Location: Mount Sage
Today was an early wake-up; at 5:45 am, all of Avizia was up and ready for the thrilling and exhausting day ahead of us. We started our morning with cereal and fruit, the breakfast of champions. After getting into our workout clothes, filling our water bottles, and bringing out our running shoes, we received our lifelines…., our phones. Everyone was running around obsessing over their devices. Some would dare to say we are screenagers. We dinghied over to Cane Garden Bay and received hike instructions and safety tips from Big Mike. After going over all the safety procedures, we started the hike. Andrew was determined to beat his brother’s record as a previous camper, and Gavin joined in on his speed. Both of them made it up and ranked top ten, letting determination lead the way. Cam and Dawson trailed behind them, taking it a bit slower but keeping a consistent pace. Kennedy later joined them when I (Amaya) was catching my breath “too often.” Suki also joined Kennedy because, being an Aspen local, she’s an expert hiker. I joined Pearl and Katie as we calmly made our way up. We stopped twice, once to catch our breath and the other to grab a cold sports drink to energize us. We made it to the smoothie stand near the top but decided not to be swayed by the delicious drinks and finish. The three of us finished in the 60s, content with our pace and relieved that we would now be mainly walking downhill. Although we were heading down, it seemed to be very difficult to avoid getting hurt. We nearly fell many times. On our way down, we spotted Jovian, who was walking with friends, and Holden, who managed to hike in flip flops, followed by many, many painful blisters. I caught up with Kennedy and Suki while Katie, Pearl, Dawson, and Cam finished the hike together. Liliana unfortunately got lost on the hike and walked an extra 2 miles. Thankfully, she was picked up and made her way to the beach stretch. After a long morning, we all met up at the beach grill and enjoyed their special, the bacon cheeseburger. After lunch, all of us explored the local food market. We picked up a few snacks and essentials and then headed to the pickup dock. Today’s common theme for Liliana was, unfortunately, bad luck. She dropped her phone off the dock as we approached the dinghies. Luckily, she was able to recover her phone and grab it quickly, so there was zero damage. Once we made our way back onto Avizia, Holden got his blisters cleaned up, and we very quickly recovered from the hike because we had a saddle castle contest to get to. The contest took place at Sandy Cay, with its beautiful white sand and crystal blue waters. We started assembling the sand castle, and after a lot of thought, we decided on a sea turtle. Some swam while others assisted, but in the end, the turtle came out better than expected. We were judged, and although we didn’t win the competition, we loved our sand turtle. We made our way back to the boat and got ready for our barbecue at Sidney’s Peace and Love. There were some stores near the restaurant area, and most of us purchased the iconic “Sail Naked” T-shirts. We enjoyed our food, followed by the great tunes by the DJ. Tired and drowsy, we headed back to the boat for a good night’s sleep. Tonight, we are rafted next to Shamwari but near many boats in the fleet. We all reflected on our action-packed day and headed to bed with nerves about the sailing practical.