Location: Underway to Mauritius
Im sitting in the salon. Whats playing? House music. Jewel does a wave with her arms. Zeke copies. Suddenly, Im doing one too. We play a game where we each need to add on one dance move. We get everyone in the salon involved. Dance party in the middle of the Indian Ocean! Zeke goes up the companion way. Sunset. We all climb up the ladder to check it out. 2 seconds later, there are 5 of us squished at the top of the ladder. I run downstairs to grab my PFD (personal flotation device, which needs to be worn at all times on deck while we are moving. The next half hour is filled with everyone on deck watching the sunset, and of course, I documented it with pictures and videos (shameless plug @destinybenway).
I enjoyed a lovely conversation with my roomie Adda (who I unfortunately dont see as much since we are on different watch teams). Tonight, I have the 8 pm-12 am watch shift (watch team 2: Rai-Ching, Thaxton, Payton, Vera, and me). Despite this being my least favorite watch shift (for more info, go to my last blog about sleep hours, haha), it went by very fast. Ive learned that coffee is a necessity for watch and I now have a new persona, formed by my watch team, caffeinated Destiny. With my post-coffee chattiness, Kyler and Zoe (our watch team leaders) will never say no when I ask to go down to the salon to make some. Recently on watch, weve been having much deeper conversations, which I really love. Tonight, we talked about our why- what drives us and our decisions. We also shared a time in our lives when we felt the most appreciated.
The sky is dark. There are a few stars starting to peak out from the clouds, and other than our voices, its just the sound of the waves. I cant believe Im in the middle of the Indian Ocean. This is SO cool. I am the official waker-upper for watch team 3 (Jewel, Maia, Fin, Zeke, Wylie). I used to wake them up by singing a song (started off with a Christmas song), but after singing the ABCs, I learned they were NOT a fan of that, haha, oops. Now, I switch it up between weather reports, daily quotes, or just a classic boring wake-up. After a good 7 hours of sleep, the morning from 8 am to 12 pm comes.
Im not sure if the other blogs have shared, but it is the perfect temperature (some Floridians may disagree), but its perfect sweatshirt and sweatpants weather. We watch the sun rise, and I helm for a bit. The big debate of watch beings: what we should eat for breakfast. Vera and I decide on yogurt bowls and do our usual rummage of the drawer for our favorite granola. Watch is followed by the usual: lunch, class (with canned fruit of course), post-class nap, then dinner. Its so interesting because I was originally dreading the passage. I did not know what a potential 14 days at sea would be like. I just assumed it couldnt beat all the fun activities we had done on land. Zoe and Kyler (my watch team leaders) told me it would go by so fast. 9 days in, they were right. Ive really enjoyed the routine of passage. Once we got past the first few sea sickness-inspired days, the rocking has even started to feel normal (& I have even gotten used to occasional falling into the wall) ending off this blog with the quote I woke watch team 3 up with my worries are few because my blessings are MANY. Shoutout to all of our families at home that help give us so many blessings- like this experience. We are all thinking of you.
To my family- I miss you guys so much and cant wait to call the second I have service
Happy birthday mom I miss you so much and Ill call you as soon as I get service!! I love you
-Scarlette