Location: The Dogs
Today started with me arising from my slumber to the peaceful sound of my fellow shipmate Margot snoring next to me. However, this was far from the start of my day. In fact, this was at the ripe time of 4 in the morning. After going back to bed and rejoicing in my slumber, I woke up to the more elegant sound of birds singing sweet songs to me as if they were trying to bless my ears with harmonious melodies. I looked into the sunrise from the deck I was sleeping on and promptly frolicked downstairs to indulge in a sweet breakfast. Once downstairs, a sweet smell of cinnamon muffins and scrambled eggs wafted through the air before we all began munching. After breakfast concluded, we set sail to our first dive spot. Once underway, Grace and India informed us that we would finally be taking our final scuba tests, but if we didn’t pass on the first try, we wouldn’t be able to embark on the dive. With two hours and a fire under our feet, we began ravenously studying. The time came, and the test arrived before my eyes. I was flying through the test, not believing how easy it was. Thirteen questions in, I realized I accidentally flipped to the wrong page and was taking the wrong test—a humbling experience for sure.
Nonetheless, I continued on the correct test. We all submitted our tests and watched anxiously as they were graded, not knowing if we could be the one person who had to stay behind from the dive. India promptly screamed the best words I’ve heard this trip: “Everyone passed!”. We were ecstatic and congratulated each other, looking forward to our dive. Once we reached our dive spot, we geared up and began our descent. The dive was spectacular. There were fish of all colors everywhere, including coral. After practicing a few understated skills, India took my group “Moon jumping.” We descended to the ocean floor as India proceeded to do a backflip on the floor. I turn my head to my dive buddy Margot as she jumps 8 feet in the air. I give it a try, bend my legs, and jump to the sky. I begin to soar. My group and I got more comfortable and began doing flips and other fun things. After a great moon-bouncing session, we were behind our ascent. Once we reached the boat again, I was unfortunate enough to learn what a reverse squeeze was. When diving congested, air bubbles can get stuck in your ears and sinuses. Luckily, Mexican night heals everything. After two ginormous burritos, we headed to the power tower to discuss our plans for the night: a prank on the other boats. We decided that we were all going to wake up at three AM and embark on our journey. It sounded like a great idea until I was alone at that time, with a man holding a flashlight in my face and everyone huddled around giggling. I thought I was being abducted by aliens. Once I felt more combobulated, All of the other kids and I headed to the stern, where we were met by our escape driver, Drippy Dreads. Drippy assisted us on the dingy, in which we paddled to the target boat, Beso, in an attempt to not make any sound. Once we boarded Beso, we split up and committed various pranks. One of our helpers from the other boat turned the Highlander’s navigation screen to Chinese. Drippy Dreads found their life vests, climbed up to the folded sail, and began to hide them inside.
Ali and I found all of their neatly folded lines and left them completely unraveled on the deck. We felt accomplished. On our way back to the escape vehicle, one of the shipmates on Beso awoke from her slumber. Drippy Dreads sprung to action and talked her back to sleep, making her believe the whole thing was a dream. We came out by the skin of our teeth and directed our way to our next victim: Shamwari. Our plan this time was to take a photo shoot with the various sleeping shippies. Once boarding, all the doors were locked, so we found our special way in. We “Houdinied” through an open hatch into someone’s room. This room ended up belonging to the staff. All four of them were snuggled up in a bed. How cute. I took my chance and took multiple photos with flash. They slept like corpses. I made my way up to the power tower, where we took a group photo with all the sleeping shippies. We were jump-scared when they woke up, so we did the only logical thing to do in that situation. We framed Highlander and escaped on the dinghy. We boarded back on Avizia and got some well-deserved sleep for about an hour. I awoke to Grace giving me the iPad since I hadn’t finished the blog the night before. I slept for about 2 hours total and am running on hopes and dreams at this point, but the show must go on.
Yours truly, Nathaniel A.