Location: Sidney's, Jost van Dyke
Today began very brightly and early at 6 am, as we all mentally prepared ourselves for the seven-mile hike that would start in the next hour. Matt helped us out of bed by bribing us with food and only ten minutes to eat breakfast… it worked. We all ate cereal and got ready in record time in order to jump onto Shaka and be shuttled to the dock at 6:40. Unfortunately, Alicia and Matt couldn’t join us on our hiking adventure today because Matt was sick and Alicia had some knee issues in the past. BUT they had a grand time on the boat and on shore shortly after we started hiking. Now, moving on to the hiking squad. We all were mentally preparing ourselves for the adventurous yet difficult journey ahead. While waiting on the dock, we all received our phones for both safety reasons and to contact anybody from home as well. We received a short brief about the hike and shore time from Mike (Mr. Quest) while we were all gathered at the start. After his speech, we all took off. Now… let me tell you… this hike was TOUGH. The first third of the hike is a very steep uphill. Me personally, I felt terrible, and it was 100% one of the most humbling experiences of my life. Although I was struggling… bad… the hard work did pay off when the road started leveling out, and the views kept getting better and better. Another even better moment was when we finally reached the top and were rewarded with the best banana smoothie in the world.
I heard rumors about these smoothies being worth the steep and treacherous hike, and I did not believe anyone until I took the first sip—truly breathtaking and life-changing. Anyways, after we reached the top, we added our names to the AQ book of finished hikers and enjoyed some bomb banana smoothies. A few others and I started our way back down the trail. Mireille, Lucas, Simon, Trey, and I all hiked down together, and there were some funny moments for sure. After about an hour and a half, we all finally completed the entire hike. I threw my hands up in excitement while Simon turned on the Rocky theme.
We all headed to a restaurant for lunch and ran into the rest of our boat. We found out Ryan had jogged down the mountain in 40 minutes, Scott finished 3rd overall, and Andrew and Rooks finished in the top 15. They conquered that hike. Moving on, after we all ate lunch, went to the grocery store, and called some friends and family at home, it was time to go back to the boats. Once we all got back, it started storming pretty hard, and the scheduled sand castle contest was canceled (due to the weather), for the people who wanted to go would still have some beach time for about 30 minutes. After everyone was brought back off the boat again, we all showered up and got ourselves ready and spiffy for the BBQ.
This BBQ was located at Sidney’s store, and there was tons of food, ice cream, music, and a shop that sold a ton of funny t-shirts, hats, and so much more. We all had a lot of fun being on shore for the third time that day and talking to other boats. At the BBQ, several people also got corn rows done on themselves, including Simon. It was hilarious and very entertaining. After a long evening, we were all beat after the hike, shore time, beach time, and Sidney’s BBQ to end the busy day. Today was definitely one of my favorites.
P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!! I love and miss you so much, and I hope your day went great. Everyone reading this has to wish my mom a happy birthday too. Once I get back, we’ll celebrate both of our bdays, and it’ll be super fun.