17
Location: Great Harbor, Peter Island
Today our day started bright and early on Peter Island. We had a nutritious breakfast that consisted of cereal, milk, and fruit. We ate breakfast on our way to Road Town, Tortola. There we would help out the local Botanical Garden. Once we arrived, we were soon put to work. There were many jobs people took on. For instance, we had jobs of painting, planting, potting, raking, weeding and many more. Everyone took part in making the botanical garden look more alive and rejuvenated. It was very hot as well so this day was hands down busy and hard. We spent at least 4-5 hours there in the afternoon. Even though it was a laboring day, we were rewarded with shore time that soon followed after. All the shipmates from Lifeworks got to roam the shops, restaurants, and streets of Road Town. I treated myself with some sweet frozen yogurt and pizza with friends, as well as others. It was a nice way of having a break. Our shore time was around two hours.
Mid-afternoon we gathered on to our dingy boats and made it back safely. Afterward, we were told that the rest of the day we would be helping out the VISAR squad with training. VISAR is a group of professionals highly trained to help any type of boating disasters. Lifeworks was able to help them with their training. This meant our boats, Catalinaville and Moko Jumbie would be participating. By participating, we had to gather groups on each boat and create a scenario of someone being injured. From Catalinaville we had Lauren do the task of being a shipmate who happened to get stuck in the laz and hurt her leg/back. She did very well in her acting skills. Moko Jumbie also had their own fake disaster took on by the shipmate Madi, who faked a concussion by getting hit with one of the sails. It was really fun getting to help them out. My favorite part of helping was getting to take a ride on their awesome boat going speedy fast. After VISAR left, we had a great dinner of Mexican food! Dinner was so delicious! We have some talented chefs on board. As the day was winding down, we had one more event. The event was an open discussion led by yours truly. Being skipper I was asked to take leadership with this. Knowing personally that I am not the one who feels comfortable doing such a task, I am more on the shy side. However, I took the opportunity with arms wide open. I felt able to do this because I honestly feel that getting to know everyone and myself that I have grown mentally as a person. For the discussion, the theme was the “ripple effect.” The ripple effect is a theory of how we as humans influence others and that we all can ignite how people feel. Our discussion was a jumble of topics but we did stay on our main theme. For me, it was a good experience of hearing other people’s perspectives. I really enjoyed being able to take some leadership and it felt nice. The overall day for Catalinaville was spectacular and there will be many more memories to come!