Location: Charlestown, Nevis
Greetings intrepid adventures and avid listeners of this blog, oh I mean readers. Were working on audio versions for the blog but currently in negotiations with Morgan Freeman to narrate each one. Sadly, he is quite busy at the moment and very expensiveAnyway, let us begin with the day. However, we must backtrack to a place earlier than time itselfAround 2 am when the boat was surrounded by some amazing shows by mother nature. We had thunderstorms all throughout the night, along with some amazing lightning shows. One of the booms of lightning was so loud it woke me up straight out of bed. I thought Zeus himself was trying to break onto the boat. Anyway, once I realized it wasnt Zeus, I fell back to sleep and woke up in time to wake the many sleepy humans who slept through much of the excitement.
After wake-ups, the day began with some lovely buttery yet slightly drizzled eggs. No-fault of the chefs on the drizzle just mother nature again trying to give us some constant hydration. We then departed from breakfast to our respective cleanup jobs: the cleaners cleaned, the deckies deckied, and the drippers dripped and dripped and kept dripping – the rain truly was a hinderance this morning. This was followed by a class, but not just any class, my class, Leadership. The shipmates were led in a class by Isabel, who read the first chapter, filled in the class on the main points of the chapter. If you’re currently reading the Exploring Leadership for college students who want to make a difference, then please look away as the following sentence contains some pretty big spoilerslooking away..here I go. Chapter 1 explores the foundational principles of leadership; I wont ruin anymore for you. Anyway, the class turned very in-depth with many people reflecting on accomplishments theyd achieved and leaders they looked up to with everyone getting fully involved in the discussion.
After class, we made a hasty muster on deck to start getting people ashore to explore the wonderful island of Nevis. It may be small, but it’s rich in culture and friendly smiling faces when you land ashore. Except for some of the customs officials, they rarely smile anywhere in the world from my experience. Once ashore, I led our team of eager adventurers to the launderette. It was a journey full of dangers and hazards, cars honking, some stray sheep, small local children running around screaming, even a pelican had commandeered a small dinghy when coming into the dock. It was clear this was not a place to be trifled with. Once I guided the shipmates to the launderette, I departed for my own adventure to find a single 1/2 inch, stainless steel nut. I wont bore you with the details of why but I did, in fact, get one, and it served its purpose back onboard. I am unaware exactly what the shipmates did in those following few hours, but I know some engaged in some ice cream eating, some walked around town, and some went looking for Alexander Hamiltons house. I dont know if they found it or not, but they will have more opportunities in the coming days.
After they returned to the boat, there was some time to relax a bit, finish laundry, get the dry laundry off the lines before it inevitably started raining again, all while waiting for some local fisherman to arrive from a program called Seamoss. Sadly they were held back at work due to the storms mentioned earlier so they couldnt make it today but will hopefully arrive on Monday. I would tell you about Seamoss, but I will leave it to the skipper on Monday to inform you. While many were waiting aboard, people were rotated through Dinghy Training School. As you can see by the picture above, it all went well except somehow a stray sea hippy was acquired, oh wait, thats Lauren, my bad. I didnt have much involvement during this time, but I can see that the dinghy is back in one piece, so it must have been a riveting success.
Now here we go the moment you have all been waiting for, Dinner time. It is a key part of the day; many hopes and dreams can be made here or, in fact, be shattered. Some true titans have been made and crowned here. Ive even heard such reviews as wow Id eat this again and this is tasty and I like food. However, some great people have fallen into the depths of the forgotten chefs. Ive heard such reviews from bad meals over the years, such as what is this and is this even food and even air tastes better than this. Well, tonight you will be pleased to know it was pretty good as it was a baked potato bar night. Who doesnt love baked potatoes? Or in my mother tongue, a Jacket Potato. It came with an assortment of sides to fill empty bellies to fuel through the rest of the evening.
After dinner cleanup was the final activity for the day, Marine Biology with Alexander Hamilton, oh wait that was the dead guy from earlier, I mean Alexander Haysey. But Im the only one who calls him Alex; you readers may have come across previous blogs where he is referred to as Sasha. Anyway, some guy that I work with taught Marine Biology. Now let me tell you something about this guy, youve probably heard of Charles Darwin. Some may even have heard of Alfred Wallace; perhaps some are aware of Sir David Attenborough and Sylvia Earle. All these people past and present are great naturalists, conservationists, and marine biologists, however, none of them have a dime on Alexander Sasha Haysey. When he walks into a room and starts to talk about Organelles, you listen. When he points at a Nucleus on the slides, you look. And when he asks you a question about what your mitochondria is currently doing, you will answer it. After his lectures, youre a better person inside and out and will be left with a calming aura around you of peace and knowledge.
After Marine Biology, it was bedtime, so good night.
Picture 1 – The infamous sea hippy we picked up
Picture 2 – The same hippy smiling she’s found a new home (we can’t get rid of her)
Picture 3 – Kenzie doing a gang sign
Picture 4 – 3 People smiling and one asleep
Picture 5 – Deforestation
Picture 6 – Where’s the top of Nevis gone???