Location: Rodney Bay, St. Lucia
Hey folks, Anna here as skipper today.
Today was a continuation of the passage we started yesterday afternoon, and it featured many, many MANY seasick SeaMester students (myself being one of them). No amount of Dramamine or seasickness patches could save us. My watch team, aka pickle watch as we’re led by Nick (Nickle Pickle) and Dylan (Dill Pickle), was steadily adding tallies to the puke count we have recorded onboard in a notebook. Teagan was our brave leader, contributing a whopping 20+ to the count, with Audrey and I contributing a modest amount, and other crew members made their debut in the tally last night when the waves were particularly choppy. We have certainly passed the honeymoon phase of SeaMester and are now coming to terms with the reality that your watch schedule will most likely keep you from getting any sleep, some (lucky) individuals spend 90% of their passage time heaving over the rail, cooking in a rocking and rolling schooner has the potential to inflict some heavy casualties, reconciling yourself to the fact that opening and shutting the watertight doors that separate the cabins may require you to sacrifice a finger or a toe, and going to the heads for a quick bathroom break is almost always followed by a swift trip to the rail.
But the benefits have far outweighed those discomforts. Pickle watch was on from 4:00 am-8:00 am, and we were lucky enough to see the darkest part of the night with a sky unpolluted by light and filled with stars, followed by a majestic ocean sunrise that had no limits. As Audrey, Teagan, and I strapped in and leaned our bodies over the rail to heave at the beginning of our watch, we were able to observe the bioluminescence that surrounded Vela as she cut through the waves. Our head chef Lizzy made sure that we started off our day right with cinnamon rolls and made our day 1000% better by cooking incredible meals that were looked forward to with the fervor that children have as Christmas day approaches. Flying fish could be seen whizzing over the waves constantly, and as we came into view of St. Lucia and saw the famous Pitons from a distance amidst a stunning sunset, we all felt we were in the right place.
Now that we’ve really started the sailing portion of the program, there are so many new terms to learn, lines to coil, and sails to raise. It’s been a steep learning curve, and thankfully we’ve got people like Allissa and Ellie who are able to share their sailing experience and help others out with a positive spirit. There’s nothing quite like being in perfect sync as you raise or lower a sail, as I did today with Ellie and Sofia. After spending the past 24 hours heaving over the rail and generally being useless throughout passage, it was so rewarding to work with Ellie and Sofia and to use and understand the sailing terms we’ve been learning on the fly. After dinner, I asked the squeeze question, “what is one of your most embarrassing moments” which resulted in a lot of laughs and storytelling that was a wholesome end to our day.
That’ll be all for now. Unfortunately, I was incapable of taking any pictures today, so other students will be contributing pictures. To my family and friends back home, today was the kind of day that made me acutely aware of how nice it is to have my feet planted on solid land and to be with you all. I hope to come back in May with an iron stomach and lots of stories to tell.
Until next time,
Anna