Location: Saint Vincent
Hello everyone! Im so excited to give the daily update on Argos 65th day on program. Once again, Im going to start off my blog with a bit of a broader ship update. Were still sitting in a mooring field outside the southern edge of Saint Vincent, and we are preparing for our last dive day here tomorrow. Our total distance covered is 5917nm, almost all the way to the huge 6000nm milestone.
As skipper, I was woken up for a beautiful early morning sunrise at 6:20. Nicole, Maddie, and I were on deck watching the view and soaking up the orange-tinged sky and island. After waking up all of the crew for an early start to our day, I covered for Maddies morning watch so everyone could make their day packs. We were rushing to get everyone awake and moving quickly so that we could make our time slot to make it to the volcano hike on time.
After a surprisingly successful muster, we got to eat a yummy full English breakfast cooked by head chef Isaac and make up some packed lunches from our wealth of leftovers from Maddies birthday dinner. Most of the crew opted for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and leftover pizza. Everyone, especially our three resident Brits, enjoyed the full English, and we jumped into the dinghies to make it to the dock by eight am. Despite the lack of faith from most of the crew the night before, everyone managed to make it to the vans just about perfectly on time!
We went on to a stunning forty-five-minute drive across Saint Vincent, where we got to see lots of the vegetation that makes this island seem like an emerald gem after our Atlantic crossing. Eventually, we arrived at the start of our volcano hike, where we met our hiking guide. We navigated the four-hour hike through the lower bamboo forests of the volcano until we got to a large river bed. At this point, we took a quick break to stretch, drink some water, top up on sunscreen, and run around a bit. Many of the crew opted for seeing who could get a more aesthetically pleasing plop by dropping rocks into a deep water-filled gully, while others tested out their sword-fighting skills with the bamboo walking sticks we all were given for the hike.
Suitably refreshed, we pressed on in the hot tropical lower forests until we got up to a second large river bed. At this point, we started the more barren summit. The tip of the volcano was wreathed with fog, and the winds got up to 50mph as we rounded the crest and looked down into the crater. In the cold, we huddled together under a little ledge to eat a well-deserved lunch and look down on the crater lake. Once we were all raring to go back to the warm tropical forest below, the group started a quick run-descent down the volcano. Once everyone had regrouped at the bottom of the valley, a long car ride back led to two vans full of napping crew suitably tuckered out.
Once we got back to the ship, the chefs started on a lovely pasta dinner, while everyone else got some time to take an ocean shower, sunbathe, do homework, and generally get some nice personal time. I rolled an ankle running down a gully, so I personally chose the noble path of a nice nap. After we ate the super filling pasta, meat sauce, and garlic bread, everyone set up their kits for tomorrow and turned in for bed.
-Kiki
PS: Much love to my family and everyone else reading this!