Location: Chatham Bay, Union
It’s quite a commitment to spend life afloat for 80 days. It’s easy to take for granted that we often spend our days without stepping foot on land, and it’s quite incredible if you think about all the things Ocean Star can provide us with as we power our lives, make water, and store food easily for days at a time. Today was one of those days (with the exception of provisioning) when the crew spent the day water-based. This morning was full of studying — there was hardly a soul left in bed at 7 when I popped down to the saloon for wakeups. The occasion was the first marine biology exam of the semester! After the exam was completed, it was time for a leadership class and another round of student-led chapter presentations.
It was after lunch when I returned to the boat with provisions for the next week. Union Island is always a particularly fun shop for food because although it takes a lot of different stops to get it all, the sellers are so kind and always excited to supply our food– So much so that extra local fruits were gifted by a few. Also, it is the very beginning of mango season, so fresh mango, among star fruit, passion fruit, papaya, soursop, and fruit I have honestly never seen, were some of the highlights.
After a team effort to get food away, we prepared for ADVANCED open water. That’s right, not just divers, but everyone is now on their way to advanced (and beyond:), and today’s dive was all about buoyancy perfection. To test their skills in buoyancy, each diver had to make their way through an obstacle course, weaving around floating markers and then swimming through hoops without touching the side, followed by knocking overweights, touching only the bottom edge of their regulator to the weight and never meeting the sand (since it was, in fact, lava for our purposes today). We couldn’t leave out a few flips and some new hovering positions. After a long dive, head chef Hannah’s family recipe of chicken tacos was the perfect way to end the day alongside a beautiful sunset. Our squeeze question of the day was what your favorite tradition was growing up. Many holidays were mentioned, but the common theme was the effort loved ones put into the small details, so thank you to all of those reading along who have been a part of these moments 🙂