Location: Monu Riki, Fiji
Today was a very exciting day for the crew of Argo! We picked up anchor at 6 am and headed to a new anchorage at Monu Riki. Monu Riki is actually where the movie Castaway was filmed, so we have now all been to the same place as Tom Hanks, which is pretty cool. Because I was already awake for my anchor watch from 5-6 am, I got to helm for part of our way over there. This was both good news for me because it was super cool and good news for the rest of our crew. After all, I was so focused on steering our noble ship that I forgot to wake everyone up, and they all got an extra ten minutes of sleep. Luckily Amanda reminded me about my skipper duties, so I got everyone up before an amazing breakfast of cinnamon rolls and cold brew coffee. Post breakfast, we had our fish ID quiz in marine bio class, and then we had a really cool lecture on jellyfish. After that, we had a seamanship lecture where we learned more about using charts as part of our nav master section of the course. Then we had a bit of free time before an awesome lunch of fancy mac ‘n’ cheese. By the time lunch was over, we had anchored in Monu Riki. We spent the afternoon hanging out, swimming around Argo, snorkeling on the reef nearby, getting to say hi to Mia’s mom, and just generally enjoying some time to relax. Cole, Will, and I took up finger jousting (Cole would like me to mention that he is undefeated) and played some cards ( I regret to report that I have yet to win a game of Egyptian rat screw, but it’s a marathon, not a sprint, I will get there). While most of the boat was relaxing, our divemaster trainees were hard at work, leading a simulated dive. Gabe was a very interesting and rebellious diver, but luckily E and Max had it well under control, professionals that they are. When they got back, we had a lovely dinner, and now everyone is either studying for our Oceanography test tomorrow or watching Castaway. I am about to go make some bagel dough because I get to be head chef tomorrow! All in all, it has been another great day here on Argo!
– Annie
ps. Hi everyone back home, love and miss you loads 🙂