Location: Underway to the Marquesas
Hey blog! Im back again for the 2nd and a half time. Nick is next to me, and he just burped really loudly (send help).
I had the wonderful pleasure of the 12-4 am watch with watch team three [insert trident emoji]. The first hour was quite uneventful, but I decided to start playing Wavelength with Meg and Skyler. We managed to only go two rounds, which lasted a whopping total of 1.5 hours (we were not in fact on the same wavelength). During our last hour, we plotted our pranks and plans for watch team 1. Everyone got together and decided on a song to dance to for them. We chose the Cha-Cha Slide.
Now, for the wonderful prank (we have many more to come, hopefully). SkylEr has been plotting for days but was unable to achieve this great wonder during our previous passage. During watch team 1s briefing session, he and Meg were to run down to the galley bilge, and Meg held it open for him to climb into. Meg then ran back up and danced with us, hoping no one would clock there was a member missing. Once we were relieved, we speedily walked into the salon and waited for the boatie persons arrival from watch team 1. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to us, our plotting had been leaked or overheard, and Shane was made aware of said plan. Because of this, he took his sweet time on his boatie (which typically takes around 10-15 minutes). This, in turn, meant SkylEr was in the bilge for a total of around 30 minutes. Eventually, Shane came down, and Helena, Meg, Cason, and I were all hanging out in the salon/galley doing various activities, pretending to be busy. We then realized Shane knew, as he had one of those long grabby things, and he opened the bilge and attempted to grab SkylErs (now bald) head. Watch team 3 then proceeded to go to sleep again until wake-ups around 11:30 am.
I woke up a bit early today, around 8 am, and decided to do some homework in the salon because our room is WAY TOO HOT. Emma and Helena were also out there when I arrived, so we all worked on our fish ID logs together, listening to our own music. At 11:30, I ran, did wake-ups, and prepared for my next watch from 12-2. A little bit of sunscreen and a PFD later, I was up on deck, only to be blinded by the reflection of Sydneys belly button ring (sorry, Sydneys mom!).
The 12-2 watch is usually super chill as we often just have lunch and go straight to class after cleanup. Today was a bit different, but not in a bad way. Adult teacher Megs computer decided it didnt want to connect to the screens, so instead we had class up on deck and learned about estuaries and intertidal zones. After Marine Bio, we had a 15-minute break before the NavMaster class (my current favourite) with Shane, where we learned about how to estimate our position on charts. During class, our head chef, Mars, and his (confirmed) sous chef, Ani, began cooking. By the end of class, there were approximately 5 people in the galley cooking together, so it was very unclear who was actually a sous chef and who just wanted to help out.
In case you didnt know, theres not a ton of space in Argos galley, and having three people in there usually feels like quite a lot, so I cant even imagine what it was like with all five. After class was done, I headed up on deck for a bit, where I encountered Rachel awaiting her surgery. Shane was taking out her silly little stitches from the silly little bilge cut she got. It was a tedious task before successfully pulling them out. Rachel then offered Neptune another sacrifice, her stitches, which will hopefully alleviate the curse he has put on us. I then ran back downstairs to put my sewing scissors away, and it was probably the worst timing in the world the cooks in the kitchen set the fire alarm off. Any time the fire alarm goes off, we are all required to get pfds on, and bring up Type I PFDs, Gumby suits (I dont know if I spelled that right), and a fire extinguisher if one is close and within a safe distance to get. Anyone on deck stays up above, and people below need to bring up the required items. Unfortunately, most of us below did not do so We received reminders about what to do in case of an emergency and were told that we will have another fire drill in the near future for better practice.
After we put all our emergency items away, I came back up on deck for haircut time. Avi was cutting Rachel and Gavis hair today because shes an actual #professional. We had lots of wonderful hair on deck, some of which got stuck to my recently sunscreened legs, super fun. I stayed up on deck with watch team 1 and yip-yapped with the people up there about various things, all while Rachel, Shane, and I played our lovely clothespin game (aka we just try and get clothespins on each other and see how long it takes for the person to notice). Dinner time quickly approached, which was a mac and cheese meal with broccoli and bacon, with a red sauce pasta and/or veggie dogs for the dietary.
Squeeze came with a beautiful sunset and I asked poeple what song they would listen to for 30-40 days straight if (or for Charlie and Aidan, when) they were to row across the Atlantic (#TeamDynamic) After squeeze I was sent to do the blog, which I am typing to you all know, so I hope you have enjoyed and patiently await the next update.
-Colbie
PS. Hi everyone at home! I hope things are going well! Im doing ok, considering the news we all just got. Ill talk to you all soon (in like 18 days or something)
PS. Happy sixteenth birthday, Curtiss 🙂 _Skylar