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Location: West End
The first day of exploration upon “Grins.” I departed from St. Thomas on the 11:45 ferry to Tortola after two days of relaxation with my family. The ferry ride was beautiful and was my first real glimpse of the amazing scenery in the BVI. After arriving on Tortola I had lunch with my family and they took me to the dock where all of the ActionQuest and Lifeworks boats are located. We were given a tour of the catamaran, I got checked in, and my Dad and stepmother said their goodbyes, wishing me well on the amazing journey I am about to embark on. I was checked in fairly early and the only other shipmate was a girl named Emily. I sat with Anna for a while discussing exactly what grits are. Personally, I really don’t think I will incorporate those into my diet any time soon. Then Emily and I chatted on the trampoline for a bit. Mostly about animals as we are both very much animal lovers. When the swim test was finally set up, Emily and I got dressed and took the plunge. It was fairly simple, just two laps and ten minutes of treading water, which may seem like a lot but really isn’t. After getting dry, Emily and I hung out on the trampoline some more. Time seemed to pass very slowly and we were wondering when our eleven other shipmates would show up. Matt came over and introduced Emily and I to the shipmates on the other Lifeworks boat. They all seemed cool and I know that I’m excited to get to know everyone in the Lifeworks program! After getting to know fellow Lifeworks participants, Emily and I were asked to help start dinner. It was tortellini, garlic bread, and salad. Emily helped with the salad and I made the garlic bread. We finished the prep for the meal and had difficulty finding a place for the salad. It was decided that it would be place in the freezer due to the lack of space in the fridge, we just could not forget it was there! Emily and I still had a few hours of being the only two shipmates. When we started cooking the pasta and setting the table, our fellow shipmates began to arrive! Both Emily and I were excited to mee the people we would spen the next three weeks with! When we ate dinner, Grins was still missing half of it’s shipmates! Dinner was very good, and as skipper I came up with the first squeeze question. The squeeze is something we do before or after every meal. Everyone holds hands and the skipper asks a fun question. Mine was “if you could only bring two things on a deserted island, what would you bring, and why?” As everyone answers the question the person who just answered squeezes the hand of the next person; hence the name of the game. My answer was “a bunch of cats and a survival knife.” Some other notable items were a puppy that never gets old, a friend, and a trampoline. After dinner we washed dishes for the first time and a few decided to shower. More shipmates arrived and as I write this, I believe we are only missing maybe four! The boat is definitely more crowded than it was, but it is very exciting! I don’t know about everyone else, but I am eager to set sail and begin what is sure to be a fantastic experience! I can only hope I laugh as much throughout the whole trip as I did today.