17
Location: Road Harbor, Tortola
We woke up this morning to music blaring in our ears, thanks to Kris. We wake up like that every morning since most of us sleep in hammocks outside.
Once we were all finally up, we sat in the saloon until the counselors went to the staff meeting. We were all extremely tired and barely talked at all. Jackson and Halle made pancakes, literally enough to serve 115 people. We eat a ton on this boat! Once the pancakes were all made, we were all chatterboxes. The pancakes were seriously as big as our faces, and everyone had at least two. So there were massive amounts of pancakes left. We threw some pancakes at another boat, hoping that they would hit, but every time they either went over the boat or fell too short. The other boat (Odin II) tried to catch them, but our throwing was sub-par :(.
Once the counselors were finally back, they told us about a little schedule change. Instead of snorkeling and trying to find sea urchins, we watched two documentaries about our planet and how animals live in our world. The first documentary was very interesting; however, I could not tell you what the second documentary was about because I fell asleep.
I woke up to lunch being served and everyone grabbing their PFDs because we were going on a 40-minute drive to West End to do a trash pickup. I love sitting in the cockpit, watching different people drive the boat and other boats pass us. It’s very calming.
Once we arrived at West End, Annie asked if anyone wanted to help moor the boat. Sadly the last time I tried to moor the boat, there were no balls open for us, so we had to go on with our day while Kris and Riley waited for a spot to open up and moored themselves. Anyways, Tatum and I immediately offered to help out. Each of us held on to the ends of our ropes, and once Annie picked up the ball, we strung the rope through. Not going to lie. It was a little bit stressful, but it was super easy. I still have no idea what the knot is called that you use to tie it, but I trying to learn as much as I possibly can.
Once we were all set, we left the boat and headed over to West End on the dingy. During the first week, Kris bought us a jar of ground espresso, knowing that we needed the energy in the morning. However, today we completely ran out of coffee, so I was picked as our representative to go to the store and buy more coffee. I went to the store while everyone else waited outside and looked in at stores that were closed. Once I bought the coffee, we began our trash pick-up. It smelled like dead fish the entire walk. Other than that, it was fun, and we were all laughing the whole time, so it wasn’t that bad. We would end the trash pick-up when we reached the dumpster, and by the time this happened we had already filled up six bags of trash with holes ripped all over them. The walk back was the easiest part. It felt so much shorter and not as hot.
After we got back to the dingy, we headed back to the boat so we could immediately get underway for the 3-hour drive we had to Road Town. Riley gave us a new blog camera since the photos were apparently very blurry, so that’s why today there aren’t as many pictures as normal. Back at the boat, Ivy happened to have been cleaning off her shoes and managed to fall in the water. We got our PFDs on, and we began our trek to Tortola. Max, Tilly, and I all sat in the cockpit. Because it was a 3-hour ride, I wanted to drive as much as I possibly could. I’m trying to learn all the rules of the water, and I beginning to get a better feel for how much I truly need to turn the boat in order for us to stay in the right position and stay on course. I had to keep our course at 75°. The waves were pretty big, so I had to make sure if a wave hit us at a certain angle ad we began turning to the port side, I would have to spin the wheel just enough so we didn’t turn too much to the starboard side. There was a moment when I had to ask Kris to take over because there were two boats headed in our direction, and Kris told me to go in between them, but one of the boats cut in front, and it was too stressful. I drove the boat before for about an hour and a half and took us into a bay to stay the night, and I was extremely proud of that drive.
Tilly and I decided we didn’t want to drive anymore, so we changed into our bathing suits and tanned on the trampoline. Because the waves were huge, we were getting splashed a ton, and more people decided to come out and join us. We were headed over to the Road Town dock, and we have not docked anywhere yet, so a couple of us wanted to see how Kris did it. He was very stressed, and the spot that we were going to was very tight, but it worked out in the end, and we were docked perfectly.
Since we were at a marina, there was constant water flowing in and out of our boat, so we were able to take actually showers down below. It felt so nice, but it felt weird not jumping in and out of the ocean.
After our showers, we all sat up on the roof and kept working on our friendship bracelets. Everyone is trying to make one, and we are all teaching each other as much as we can without patterns. I am currently working on an XOXO bracelet.
While we were all relaxing, Halle and Jackson were making dinner for us, franks and beans. And I know before any of you reading this say that sounds gross and so disgusting, I said the same thing. But when we sat down to eat, I was shocked. It was a mix of rice, black beans, and cut-up hot dogs with so many different spices. I was so surprised I was actually enjoying it. (Cornbread was also available, which made a lot of us happy).
Somehow the conversation of teenage Kris, Annie, and Riley came about, and pictures were being passed all around the table. We were in awe over how different/the same they looked.
Because we were in a marina, we didn’t want to wash the dishes in the ocean, so the washers had to do everything in the sink, which looked very tight. While that was going on, Carolina and I made brownies for the boat, which turned out amazing.
Because we had nothing to do tonight and we could run the AC for as long as we wanted, we decided a movie would be the best option. Kris and Jackson were very insistent on Surfs Up, which half of us had never seen. It was actually a really good movie, and we were all laughing at one point or another. I would highly recommend it even though it’s animated.
Once the movie ended, we all went to set up our hammocks and decide where we wanted to actually sleep for the night. Since the trip is coming to a close, some of us wanted to sleep on the roof, which Kris quickly turned down however said yes to the trampoline. The one thing we forgot to mention was that we wanted to bring a mattress from one of the cabins out to the trampoline. We were able to get The mattress out to the front of the boat but were quickly caught by Annie, who also turned down the idea.
All of us ended up sleeping in our hammocks.
I miss you, Mom, Dad, Paige, Forbes, and Murray❤️