Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Today started off with a super early wake-up for the Argo crew at 5:40 AM. Everyone mustered on deck at 6:00 for a taxi ride to the base of Lion’s Head, one of Cape Town’s three iconic peaks. It was a perfect morning for a picturesque hike. Everyone had a blast walking together and enjoyed the stunning view from the top. Aika even conquered her fear of heights to the summit with the whole group. Upon returning to the boat, there was no time to rest! We had a full day of boat introductions planned in order to prepare for tomorrow. Kris began with a general safety talk and held an entertaining race to don survival suits, which Eli won. Afterward, we talked about passage life and introduced the crew to the concept of watch, and broke into our three watch teams. In our groups, we practiced handling lines, learned about hourly boat safety checks, and conducted an introduction to chart plotting. The day was not finished yet, and we spent the remainder of the afternoon preparing Argo for tomorrow’s day of sail training and boat familiarization. We finally got to do a bit of relaxing over a delicious meal of chicken wings and mashed potatoes prepared by today’s head chef, Sam. We’re now wrapping up our post-meal cleanup, and then it’s right into Marine Biology. I think I can speak for all when I say that I am filled with anticipation for taking Argo off the dock in the morning, but I will not have any trouble falling asleep tonight!