Location: White Bay, Peter Island
Alooooha everyone!
This is your day one skipper, Catalina. We’ve been having a blast so far… However, I think we should really begin yesterday (June 17th), our first day at Action Quest. Upon our arrival, the few of us who got here first (Alana, Eve, Wesley & I) got together and learned a bit about each other; we went to the grocery store on the dock and got a few snacks. At around 7 pm, our other shipmates arrived! Finally, all 12 of us were here. Parker, Tyler, Jaden, Lexi, Hudson, Lorden, Nathan, Tate, Eve, Wes, Alana, and finally, yours truly. Aloha is a beautiful Catamaran with LOOOOOADS of space, and we’ve gotten settled in quite nicely. After having some tasty tortellini with garlic bread for dinner, we each took a much-needed freshwater shower. Then we all spent a few hours on the tramp (Trampoline on the Bow) chatting, star-gazing, getting to know each other, and assigning everyone weird nicknames. Post some late-night snacks, we each crashed on our chosen spots.
Once we all got a good amount of rest, most of us woke up at around 6 am drenched in sweat, but don’t worry, despite the unbearable heat, we’re all staying hydrated and remembering our sunscreen! Anyway, we had cereal for breakfast, simple but delicious. Following our cleanup we all rushed to Omar’s Fusion for a chat with Big Mike to go over rules and procedure. As we got back to the boat, we got our PFDs (personal floating devices, AKA life jackets) assigned and took a group photo before going underway. Surprise!! We’re headed to White Bay, Peter Island! Picture this: Music on the speakers, sandwiches in hand, the smell of salt water, and the sun peeking out after we got lightly rained on.
Once we’d gotten our sails up and cruised our way to the island, we all rushed to the bow for our first anchoring together on Aloha. Fun Fact: I manned the helm today with the slight help of our skipper Ri while everyone else played BS with some interesting playing cards Tate brought. We continued the day with our swim test (4 laps and 10 minutes of treading water), and then getting our gear ready for our skills check out dive. OOPS! Jaden (jay), Eve (V), Hudson (huddy), Lorden (lordy), and Tate (Big T) forgot their fin booties… It’s okay, they’ll make do. On our dive, we saw Garden Eels, hermit crabs, and lots of shells. We also got lightly stung by seagrass… ouch.
Additionally, we saw a turtle after our first boat showers (turtle tiiiiime). As the chefs, Nathan (Nate) and Tyler (Ler), prepared dinner, we listened to music on the helm. On the menu were Sloppy Joe’s, yum! Our day ended once we finished our meeting on Pure Joy (another boat on diveside doing the Neptune program), and we played more cards on Aloha.
Goodnight everyone 🙂
PS: a note to all parents: We miss you, love you, and are having a blast with the very exciting rescue program.