Friends Forever International (Day 1)
Boston Harbor Islands, MA
August 20th, 2023
We arrived on the ship yesterday, late morning. We ate lunch and did morning chores, I was assigned to scrubbing the deck, and then set sail mid-afternoon. Sailing away from the dock was one of my favorite moments so far. We sailed around 10 miles yesterday, doing rotations of active watch, coiling ropes, and making a group flag around the way. I am on A watch/team, and our flag is pirate themed. Just before sunset, after dinner and evening chores (galley cleanup), the boat was anchored. The sunset was the prettiest I’ve ever seen. The sun became hot pink along with the sky around it. Around this time we took down our flags and began our afternoon muster (meeting). We went over group values and some health and hygiene information. And our night watch shifts! Team Leviathan was the first three watches. Essentially, during this watch we check to make sure our anchor is staying in place. I, along with four others; Eva, Adelle, Francie, and Reece were on the second watch (12:00-1:48am). We are never responsible for waking ourselves up for watch. Instead, the watch before they will wake us up and we will wake up the watch group after. Another cool thing is we are able to sleep on deck. Then we start all over again at 7:45am sharp for muster.
-Amber
Woke up at 5:45am, packed, ate, load up the car, and left. First, we played a few games to get to know each other and the crew. We also went over some rules like no phones, smoking, and “all hands” command where it’s just a way to get the crew’s attention for anything. After we boarded the boat to then talk about safety, it took FOREVER!!! But it’s good to know and important, as soon as we set sail I felt like a pirate with the wind in my hair and on a boat with stuff to do. Lunch and dinner BRO MUY BIEN! So good but then we did chores like washing the deck, dishes, and taking care of the heads (bathrooms). We then split up to make a team flag, coiling/knots, and active watch. I got to do something called bow watch where I run at the front of the boat signaling if we were to hit something. We then had an evening meeting and debrief then talked about “anchor watch”. We all had shifts in the night where you check bearings, the anchor like how tight or loose the rope is, and where it is, and checked the soles to see how much water might be in the ship. I was the last shift which was 1:48am to 3:12am and I got to see the stars and constellations and other shifts reported seeing a jellyfish! The chef made muffins with orange and a sprinkle of coconut on top and that was also really good, I hope he does it again! I really enjoy the work and living on a boat, my room is near the kitchen so you know it’s the best, I’m in the “5 man cabin”. I love going up the stairs and seeing the sky and sails and the stars, the sunset, golden hour, all of it. But that’s what I have experienced! Love you all!
-Cha Cha
P.S. oh yeah dad I just got done lifting an anchor! I feel like sandy & beat that!
