Day 10
Halfway! 1,500 nm down, 1,500 nm to go, and we can almost taste the margaritas!
With 10 days at sea under our belt, the crew has settled into a comfortable rhythm onboard Sea Dragon. Most days consist of cooking, reading, standing watch, resting, and occasionally dancing while helming.
Sailing halfway across the Pacific is no small feat so Anna announced that a day of celebration was in order. No a party is complete without a theme and โpiratesโ seemed the most appropriate choice for our salty crew. At 6am Andrew kicked off the festivities and emerged from his cabin with a bandana, lionfish-parrot on his shoulder, and the accent of a true sea dog. Throughout the day everyone else got into character. Ben and Anna won awards for their commitment: Anna drew sleeve of nautical tattoos on herself in sharpie and Ben shaved a rough, long goatee complete with an underwear bandana (weโre told he used a clean pair, but can you ever trust a pirateโs wordโฆ?)
Despite the tropical sounding nature of a sail from Hawaii to Mexico, the past few days have been a little chilly, and a cozy dinner was in order. Bruce, Rebecca, and I cooked a big bowl of butternut squash chili with a pan of cornbread. Anna and Maggie hadnโt tried cornbread before, but gave the โdinner cakeโ rave reviews. To cap off the night Anna declared she was making pudding with smartiesโฆ.after some confused looks from us Americans onboard Maggie helped translate that this meant brownies with m&ms, not chocolate gelatin with sugary nuggets mixed in. Everyone offered to help โcleanโ the brownie-mix covered dishes and we all enjoyed gooey, chocolate, deliciousness before slipping into mild food comas and climbing into bed.
Asked about the highlights of the first half of the trip everyone said:
โWhen Andrew stopped vomitingโ -Anna
โAndrew almost crashing the droneโ – Maggie (to those concerned about the droneโs fate, donโt worry, it was returned to the boat unscathed)
โOh definitely, this facial hair. And the swimmingโ -Ben (who scarified his fingers to catch the drone)
โNot being sick, and swimmingโ – Andrew
โStars!โ – Jaden
โLeaving the dock and not seeing landโ – Rebecca
โSeeing the stars and being in the middle of the Pacific!โ – Bruce
So far, our time at sea has been wonderful. Weโve all learned so much about sailing, the environment, and where the best snacks onboard are hidden.
Cheers to the next 1,500 miles and fingers crossed for smooth sailing to Mexico!
-Elleย
