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Location: Tarragona, Spain

The crew was awoken this morning by the soothing sounds of a generically Gen Z Spotify playlist. After some hastier corralling, Calli’s breakfast was served on deck shortly after 07:35. While most of the crew tucked into the blueberry chia pudding had been produced overnight, a few were reluctant to try the aptly dubbed ‘fairy soup.’ Mile’s – being a sous chef – had announced the dish in such a fashion, but the reasoning behind this name remains a point of contention.

After a typical breakfast clean-up had been completed, it came time for Amanda’s scavenger hunt. In teams of four, the students set off across Tarragona on foot with the express aim of solving riddles in order to find several locations. At each location, a photo was to be taken to be sent to Amanda. The first students to evidence their arrival at all locations were promised the reward of Gelato on Amanda, of course. However, many were still feeling the brunt of yesterday’s walk, and most of the students were preoccupied with visiting the launder-matte.

As everyone’s respective washing and scavenger hunt missions were being undertaken, Stick and I were out provisioning. After finding everything (apart from a pumpkin!), we were begrudgingly returned to the port by a less-than-enigmatic taxi driver. A few eggs were lost as a result of his discontent with the number of bags that he made known via a somewhat violent loading process. When we arrived back at the boat, a fire line of students (being overseen by a few tourists) helped us load the groceries onboard ahead of lunch.

Raising the small tarp over the cockpit for sun cover, we gathered once more for a feast of hummus and falafel wraps that had been paired with a fresh salad. Though a few of the crew were initially slightly disappointed by the lack of meat or cheese, many were delighted, and overall morale seemed to rise with the midday sun.

The afternoon was less eventful than the morning. Two classes were completed in succession (marine biology and seamanship) while Argo’s engine was serviced by Callum and Mac. After the classes were finished, many went out for a run before dinner, though a few of us had other ideas

I won’t lie. I entirely instigated what was to come next. Greta, Caroline, Skylar, and I ventured to the children’s (then occupied by children) play park that was just a stone’s throw from the boat. We then proceeded to practice handstands, dive rolls, round-offs, and various other gymnastic/parkour moves until I could spot that dinner was being put on deck. My personal highlight for this portion of the evening was seeing Greta stack it (fail) in attempting an aerial – a gymnastics move whereby one completes a cartwheel with no hands. Essentially, she ran fast, flipped, hit the floor, and bounced up with a grazed leg and a bemused yet happy look on her face. In short, it was a full send that was a pleasure to watch.

After Greta tidied herself up, we all returned to Argo for a dinner of quinoa, roast squash, and broccoli. Again, this meal was received less well by the carnivores amongst our ranks, but others (notably, Anna) were overjoyed by yet another vegan dish.

As usual, we concluded our day with ‘squeeze,’ and this time, we found out that if Caroline had a Time Machine, she would return to colonial-era America to show them all Hamilton. The kicker is that she would do this “just to watch the chaos.”

After clean up, various parties went out for gelato while other students remained onboard to study. Personally, I went out and ran four miles and then tried out some hydrating face mask thing with the other staff.

All in all, many laughs were had throughout the day, and a load of work was done. I would give it an 8/10.