Location: Saint Helena
We saw land! Early this morning, watch team three get to do our first anchoring. It was so cool waking up at 4 am to watch and coming on deck to see land for the first time in 13 days. Cecily shined the light ahead to check for ships, Maddy struck the anchor, allowing it to drop, Benny eased the anchor down, and I shined a light to make sure the anchor was let down the right amount. After that, we started getting the boat set up to be on anchor for the next two days. I woke up the rest of the crew at seven, and we all enjoyed a pancake breakfast made by Zac and Benny. After breakfast and clean up, we headed over to customs. The water was so clear, and there were colorful fish everywhere.
Isaac took an unintentional swim when stepping off the dinghy. The group of local children that were sitting on the dock yelled, “Big man in da wata!” It was great. The island is beautiful and filled with life. When we all got back to the boat, we did some “BA,” which is boat appreciation, where we cleaned, scrubbed, and polished Argo. In the afternoon, those who were dive-certified went for a scuba dive along the coast while others stayed on the boat to do some research project work. We all took our first ocean showers of the trip and had a great time jumping in and out of the water. After that, we all went on land for a whale shark and seabird presentation from a member of the Saint Helena National Trust. He taught us all about the whale sharks that come to the island and the project they have going on. You could tell he was so passionate about his job and loved going into detail to explain every question we asked. We then went back to the boat for a beautiful sunset and a great dinner together. We got our times for anchor watch and ended the day by finishing clean up. It was a great first day at Saint Helena!