Honky Tonk Woman

It’s already the end of day 19. Everyone on Honky Tonk always says how much they don’t like doing chores and dishy pits and what they miss about home, but deep down all of us know that the past 19 days have been some of the most incredible and unforgettable experiences of our lives. From stepping on this boat on day one, being scared to make new friends and believing day 21 would never arrive, to acting like a big family of 14 living in a tiny home floating on the Atlantic and receiving our PADI and IYT certifications.
Everything passed by so fast, and I truly believe every single one of us learned so many valuable lessons that none of us would’ve learned on a whiteboard in classrooms.
I opened my eyes today to loud noises caused by our amazing skipper Riley trying to set up our long-awaited boom swing. So of course everyone quickly changed into their bathing suits and got ready for our morning dip in the ocean. You might be wondering what Rafi and Timmy might be doing while all this was happening. They were busy flipping pancakes. Obviously, Miss Hartley Livesey had to step in and help mix the batter to perfection, and not gonna lie, I don’t believe that was perfection(don’t tell her I said that). While we patiently waited for our pancakes, Ulysse decided to break the ice and test out our boom swing for us. Arel and Taylor, the unbreakable duo, obviously ate it in the water, but that’s ok; finally woke babecoff up without hard rock music. Ulysse pulled out his GoPro and filmed the beautiful process of Grayson shoving pancake in his mouth while getting ready to send it on the boom swing. Of course, my backflips off that thing were so much better to watch than THE William Taylor Bills since, instead of going in feet first, my face hit the water first… Anyways, enough with the boom swings; it’s dishy pit and cleanup time. Yay! Everyone’s favorite activity! (Sarcasm, everyone, sarcasm..)Shortly after clean up, everyone got ready for shore time, put their PFDs on, and headed to Road Town. Food there was awesome… that was sarcasm if no one realized. Rivi enjoyed her phone time to call home, and we all, of course, stocked up on snacks, and yes, there are only 2 days left, but some chips, Oreo, and soda can definitely make our days 100x better. Right after we got back, Olin helped Riley with the anchor, and we headed towards where we spent our first night anchored in the BVIs, Norman Island. Crazy how quickly 18 days fly by. Started off with 12 strangers on a catamaran no longer than 50 feet (as a Canadian, using feet feels weird, but for all y’all Americans’ sake, I will stick with feet and miles!), to treating each other like siblings and subtly helping each other out every day. As soon as we anchored, we quickly started our last ocean show, and everyone took their mask and snorkel to really enjoy the Caribbean Sea one last time with everyone. Esme volunteered to take the GoPro and take some amazing footage of everyone’s last time with bubbles in their hair and laughing at everyone’s awesome hairdo. Dinner was quite intense since our “trusted and responsible adults” (Alexa and Riley) had to go to a staff meeting. Timmy’s broccoli pasta honestly tasted like cardboard. Sorry Timmy, I can’t even try to help make that pasta sound good, butttt I truly believe it will only get better from there, cause that taste was genuinely in the negatives. I’m just JOKINGGG!! We love you, Timmy! Shortly after we started our last ever dishy pit, a bittersweet moment for all of us.
As I sit in the trampoline with all of my friends surrounding me, looking at the stars, I truly want to thank everybody, no matter if you’re the parents silently reading this blog excited for your child to come back home, any of the Honky Tonkers reminiscing about this trip and reading all the blogs, or any of our counselors reading this. This trip was difficult for all of us (as it should be), everyone had their own problems and difficulties no matter if it’s feeling home sick, no being able to equalize while diving or no knowing with sheet to pull in or let our while sailing. We all learned so much and supported each and every one of us through anything and everything. I wanted to thank Hartley for being there for me while I was struggling on my first time on the helm, Esme for comforting me after feeling home sick, Rafi for our incredible DMCs(deep meaningful conversations) while staring at the stars, Arel for always making every single one of us laugh our butts off on this boat and his great wakeboarding skills, Taylor for this unforgettable sarcasm and being so real and filter free with everyone, Olin for being so patient with everyone and so passionate about everything, Timmy for always sharing his food and caring for everyone even though he’s one of the youngest, Grayson for always noticing when someone feels alone and always going to them even though sometimes he may ragebait some members aboard, Ulysse for though being more on the quieter side always being so curious about everything and enjoying every single moment of this trip, Rivi for always looking out for everyone else and making sure everyone feels welcomed and appreciated in the group and lastly Eldar for being the sweetest and always helping the chefs with all the cooking.
Less than 48 hours left with everybody, and I still feel like I’m carrying my bags into my cabin and slowly unpacking all my clothes. I am so thankful and grateful for all the positive and negative experiences I got to experience in the last 19 days. I love all of honky Tonk so so much. I will miss all of y’all infinitely. Now let’s get hyped for race day tomorrow(we will win) and, of course, our last BBQ. Thank you, everyone, for reading this blog, and thank you, ActionQuest!
Ps: To my parents, I would like a Starbucks açaí waiting for me as soon as I step out of those airport doors and a massage booked for the next day (I need it). Thank you!