Location: San Diego, California
Greetings from one of Ocean Star’s many bilges! I’ve been hiding out here since we were told we had to leave the ship. I’m trusting all your loyal blog readers won’t expose me to the staff because they’ll most definitely have to send me home, but they haven’t caught on yet, so that’s good. Just kidding, I’m sadly reporting from San Diego (maybe).
Whether I’m hiding in a bilge or stuck in my house, these quarantine hours have got me reminiscing about all the good times I had with my beloved Ocean Star crew. A memory that comes to the front of my mind takes us back to pretty early on in our adventures to the beautiful island of Nevis. While we were on this island, our crew separated into three groups. One group went horseback riding, another went kayaking, and well my group, we went biking.
Our biking crew consisted of Dory, Marin, Sash, and myself, and oh boy, did we have quite the experience. When I signed up for this exciting biking excursion, I thought it was more a chill leisurely adventure to see parts of the island. Oh my, was I wrong. Now let me preface that this biking trip was a DEFINITE type 2 fun. A type 2 fun is low-key hating the experience while it’s happening, but enjoying the memory looking back. Anyway, allow me to take you back in time to this wonderful memory.
We started out taxi-ing with the kayakers to the rental place to get these bikes. This nice man gave us them, and as soon as I hopped on, I encountered my first issue, my feet were struggling to touch the ground and my test drive, well let’s just say, was rough. But we moved past that and went on our way. There my group went zooming off so elegantly on their bikes, and I was talking to myself quite literally, saying, “What have I gotten myself into?” You see, my fellow bikers are of quite the athletic stature, and well, I do activities at a more leisurely pace, if you catch what I’m saying. Sash was oh so kind to slow his pace and bike with me for the first few hills, but a person can only go so slow for so long. Something interesting I found out is that an island can seriously be ALL UPHILL, with literally only one mega downhill (which was much needed by the way). So to be completely candid with you guys, I think I walked my bike more than I rode it, but I can tell you the rest of the crew rode their bikes the whole time which to this day impresses me oh so much. During the scenic ride, we saw beautiful cliffs, the magnificent blue ocean, and a terrifying wall of rain coming straight for us. Sadly, not even the super bikers in my group could out pedal this wall, and we all got drenched. There was a short time that I could barely see the road ahead, and I was thinking to myself, “wow biking, definitely not how I thought I’d go out,” but we all made it through and without any falls (to my surprise). There was this rare moment when we were all together and I caught up to them (only because they stopped), but anyway, Dory and I saw HEAPS of piglets in the shrubs and it was just so exciting. At one point we even had a cute little pup trailing behind us which was super fun. After I made it down the enormous downhill, I saw Dory, Marin, and Sash all eating lunch alongside a graveyard, and I was so excited because I thought I had made it to the end of this bike ride. I was quickly informed this was not the case and we still had to bike all through the town back to where we started. Yup, that’s right, we LITERALLY were CIRCUMNAVIGATING Nevis. At this point, I thought I would never get back to this bike place, but here we go off again on the bikes. Okay, so what I’m about to tell you sounds made up, and you really need to keep an open mind. Anyway, while Dory, Sash, and Marin were WAY ahead of me (I was informed by the many cars that stopped to tell me this fact), anywho, I was having a nice pace going along (which was rare) and then off in the distance I see three mules. I didn’t think much of it, and then I see these mules in a single file line moving from their yard into the middle of the very road I am biking and just stand there. I had to stop my pedaling right in front of these mules and they were just staring at me. Finally, when I asked nicely, they moved (they had quite the attitudes). After they moved I continued on my way. You know that saying “slow and steady wins the race,” I can personally attest that this is not the case because the super bikers got there way ahead of me. Finally, about a week later, I made it back to the bike rental; by that time, Ocean Star had already left for Grenada, so I then had to start my swim there.
I think of this memory a lot. Well, one reason is because of this bike ride, I decided that it was in my best interest to take the Tour de France off my bucket list, I did so with great reluctance. But I also think of this day a lot because I went on Seamester for adventure and to experience things I never knew I wanted to. And believe me, I NEVER have wanted to circumnavigate an island on a mere bicycle, and I probably will never want to again, but on this program, you’re pushed to accomplish amazing things you think you can’t. I think that’s what I miss most about being aboard Ocean Star. Besides the family, I met of course! I miss you guys lots! I know our time together ended sooner than we thought, but no matter where life takes us, we’ll always have our adventures aboard Ocean Star connecting us all.
Faith
Photo Captions:
1: a high-quality selfie from the last time I was skipper
2: an awkward photo time w/ matt and tye during EFR class
3: Kenz, Dory and Marin, we were on a smoothie mission, CLASSIC
4: Sash, Marin, and Dory eating lunch by the cemetery (we still had a ways to go)
5: Marin and Kenz eating our final apples