Location: Pigeon Island, Guadeloupe
They’ve done it. After days and days (55, but who’s counting…?) of their intense pursuit, Matt and Jon have finally done it. Following an incredibly smooth wake-up, passage prep, and departure from Les Saintes this morning, at approximately 0900, a real, LIVE tuna was pulled aboard Ocean Star by our resident fishermen. Though it might not be the same as the giant ones Matt catches back home off of Cape Cod, the excitement of their first real catch was not lost on the rest of the crew!
The excitement of the morning certainly set the tone for the rest of the day. After the big catch, we all got an impromptu lesson in fish dissection and gut content analysis from Amy and a lesson in how to go from fish to fillets from Matt. As we continued underway, some of the Advanced Open Water divers finished correcting a few of the knowledge reviews to complete their certifications. The Rescue Diver candidates and I worked through all of ours. What this means, though, is that we’re inching closer and closer to when we could come upon a mock-rescue situation at any time that we’ll have to work together to navigate in order to successfully pass the course. It’s definitely going to be an interesting way to complete this certification… it’s one thing to go through scenarios to complete a course, but it’s another to live with your instructors and never quite know when a scenario is coming.
Once we arrived at our anchorage near Pigeon Island this afternoon, we had a quick Marine Biology class before we were shuttled over to Pigeon Island for a Leadership class ashore. We ran into a bit of a hiccup on the way, though, as “No Propellors” signs lined the approach to the island. No worries though, our resourceful crew quickly resorted to paddles to overcome the minor setback. Ridge and I hopped on the bows of the dinghies we were in and paddled away, and when that wasn’t as efficient as we needed it to be, we hopped in the water to swim Exy and Irv to shore rather than making it a wet entry for everyone. Leadership today was an hour of reflection; we were instructed to find a spot on the island to sit alone and reflect on the trip, how we’ve all grown, what’s going well on Ocean Star, and what isn’t. It was great to have a bit of alone time this afternoon in such a beautiful place, and I think it definitely made us all realize that almost three-quarters of our voyage has passed in what seems like no time at all. Even so, we’ve certainly got plenty of adventures left to have as we prep for diving tomorrow and our “plan your own adventure” day later this week in Guadeloupe.
Until the next one,
Jillybean
Pictured: Jon and his catch; Amy demonstrating a fish dissection to the rest of the crew; Miranda at the helm during today’s passage; Ridge at the bow of Irv; Jill paddling with the “help” of Matthew, Steffen, Brit, Kennedy, and Joseph; sunset off of Ocean Star’s stern; colorful clouds over mainland Guadeloupe; notice anything new about Eli and Matt…?