Location: Falmouth Harbour, Antigua
I woke everyone up this morning by blasting “The Spins” by Mac Miller at a sharp 7 am. We quickly moved into breakfast, which was oatmeal with all the fixings that our head chef Miriam made. In my opinion, oatmeal always tastes better when someone else makes it. During breakfast, we also had to prepare and pack our lunch because, for the first time in 14 days, we would be on land for most of the day. However, before we could leave the boat, everyone had to run through some EFR practice scenarios. The rest of the staff and I entered our roles of the injured person, and the students got right into action once they saw our “injuries.” Everyone got a chance to determine what was wrong and how to provide the first steps of emergency care, like CPR, stabilizing joints, and obtaining important information.
After going through each scenario, everyone finally got to shore to check out the local coffee shops before our taxi pick-up to the zip-line and high ropes course. When we arrived, we were greeted by the friendly dog, Cashew, who only wanted scraps of food from our packed lunches. Cashew reminded me of my own dog, Monroe, who has become quite famous on board for the numerous times that I mention her or try to show someone a photo of her. (Don’t worry, I included a photo of her begging for tummy rubs while holding a stuffed shark toy). Once we finished lunch, we all got geared up with a harness, helmet, and gloves. We looked quite professional with all our gear on. We then zoomed through the zip-lines and even got some killer photos of Maddie and Ellery in action. The high ropes course proved to be a bit more of a challenge, especially when Kelsey was shaking the wire I was trying to walk across. After struggling through the course, we finally all made it to the end, where we chilled on a swinging platform or took the opportunity to grab some sweet selfies.
Finally returning back to Falmouth Harbour, everyone got a bit more free time to explore the surrounding buildings or walk over to Nelson’s Dockyard to check out the historic site. Everyone also used this time to stock up on snacks for the rest of the trip. Mackenzie tried a local banana bread that looked quite yummy. Jay, Maddie, Tenley, Caroline, and Ellery all got to try some delicious gelato from a nearby coffee shop called Seabreeze. I had two scoops of vanilla, and I know I will be definitely be heading back. Sadly, we had to be picked up at the dinghy dock and return to Ocean Star for dinner. However, spirits were quickly turned around because it was time to set up dive kits for a night dive at Black’s Point. Dinner was a fantastic carbonara made by Miriam and her sous chefs, and I ended the meal with the squeeze question of “describe the person to your right as a baked good?”. Tenley chooses a lemon tart for me, and I said Kelsey was a donut with rainbow sprinkles. As well, everyone laughed at Nathan being described as a mysterious turnover for his pastry. Overall, the day was one for the books, and everyone is already looking forward to more time to explore Antigua.
XO, Marles