Alpha 1 Day 3: Spectacular Sunset powdered over the Bight
June 27, 2016
Just like the boat swayed and bobbed us to sleep, it swayed and bobbed us awake with the sun’s warm waking. Sleepy eyes struggled to stay shut against the rising heat, so we all shuffled together for our first breakfast out on the water together. We enjoyed a filling meal of scrambled eggs that were loaded with peppers and onions and accompanied by a side of toast. After fueling up, we headed out for the days activities!
The divers immediately escaped from the heat into the water where they drew their first breaths as active members of the aquatic world. While the divers were having an hour in the life of a fish, the rest of the team went ashore to enjoy the day on land legs. While some treated themselves against the sun’s persistence with scoops of passionfruit, mango, and coconut ice cream, others met it head on and hopped on paddle boards and kayaks to glide around the beach’s edge. Some others took the gliding to the next level and took advantage of the various water sports to scoot and skitter across the water’s surface.
As the day drew to its peak, the divers emerged from the underwater world and joined the rest of the crew for a delicious lunch. Lunch came to an end and the winds started to pick up, sending our excitement soaring for our first sail together! While underway, the crews learned about raising and lowering sails, the parts of a sail, points of sail, and downwind sailing. We then had 3 hours to practice what we learned on our way to Norman Island. We hit every point of sail along the way, falling from our sail raising position of “in irons” through the close haul and beam reach points of sail in order to finally rest in a broad reach for the majority of the voyage.
As we drew near to our destination, we rounded a corner around Pelican Island and pointed our bow again into the wind to lower our sails and motor into the Bight on Norman Island. Here, each crew and crew member got to practice and polish the group communication in order to successfully glide onto a mooring ball for the evening. A spectacular sunset powdered the sky with gold and pink clouds, signaling the start of our evening ashore where we got the chance to join up with the Delta fleet for a soda social!
