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Location: Spanish Town
Hey All! Siena here as skipper for the day! Today, we woke up early to go to one of everyone’s favorite places in the BVIs…The Baths! The Baths are a collection of boulders and rocks that were made from the volcanic origins of the islands. It creates awesome caves to explore (that Rhianna even did her pregnancy photo shoot in!!) and a huge rock that everyone can jump and flip off of. It is always super fun to see how creative everyone gets with their jumps, especially the daredevils who are unashamed to try something new, even if it means the inevitable belly-flop. Amelia even did a backflip! After loads of swimming and some beach time, everyone was shuttled back to the boat so we could motor around the corner to a place called Spanish Town for some lunch and, most importantly, the purchase of our unofficial uniform here, Dula Mimis!! Mimis are colorfully striped PJ dresses that have an unidentifiable animal on the front (cat? polar bear? Mouse? We will never know…). Lea, Amelia, Ella, and Bella all hopped on the Dula Mimi train, and we staff now have days to convince them to join us in wearing them along with the rest of the staff to our fleet-wide beach BBQ. Students then were free to walk around town, stock up on toiletries that they forgot, walk around the harbor, and find lunch in town. At around 2:30, everyone returned to the boat, where we motored for about 5 minutes just outside of the harbor, where we were anchored for the night. Once PFDs were off and hung back on the lifelines, There was time to relax after an early and busy day. While Lea, Amelia, Ella, and Bella swam, Annabelle, Maya, and Coco all hopped into our Dinghy, Blaze, with me so we could do some dinghy school to learn about how to operate and drive the dinghies. Step one was turning it on, which is the hardest part, seeing as Blaze is the toughest dinghy in the fleet to start. Annabelle got it on her second try, which is super impressive! They then got used to the tiller steer, which means you push the handle in the opposite direction that you want to go, which can be hard to get used to. We then practiced some man-overboard drills using one of the flotation devices aboard Blaze called Chicklets, which we unexpectedly threw into the water. The driver of the dinghy would then have to get the stern of the boat away from the “man overboard” as fast as possible and then do a big circle to pick them up again. After some practice (and few accidental run overs of the chicklets…) everyone got the hang of it. We then went back to the boat, where everyone decided to play a few rounds of Mafia. Heloise and I joined in, but it soon became clear that in even just five days, we had all become too in sync and we’re guessing the Mafia correctly after just one guess every round. Dinner tonight was chili, rice, and garlic bread with a very creative dessert of PB and J saltine sandwiches. After cleaning up with a beautiful sunset to aid us, we all settled in to get ready for the night. For half of us, that means donning our Dula Mimis! Tonight, we are going to continue our Pirate of the Caribbean movie marathon and get a good night’s sleep for our project at a local school tomorrow. Question of the Night: If everyone froze for 24 hours but you, what would you do? Thanks!! Siena 🙂