News

Tuesday, 3 November 2026
Location: Anchored in Francis Bay, St John, USVIs

To reflect on today, I would say it was eventful, but if I’m being honest, I am a couple days late to blog. Let’s go back to Sunday, November 1^st.  We woke up early to start field day prep which is our deep clean of the boat. Though I don’t particularly love cleaning inside the boat in this heat, there is some satisfaction with sweeping the floors. Piper and I chiseled away with our knives getting all the gunk from the crevices. You would be surprised how dirty it actually was! Shuggy even referenced us to the orphans in Annie with our hard work. Anyways, most people were receiving their phone calls during this time, I think seeing people’s faces when their parents answered was beyond wholesome, it was my highlight of the week! Getting to talk to you guys was so amazing, I am overwhelmed at the idea of hugging you all, im soooo excited! After we cleaned the ship Captain Sean rewarded us with a swim call. We ran to the bow and leaped into the water which was quite refreshing. I went to grab my snorkel to look at all the coral below us, we were about 35 feet from the bottom, I definitely did not go to the bottom 3 times. After lunch we left port and sailed out in the ocean for science deployments, and to dump waste 12 miles off-shore. I took a nap, sleep is something I took for granted before this trip, I have not been the best at keeping a well-managed sleep schedule. However, there is always some amusement when everyone on watch is running off of little sleep and you become so tired you’re energized, laughing at anything. I worked a little on my sheet anchor notebook, I have loved water coloring throughout this trip.

Now to drift away from November 1^st, Halloween was very fun, we got pizza delivered from land for dinner! It was exciting but I will pick the boat food over land food any day of the week. They make sure to feed us very well. Earlier in the day we also embarked on an eventful snorkeling trip, many turtles were spotted, a couple of rays and so many amazing fish including a massive school of bait fish that engulfed any surrounding person. The past few days have been filled with sun, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little red but don’t worry mom I’m wearing my sunscreen. As we start to end our trip there is a lot of reflection throughout the day, I would like to say how grateful I am to have met these people on the boat and the memories I have gained; thank you so much to everyone.

Lela, B Watch

PS – Hi Mom, Dad, Ned, and Jane, I miss you guys so much, it was so nice to see you guys and I cant wait to share all the stories. Be studious and have some fun. To Evelyn and Lila, I miss you guys so much, do amazing in soccer roast the bulls!!