 |
With
a good wind from a squal and a week's worth of practice, the main goes
up. |
Thursday, July 27th
Several of us were up by 7:00
am, but were quiet to not wake up the Captain. Several
got some personal gear packed before the Captain got up at 7:30.
Paco and David are the last to get up, and only after we make
them. Breakfast is cereal,
again. After eating and
doing KP, we hoisted sails and sailed a northern reach in good
squall-driven winds. For
the first time, the Dutch Love heeled over to 20 degrees to port, and
the expressions on the Scout’s faces was ecstatic, with just a little
apprehension thrown in. What a blast! We
arrived at our snorkeling site, the quarry, near some homes on the
Islamorada side of Florida Bay and dropped and bagged the sails.
Everyone made the swim into the quarry except Mr. Luff, who’s
swollen big toe wouldn’t let him wear fins.
Once everyone was back on board,
Capt. started up the motor and headed us toward Sea Base.
With less than two miles to go, he shut off the engines and
anchored the boat for lunch. After
eating, we cleaned the boat’s interior … and cleaned and cleaned and
… until Capt. was satisfied we had his home back the way he wanted it.
In a bittersweet thirty minutes,
we arrived back at the Sea Base dock … to get to do more cleaning.
All our extra food (and there was a bunch) was bagged up for the
Captain to give to his neighbors, while we bagged up the snacks for
ourselves. Then we started
cleaning the outside of the boat. Paco
and Mr. Grimes tackled the grill; Mr. Luff washed down the decks;
everyone else scrubbed the decks, glass and metal until everything
shined … and then we dried it all.
Then we got all our personal gear out of the boat and into a
handcart while the trash was taken to the dumpster (unfortunately, our
snacks got thrown away, too).
Once done with the boat, we said
‘so long’ to Captain Harman and headed for the barracks, showers and
clean clothes. Everyone
made trips to the ship’s store and then stayed in the barracks where
it was cool and rested until flags.
Our Program Mate, Emily, joined us at flags and afterward
escorted us to our luau.
Stuffed crab, scrod, ham, salad,
kiwi, watermelon, rice and lemonade didn’t last long when the three
boat crews attacked the meal line, but there was plenty for all to have
seconds. Skits started at
7:30 pm and our “Rosa, Rosa, Rosa” left all the audience confused,
until the adults did their “Yo Ho Ho” and sailor’s jig; then,
everyone knew we were nuts! Still,
we had a good time.
The
luau closed following a ‘conch’ ring where everyone shared his best
memory from the cruise. After the luau, we went back to the barracks to joke and talk
about all that had happened. Blake
and Chris went outside to play volleyball.
All and all, it was a good end to a good day and when lights went
out at 10 pm, everyone was asleep within 15 minutes.
NEXT: Day 11
|
