Location: Sardinia
As I woke up, understanding the duties I would have to carry out today, I had the most important question of all on my mind…
What song do I wake them up with?
After much deliberation, I settled on the waitress song by an Australian hip-hop artist named Seth Sentry (I dont know if thats his real name). The song itself is pretty mellow with a hopeful tone. It received some positive reviews, so I know I made the right choice.
Shortly after my incredible playlist and the compliments that went with it, we all met on deck for breakfast which consisted of fruit with yogurt and granola. The group then rolled into our standard clean-up, which, to be honest, is pretty impressive when you think about it. Thirty-three people were all working to clean up the mess made by 33 people.
Once clean-up was done, the group began passage prep. This requires the team to split up, start putting the dive gear away, safe and sound, then also get Vela ready to set sail. We are preparing sails and safety gear, lashing down dinghies, and tidying up our own spaces so that our things dont learn how to fly.
The group then moved on to an Oceanography class with Sam, where they learned about the history of oceanography and some of the key focus areas theyll be learning about this semester. While this was going on, the staff was in the process of moving the boat to a new site. We then had lunch which was set up by our wonderful chef team, a fantastic sandwich spread.
The staff then revealed to the rest of the group that the new site we had moved to was a hidden lagoon, perfect for swimming, snorkeling, and some cave exploration! As we drove groups over to the lagoon in the dinghies, we had to drive through a narrow channel with small cliffs on each side. This is what keeps the place hidden from view.
Upon returning to the boat, the crew headed down below for a seamanship class with Hollywood (aka Matt Matt) and Allie. Thats the equivalent of having astrophysics taught to you by Danny DeVito and Jason Sudeikis.
For the very last part of seamanship for the day, the whole crew headed up on deck to raise the sails so we could get underway to our next destination, Porto Venere in northern Italy!