Location: Panama to Galapagos
Third day underway from Panam to Galpagos. During passage, it is hard to draw a line between the end of one day and the start of the next. Argo never sleeps as one watch team rolls onto the next, and crewmates start losing perception of time. For watch team 3, March 8th started at midnight. Watch team 2 officially started wake-up pranks. Jonas and Avery were asked to tie bowlines, Skyler and Emma were handed brooms, Colbie a stool, and Katie and Skylar mayo bottles. Once on deck, watch team 1 warned us about the presence of pooping birds hanging on the main mast spreaders. At some point during our watch, the birds were back to poop on Skyler. Twice. Stella and Sydney also got their part. More on this below.
After lunch, the students attended a Marine biology lecture and a hands-on NavMaster practical (NavMaster for some -see pictures). Here is Skyler’s first-hand experience with the birds:
“An Excerpt on the Argo’s Local Seagull Population and their Environmental Impact (on my Face):
Yo, it’s ya boy Skyler (the better one). Yesterday was my first time getting crapped on by a bird. And second. If today is my third, I will be having a nice chicken dinner.
Seagulls (bummus bummi) are some of the many troublesome creatures that call Argo their home, along with roaches, Jonas, and the lizard that Shane killed (RIP). Seagulls (chicken of the sea, btw) got to be some of the bummiest animals of all time and are more difficult to deal with than the other pests on the Argo. They are significantly harder to hand-smash or stomp on, because they fly. My deep-seated hatred of seagulls comes from a particular occurrence that occurred when I was a wee little lad: I was happily eating a slice of pizza on the beach when a flock of gulls stole the whole pizza out of the box and flew away with it. Seagulls also flew off my infant son when I left him unattended on the beach, never to be seen again.
Yesterday, on night watch, I was playing banger after banger on aux, when I heard a splat and saw that the front of my body and hands were wet. At first, I thought Nacho spilled his water bottle on me by accident, but I realized in horror that I was covered in gull juice. I yelled at the birds some, and I ran down to the forward head (best one, btw) for a quick rinse with the faucet. After getting some ramen, I went back up. I looked up, and I could see the outline of gulls flying above me. I flipped the bird to the birds (flicked instead if you are Charlie). They must have been smarter than I thought because 5 minutes later, I heard a huge splat and felt gull juice dripping all over my face and hair. I screamed profanity at the birds and ran down for a more thorough wash. I was very cautious about getting shit on after that, sitting under the boon when the gulls were near. Don’t worry about me being clean. I think I remember showering after washing.
For now on it is on sigh with the gulls. Next time a gull lets loose on me, I am climbing the main mast and giving the birds the good ol’ left-right goodnight. Then maybe we can have some nice fried chicken for lunch instead of God-awful pasta salad (you’re worse than the gulls if you make this). If birds are robotic government drones, I am terribly sorry, dearest deepstate, for the things I said regarding your “birds,” so please do not have me killed on the toilet.
P.S. The fish finder is back on.”
More to come tomorrow.
Saludos a Mama y a las tias,
Nacho