Location: Antigua Slipway Marina
Hi everyone!
For many people on Ocean Star, today started off with one last swim in the warm Caribbean waters. Luckily for me, this made my job super easy as I only had to wake up a few people. We had a bit of a late start today as we patiently waited for our gourmet oatmeal breakfast- it wasn’t the chef’s fault that the propane got shut off in the middle of them trying to boil water! After breakfast, we split off into teams and got right to work on Boat Appreciation, where we cleaned every inch of Ocean Star.
Andrea, Aubrey, and I were lucky enough to be in charge of cleaning out the anchor locker, where we lifted over 100 buckets of water out (shoutout to Aubrey for doing most of those). Being in that sweaty compartment while hauling out buckets of rusty water was an interesting experience, to say the least, and I was definitely happy to rinse off afterward. Next up, I moved on to pumping water out of the bilges with Michael and Beau, where we once again dealt with buckets full of less-than-clean water. Other jobs included cleaning the salon, galley, and deck, as well as packing our things away to prepare for our departure. We were all so appreciative to have the support of each other to work together to complete each task. It was a long day full of hard work, but we all had a lot of laughs during each job and were happy to see Ocean Star squeaky clean again, ready for the next crew to board. The hard work was worth it, too, when we were all able to take fresh water showers on shore.
We had one last squeeze before dinner where I asked everyone what was something they had learned about themselves during these past 20 days, allowing us to have a moment of reflection on all of the fears faced and barriers overcome during our voyage. We then had one last dinner together on the shore, where we were surprised by some of the other students with superlatives for each one of us. It was a fun last night, and we’re all so sad to leave each other in just one day!