Location: Underway to the Caribbean
Happy Thanksgiving from all aboard Argo! I was awakened at 3:20 this morning – 10 minutes early – by a mischievous Erik in order to pull a prank on Watch Team 3. The aim was to confuse them by hiding in the bilges when they came to wake us up, a plan that partially succeeded if it wasn’t for Watch Team 3’s similar idea of bringing their entire team below for wake-ups by standing over us with red lights. This simultaneous prank was amusing to all, and these good vibes continued all throughout the 4-8 watch, including yet another visit from a flying fish. We must be approaching a time zone because the stars were still out at 7:00 AM, which made going back to sleep all the easier. I was awakened at 12:00 by Miles to rally the troops for a light salad lunch made by our wonderful Chef McGee (Chef McGobbleGobble) and her sous chefs – just a warm-up before our coming feast. After clean-up and witnessing a wonderful prank by Xavi (poor Stich), we all met in the Salon for EFR or Emergency First Responders. Today was exciting because we were doing our first test scenario, which essentially entails teams of students being tasked with saving the staff from some kind of mystery emergency situation up on deck – a challenge few of us felt ready for. The scenario consisted of a fishing accident off the stern of the boat, with one unconscious victim sprawled on the deck, one hysterical bystander, and two oblivious people excited about their friend’s catch, one of whom hits their head in excitement and the other ends up having a deadly fish allergy! We did the best we could, but unfortunately, all failed – which was exactly what was expected of us.
We received our places to improve/work on and had a few laughs about Rob’s exploding Type 5 and the ridiculous positions our unconscious victim Calum folded himself into to make us really work for it. By the time we wrapped up our scenarios and feedback, our Thanksgiving feast was just about ready! We stopped the boat, took off our Type 5s, and all changed into fancy attire to honor the work put into the meal (three days’ worth of cooking/baking!) and gathered in the cockpit for a delicious meal. Special shout-outs to our Head Chef McGee and her Sous Chefs Erik and Calli for preparing the chickens, Gabby for the stuffing, Calli for the vegetable roast, Amanda for the mashed potatoes and berry tart, Stich for the green bean casserole, Sean for the sweet potato pie, Anna for the gluten-free bread, and Daisy for the apple crisp – everything was absolutely delicious! After we stuffed ourselves, we gave our appreciation for the day, what we are thankful for, and a rundown of each person’s home Thanksgiving (except for Calum, Will, and Xavi, our resident non-Americans). We are all feeling especially grateful today to everyone at home who made this experience possible for us – while I’m sure everyone is missing home, I think I can speak for everyone in saying that we wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. We finished our festivities with the fabled Thanksgiving dishy-pit, which earned its rep by being incredibly long, arduous, and dripping with holiday spirit in the form of Christmas music! Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” (because what else?) led the charge as we sailed off into the sunset, the end of a spectacular Thanksgiving aboard Argo!
To everyone at home – I love you and miss you. Happy Thanksgiving!