Location: Falmouth Harbour
YOU CAN’T GET RID OF ME!
Hey all, Graham again. The morning started with some cool music to get people up and active. The classic “Bust A Move” was my song of choice. Today was the first day of the kids taking overhead chef duties, but the way the meals came out, you would have thought we ordered take-out from a 3 star Michelin restaurant. Props to Head chef Tom and his Sous chefs Nicole and Dylan. Tom prepared our breakfast with an easy granola and yogurt; of course, he was saving his energy for his superb and labor-intensive meals later in the day.
After a crunchy breakfast and a friendly dish cleaning, we prepared our dive kits for a morning dive, which was a pleasant change of pace. This dive was special because it was filled with fun but skill-enhancing challenges such as controlling our buoyancy to go through a hoop in the water and floating slowly upside down to carefully nudge a three-pound weight off from a tower with our noses (almost like Jenga minus the nose part). We breached the surface like whales then clambered back on to Ocean Star.
Today was BOAT APPRECIATION DAY and sheet changes. After a quick switch to clean sheets and pillowcases, we had lunch before an all-encompassing boat cleanse. Lunch consisted of a two-part meal. Part one was a fancy rice stir-fry with pineapple, mushrooms, and a special cocktail of spices. After clobbering the stir-fry, we moved on to the tomato egg soup. It even had a little bit of a kick to it! After lunch, we split into two groups to clean the boat. One team went below deck to scrub the salon squeaky clean while the others gave Ocean Star a freshwater shower. Or at least that’s how it was supposed to go…
It started like any other boat cleaning; the Ocean Star gleamed from bow to stern, and she floated as gracefully in the water as when she was first built. Then Ethan decided to take it upon himself to start the Olympic summer games on deck. Soapy wrestling, waterslides, the works! Then pandemonium ensued! Midway through, Irv, the dinghy started to float away with two people in it! After a coordinated rowing effort by the stranded souls (stranded 15 feet away, that is), boat cleaning was wrapped up.
After an eventful day, we relaxed by learning about some new marine life. Our omniscient teacher Steve taught us about Sponges and Jellyfish. We learned about the deadly Portuguese Man of War and the beautiful smack of stingless jellyfish in Kakaban lake in the Philippines, as well as the immense cleansing power of the sea sponge.
After an incredibly busy and exciting day, we got the rest of the afternoon and evening off. There was tanning and studying as well as the overpowering smell of Tom’s “Coca-cola Chicken.” Tom comes out sweating from head to toe with his ultimate masterpiece. The Coca-Cola chicken was completely absurd with a heavily caramelized outside and a sweet garlic gingery tang to it (See the cover picture). With a side of rice, we happily gave Tom’s head chef day a gold star!
The evening ended with a lowkey study session as we have our first test on marine biology tomorrow. Thank you for checking in on S/Y Ocean Star, and have a great day!
Adios,
Graham S.