Location: CT
It’s hard to fathom that it’s been over three weeks since we said our goodbyes to Ocean Star and each other and departed to all corners of the country. It was definitely an adjustment coming home. There was a feeling of familiarity, yet it seemed something was different, something was off. Everything looked the same, smelled the same, and even felt the same. That’s when I realized what had changed was me. I recognized that 45 days on a ship has grown me more as a person then years could back home. Of course, we learned the assigned subjects that we took classes on, and the sailing we got to do almost every day, but it taught me much more. It taught me I’m stronger than I ever thought, that you have to give 100% of yourself in order to get 100% in return, to always have a plan b (and maybe even c and d), and finally, that total stranger can become family.
Looking back on the 45 days onboard, I realized that everyone had come on this trip for a variety of different reasons. To explore and travel different parts of the world, to learn to sail, to grow as individuals, to hit the reset button in their life, or to simply get away from the world they knew. Despite the array of reasons we came, I feel we all left the trip with something we didn’t arrive with. We left as better versions of ourselves than we were when our pale bodies boarded Ocean Star for the first time in Antigua 45 days prior. I miss boat life immensely, and it’s definitely a change going from living with 14 others who I now consider some of my best friends, to having to keep cooped-up at home. Missing everyone from California to Connecticut and back again. To close, I want to quote the band Green Day, “So make the best of this test and don’t ask why. It’s not a question but a lesson learned in time. It’s something unpredictable, but in the end, it’s right, I hope you had the time of your life.”
Thank you all for making this the time of our lives!
Signing off as skipper one last time,
Cara Samson
Picture 1: Faith and I wearing the same outfit in different colors
Picture 2: Dory’s true personality
Picture 3: Hailey being Hailey
Picture 4: Faith and me collecting our baggage before heading to Ocean Star
Picture 5: Another quality photo of Dory
Picture 6: Faith’s hair turning against her while trying to clip in Irv to lift on board