14
Location: Road Harbor, Tortola
I awoke to the bright sunlight of the beaming British Virgin Islands sun — yet another night of sleeping on the floor. As I slowly opened my eyes, not giving in to the temptation of rolling over and just falling back asleep as I tend to do most mornings, I sat up in the middle of three people rushing around me to get breakfast on the table so we could get sailing as fast as possible. Most people had already taken care of their sleeping space and either taken down their hammock or picked up their sheet and pillow. Since it had rained the night before, most of us had crammed into the living room of the boat. Given that the majority of the sleeping spaces are located outside or on top of the main cabin, the majority of the girls slept on the makeshift bed, and David and I slept on the floor.
We all gathered in the cockpit to eat breakfast as a family, with Teo being the last to rise with much resistance from his beauty sleep. We all ate french toast with many toppings, as our chefs for the day, Carly and Pardis, continued to cook more and more — all the while screaming in French accents from the kitchen. At this point in the day, the Rebuilding Island Life students left us to go help at a house that we’ll all be visiting tomorrow morning. Soon after breakfast was finished and our dishies had finished washing our plates and utensils from the meal, we picked up the anchor with the help of some of my shipmates and set sail for the destination of the day, Road Town.
During the long sail, I had the opportunity to watch an intense card game taking place indoors, talk with Teo on the bow, and help sail the boat towards Tortola. As we dropped anchor, everybody put on sunscreen and sandals (besides the two New Yorkers who had refused to buy “strappy sandals” that wore sneakers, myself included). Then we loaded the dinghies and started towards our service project for the day, measuring the mangroves in the area to monitor their recovery following the destruction from the recent hurricane, since they have a large impact on the islands and ecosystems within the Caribbean. We trekked through