Dear Aimery Keith Lewis #10
WOW we are 10 weeks in, and what a busy week it was...
Hey there, Aims. Love you lots! Today was such a wonderful day, I mean, it was for me. I hope it was even more wonderful for you! We should probably start from the beginning though.
This week, I was back in Antigua, participating in my STCW training from Monday to Friday. I flew in on Sunday and almost missed my flight! I was bringing some dog crates back from Canada to support Dogs and Cats of Antigua, but because of that, I had to wait in the support line for Westjet, and it took hours to get through. I ran through the airport and made it just in time though! When I got to my gate, they were calling to remove my bags from the plane! I was so sweaty and out of breath, but I made it onto the flight and made it back to Antigua. I spent my first day back unpacking a bit and setting up my weekly soup (I generally set up my soup pot every Sunday).
STCW Week was a blast. I took the course with On Deck, and it was my first time taking a course with them. Technically, this was the last course needed for me to start working on yachts. Everyone in the class ended up passing the course, yay for us! The first day started with basic prevention and preparedness for emergencies. It was a classroom/theory day. I took the most notes on this day, but to be honest, I can barely remember what I learned. I generally enjoy more hands-on and practical lessons, so I loved Tuesday and Wednesday, which were firefighting and fire prevention training days.
As part of the fire training, we had to learn about different types of fires and various methods of fighting them. We learned about the proper use of different types of fire extinguishers as well as how to properly put on a fire suit. I always heard about how heavy a fire suit is, and with the SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus) and in a real fire, it was even heavier than I imagined.
We put on our boots and overalls first, then our fire hoods, jackets, helmets, SCBA tank, and finally our gloves. The materials are fire resistant, but when in a real room on fire, it still got quite hot within the suit.
We had a successful session though! There was so much smoke in the room when we were fighting the fire that I couldn’t even see my hands in front of my face. The heat was so strong that I was sweating all over the face shield on my helmet. I have a very strong appreciation for firefighters now. I hope I never have to use this knowledge, but I am glad to have it. I feel like I would be safer in a firefighting situation after these 2 days of instruction. The sessions were held in the north of Antigua, up in Crabbs, on the military base for the Antigua Defence Force.
On the way to the training on Wednesday, I saw the most beautiful full rainbow as well! Have you ever seen a rainbow so pretty?! It is over the water as well, so beautiful! It made my day.
On Thursday, we went through First Aid Training. Technically, I already did my RYA First Aid course a couple of months ago, but this was a nice refresher. We started the day learning how to appropriately use an AED and do CPR, and then moved on to other skills like bandaging and making splints. It was an enjoyable day, and even though it was a bit repetitive, I learned a lot.
On Friday, we went through more practical training. This time we were doing water training and learning how to efficiently survive in the sea if we ever had to abandon ship and use a life raft. I forgot to take pictures of much of what we did that day, but it was pretty fun and educational. At the end of the session, we got free sailing gloves and our certificates!
The week of SWTC was educational and rewarding, but the weekend was also pretty great. On Saturday morning, I participated in a snorkelling trip with the EAG. It was a lot of fun and I saw so many beautiful fish in the water. There was a little shipwreck where I saw my first lionfish. We also saw a large grouper, a couple of pretty flatfish (I love the patterns on their backs), and we saw some squids as well. It was a wonderful way to spend the morning.
After snorkelling, I had lunch at the beach and then met up with the skipper of High Tide (the boat) for some AYC Saturday Club Racing.
We had a great time out on the water for the afternoon. It was my first time racing, and it was pretty fun to be hiking on each side of the boat as we tacked upwind, and to hold out the jib when we were downwind and had the job sheet on the opposite side of the main sheet, but I definitely could have used some knee pads. My new gloves I got for Christmas, and my new water shoes from Temu were great though.
After the afternoon of racing, we went up for drinks with the crew and other racers and even got some free pizza! Overall, a wonderful Saturday.
Sunday has been pretty chill so far. I want to try and play soccer in the village close to me on Sunday mornings, but I woke up a bit late today. They generally start playing at 7 am, and I woke up at that time.. oops! It was a good day to test out the walk because it was my first time doing it. So I decided to go out for breakfast at least (which turned into brunch). The walk started with a brief hello to Oscar as I started walking down the farm roads.
Along the way, a gentleman was carrying a bag of coconuts to try and sell at the local beach (Ffryes) to the tourists. Since I had my wallet on me and I didn’t have breakfast yet, I decided to get one, and it was a great treat.
When I eventually got into the village (Bolands), I couldn’t see much food, so I went to a stall that looked good and ended up getting another coconut! I also got a soursop from them. The soursop should be ready in a couple of days, so I will take some pics and show you next week God’s willing. Luckily, on the way back, I ended up seeing a lady selling some food on the side of the road, and I got some fried fish with salad and garlic bread. It was pretty yummy. I ended up giving the first head of a puppy that looked hungry as I was walking back through the farm roads, which was cute.
Before that, though, I saw this amazing metalwork on a house nearby and had to take a picture. I was truly feeling the truth in the statement this morning. I finished my meal and ended up going for a little swim at Ffryes beach on the way home. I am home now and super tired. 19.1k steps so far today and 13.3k km walked. I am probably going to have some soup now for lunch and then watch some anime for a bit as I relax and get ready for the week ahead.
This upcoming week should be exciting. Tomorrow I am getting my hair done (retightened), and then I need to get a couple of passport photos for a food handlers course I am taking on Tuesday afternoon. On Tuesday morning, I have my interview with Second Star Sailing for their internship (I am very excited for this!). I don’t have many plans for the rest of the weekdays, but on Saturday I should be racing on High Tide again, and then on Sunday I hope to get up early for some football <3. I am assuming that from Wednesday to Friday, I will be driving to Jolly Harbour and skateboarding around the area there. I have never been to the North Beach there, so I would like to check it out. There are also flat roads there to skate, which should be fun. I gotta learn to ollie!