Alpha 1 Day 4: Admiring Salt Ponds & A Downwind Sail
written by Mate-In-Training, Andrew Dyer
June 27, 2017
At 7a.m., the sweet smell of cinnamon rolls woke the boat, for another day of Caribbean adventure. As the last morsels of breakfast were cleared away, the divers prepared to go to shore. At 8:20a.m., the day began to move forward for everyone else as we dropped the ball at Cooper Island and began our short sail over to Salt Island. Once at Salt, the Tango and Alpha programs went ashore for a hike and to admire the two salt ponds which the island is known for.
A quick 10 minutes later, everyone was admiring the spectacular view at the top of Salt, from which we could see the location of the wrecked RMS Rhone. After one of our counselors told the fascinating story of the Wreck of the Rhone, we all hiked a little further to peer down the sheer cliffs that skirt the island. After kids finished up taking pictures and admiring the awe-inspiring view we headed back down.
Once back at boats, we smoothly upped anchor and sailed back to Cooper to meet the divers. Underway, we made a delicious lunch of chicken Caesar wraps, which we all heartily enjoyed. After lunch clean, we took the divers back ashore for their afternoon session of diving, and the boat prepped for a couple hour sail to the Bight on Norman Island.
Once out of the protection of the harbor, we raised our sails and enjoyed our first downwind sail. Arriving at Norman at around 4:30p.m., it wasn’t long before we started showers and dinner prep. Once dinner was ready, we all got to sit down and enjoy a delicious meal together.
Once all had eaten their fill and the dinner clean crew made the boat looking shipshape again, we settled down for one of the best parts of the day — boat meeting. After giving the schedule for the day, we proceed to play the game of “two truths and a lie”, which proved to be quite hilarious, and not one of us left without having a good laugh. Boat meeting concluded, the kids found themselves rightly exhausted. With the bright crescent Caribbean moon high in the sky, and the stars winking through the clouds, our boat rocked gently on its mooring, lulling us all into a much needed sleep.
