Location: Ilet a Cabrit, Les Saintes
I woke up this morning at 6:30 to ensure I could get ready and wake everyone up by 7:00. I have only ever woken everyone up by talking, so I decided to do something different. I have been feeling a little bit of Taylor Swift’s withdrawal since it’s hard to listen to your own music sometimes, so I woke everyone up with her song “Lavender Haze.” It definitely started my morning off well. After everyone was on deck, we had breakfast of chocolate chia pudding and fruit. After cleanup, I gave everyone the brief and rundown of today; we are leaving Dominica and sailing to Les Saintes. After cleanup, we started raising sails. Since I am skipper, I got to the helm, meaning I got to drive the boat off and anchor! It is quite a process, constantly putting the boat in reverse, forward, and neutral, but the anchor team managed to hoist it, and we bared away to Les Saines.
As soon as we left Portsmouth, the winds started to pick up. The winds grew to be up to at least 32 knots! Helming during that was insane. It was a full workout just to barely turn the wheel. All around were whitecaps, and there was so much sea spray. Then we had lunch of fried rice, which was delicious. There was so much wind that we even dipped the cap rail, which is crazy. As the winds picked up, Nick ended up taking over because the wind gusts were too strong. He was worried about being overpowered, so we ended up taking the jib down first, and we reefed the rest of the sails. While underway, ML and Doran also gave their leadership presentation on deck in the midst of the wind. Soon after we lowered the sails, we anchored in Les Saintes.
Once there, Katie and I gave our Leadership presentation on Guadeloupe, which I think everyone enjoyed. I usually hate presenting in school, but I didn’t mind it. After, I gave everyone 15 minutes before we started Bio to take our 3rd Fish ID test. Everyone gathered around my computer for some last-minute cramming, and we all quizzed each other. After the test, we had a regular class where we learned about phytoplankton. Next, I let everyone have a break for about 15 minutes before we started Boat to Bed. I feel like we are getting way more efficient when it comes to finishing Boat to Bed quickly and efficiently. When we “put the boat to bed,” I mean that we clean up the lines on deck, put sail covers on, take off the halyards, get out the dive gear, and a couple of other items of business. Since we finished fairly quickly, we had some free time until dinner.
In that time, I did a bit of homework on deck while watching the sun start to set. Soon after, I took a saltwater shower and jumped in the water. Saltwater showers every day are always pretty fun because you get to jump off the boat a bunch of times to get clean while watching the sunset. Last night, I saw the “green flash,” but I didn’t see it tonight. After changing, dinner was ready to be gophed up and served. Dinner was enchiladas and leftover lunch. My squeeze question for tonight was, “what was your favorite gift you got when you were younger?” My answer to that was the surprise Hamilton tickets for my 16th birthday.
This trip so far has been absolutely incredible. Dominica was gorgeous, but I’m very excited to explore the French Islands! Shoutout to my family, who I miss every day. You guys would love all of these islands; I wish you were here. Also, congrats Avery on getting into Syracuse! Hi to my Juniata family. I hope the semester is treating you well.