and refined process, and all the student crew are making final perfections before electing student leaders for the upcoming student-led passage. On the way, we were fortunate to see a pod of dolphins. It’s great to be able to pause when out on the bow sprit and look down at them jumping and swimming around the boat. What an incredible environment where we work and study, fully immersed in the natural world. We took some time to be amazed at these incredible creatures.
As we got closer to Statia, we decided to test ourselves a little more than usual and sail onto an anchor. This involved the whole crew working in unison to trim and optimize the sails while being observant and skillful with all operations. This is something that could prove tricky but this crew has been so hard working and committed to better their sailing skills that we all felt very confident. We entered the bay with the main sail, fore sail, staysail, and jib up. We then pounced into a swift tack. Not pointing fingers and naming names, but if sail GP is short of crew… look no further! After the tack, we simultaneously dropped anchor while rapidly dropping every sail. Pretty cool.
As the sun went down, we enjoyed another fantastic dinner together. Everyone is super excited to be diving some big wrecks tomorrow!