Location: St George, Grenada
As Skipper, my day started a little earlier than most. Or at least that’s what I thought. I headed down to the salon with my speaker and phone in hand to wake up the crew, only to find a few hangin out on deck for the sunrise. Then down in the salon and galley, people were already up reading, studying brushing teeth. For the ones that weren’t quite awake yet, I played a song by the Australian group Alpine entitled Gasoline, followed by some incredible music by Australian singer-songwriter Tash Sultana. Once everyone was up and about, there was a growing need for coffee and tea. With the french press out of action from a previous incident and everyone switching to a new schedule from watch teams during the passage, I showed a few shipmates how to make a pretty reasonable pour-over coffee. Breakfast, put together by our captain Steve was a spread of granola, cereals, yogurt, and watermelon and was enjoyed with incredible views of the bay. As we arrived at dusk last night, no one really knew what to expect once the sun rose, but hints from the glistening lights on the hills and the calm waters hinted at what we would see in the morning. St George, where we are currently anchored, is a picturesque but busy harbor town nestled into lush, tropical green hills on the leeward side of Grenada.
Once breakfast was finished, it was time for everyone to show their appreciation to Ocean Star for bringing us safely to our destination and a day earlier than scheduled. For Boat Appreciation, everyone split into 2 teams, one headed below to clean the salon, galley, and heads whilst the other scrubbed the hull and deck. The whole crew worked really hard to scrub our home on the water, cleaning their own bunks, sweeping, scrubbing, and rinsing the deck, floating in a dinghy whilst sponge cleaning the hull and polishing every inch of the galley. With all this going on, Steve organized groups of us to be taken into port to check in with the health authority and customs.
With everyone filled up on sandwiches from lunch, the afternoon activities began. All of the certified divers, with the exception of the Divemaster trainees, went to the salon to begin watching the Rescue training videos. Once they were all settled in, the Divemaster trainees went through some decompression theory and recreational dive planner use to help them when it is their turn to guide other divers through the process of planning their dives. Once the theory classes were over, everyone joined back together for a leadership class where we discussed issues that shipmates were passionate about and what we can do to change them.
#We finished the day with another incredible meal from our Captain, a traditional British meal of “toad in the hole” accompanied by stuffing, veggies, and gravy. Now, as I write this, shipmates are relaxing on deck, enjoying the night sky, listening to music, maybe studying, and laughing at each other’s jokes.
Picture 1: Mike eating watermelon
Picture 2 and 3: Zac, Margeaux, and Riley scrubbing the hull with Ben helping to move the dinghy around Ocean Star
Picture 4: Jodie and Isa cleaning the salon
Picture 5: Pearse doing… something when I asked him to look like he was cleaning something
Picture 6 (from day 18): Isabel at the helm with Ben, Lenox, Isa, and Calum as moral support
Picture 7 (from day 18): Ocean Star’s mainsail
Picture 8 (from day 18): St Lucia off the port side
# No toads were harmed in the making of this meal