Location: San Blas Islands
Today, my day started at 3:30 AM, being woken up by Miles for my watch from 4 AM-8 AM (absolute best watch time). Not really much happened during these 4 hours compared to the other night watches we had a few days ago. Gabby, Elise, Lexi, and I started talking about our favorite books while Ben, as always, was at the helm and steering Vela closer and closer to San Blas! At around 6, the sun started to rise, and we all had breakfast on the deck and took turns on the helm. At 8 AM, Watch Team 1 relieved us, and we all went back for a 2-hour nap before starting a Watch Team 3 Study Session at 10 AM (turns out Watch Team 3 consists of some of the biggest procrastinators on board, and no one has started any assignment, which is due in like five days). After our very successful session, in which Skyler and myself managed to finish our Leadership Essay, it was my turn to wake everyone up for lunch, which was Bean Salad and Tortilla Chips made by Dylan! After Lunch, San Blas was only around three nautical miles away, so we started to take down the Main Staysail and motored the rest of the way. While some people were on anchor duty, Morana, Charlie, Elise, Skyler, and I were up on the bow, watching out for corals. Luckily, we did not hit any, but guess what we did see: DOLPHINS! After we arrived and anchored safely in San Blas, we all were really excited to finally get into the water after being so close to it for five days but not being able to swim! Everyone had a blast, and Daphne and Lexi even did their first attempts of backflips from the bowsprit! After swimming, we were all very happy to be able to take an ocean shower again (who would have thought), and after everyone was fresh and clean, lots of people gathered on the bow to watch the sunset, eat snacks, journal, or take pictures. Suddenly Steph screamed “DOLPHINS” for the second time this day, and out of nowhere, lots of dolphins came to the surface around 10m from the boat! Miles did not miss his chance to swim with dolphins for the first time in his life and jumped straight into the water, followed by Toria, Ted, Kirby, Allie, and Steph! After everyone took a decent amount of dolphin pictures and videos, we all met in the cockpit to eat dinner and end this really eventful day!