When we boarded the boat by jumping onto the gangway from the little boat, we were shown to our cabins and were stoked to find out that we had an awesome room. The only drawback was that there were four of us sharing but hey, it’s a great way to get to know people really well. Cabin mates include: Charine Collins, friend from Masters, Kate Munnik, office mate for a month in June, Sofia, Madagascan PhD student. We had a quick tour of the ship, all ~50m from stern to bow. The most important areas were the galley (mmm food), the labs and the “day room”, where the 50inch plasma screen lives.
We unpacked and were familiarizing ourselves with everything. The ship was waiting for some more people to arrive, so we were able to go on land for a walkabout that evening and on an island tour the next day.
It was a bit strange walking around because people were staring at us. I suppose it was a bit unusual to see so many foreigners arbing around.
The next day we went on an island tour which consisted of a drive to the north of the island, through villages and constantly changing landscapes, to the gorgeous crater and to the best beach on the island (according to our local guide, Joseph). This was the BEST beach that I’ve ever been to in my life!!!! The water was something like 27degrees and so clear, the beach had white sand and palm trees, perfectly tropical. We spent some time swimming and snorkeling in the water and had coconut drinks (see pic in previous post).
It was an awesome day. We went back to the ship and started sailing to our first sampling station. And we got our cruise on!
Since then, it's been a mixture of hectic work and then hurrying up and waiting. Ship life has been interesting at times, but more about that later.
Liefies to you all!
Peace!
1 comment:
Snorkeling??? Sounds like fun.
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