Location: 28*37'69S 37*25'633E
Greetings family and friends,
the Vela team is hitting its last stride of the voyage to South Africa. We’re only 48 hours away from Richard’s Bay, and the excitement is building. It’s been a very memorable voyage with lots of crazy fun moments, but I think I can speak for everyone and say that some land time is much needed. If the weather stays as predicted and we pass through the Agolius current, we will be shoreside by thanksgiving in the states.
Last night’s watch was very routine and chilled out. My watch team moved away a little bit from our usual late-night singing and dancing to discuss what each of us has planned for after our three-month adventure comes to an end. A lot of my watch team agreed that we’re excited to check out Cape Town and a whole new culture. We also had to be extra cautious while keeping watch because of a choppy sea state, slight fog, and an extra amount of boat traffic attributed to getting closer to land. About halfway through our watch, a sudden wave of hunger passed over me, and I removed myself from the group for a couple of minutes to devour a cup of noodle.
The morning was devoted much to studying and caffeinated drinks. It was a very productive study period, and I finished most of my marine-bio essay on struggling coral reefs. There was one minor break to set the jib with my watch team, which has kinda become our specialty this voyage.
After lunch, we had marine bio and seamanship classes. For marine bio, we enjoyed a documentary called “Chasing Coral,” which went right along with my essay. It was very cool to compare our own experiences we’ve had with coral reefs on our travels and the focus of the film. It was very eye-opening to see the effects of global climate change on coral reefs. Seamanship today was provided a crucial study time for our Navigation master exam coming up.
As I’m writing this travel blog, I can feel the swell increasing. I know the dishy pit after dinner struggled with the choppy waves. Tom did warn us that the waves are just going to increase in size the closer we get to South Africa. Man, watch is going to be fun tonight!
Photos:
1. Watch team Tobby
2. Bee practicing for nav-master
3. Fin