Cage Diving with Great White Sharks (Port Lincoln, South Australia)

April 21 - 24, 2017

We are soon approaching the best time of year to cage dive with Great White Sharks in South Australia (late April - June).  But before I share this particular travel adventure…I need to give you a bit of context.  

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been terrified of the ocean.  It’s not just sharks and jellyfish, or a fear of drowning, that keeps me from going more than thigh deep. It’s a “fight or flight” instinct that is immediately triggered every time I step foot in the water.  As humans, the ocean is not our natural habitat.  Even Olympics swimmers can’t compete with the grace and ease of an ocean otter, its body slicing through the water as it looks for dinner.  In the ocean, our senses are immediately deafened… our bodies crushed by waves, our sight refracted by glaring light, our ears battered by pressure, and our taste buds, assaulted by salt.  But scariest of all is the 360 nature of this world.  There are no walls. Danger can approach for any direction - up, down, side to side.  I hate it.

For those of you who have traveled or lived in Australia, you’d know that the ocean courses through the blood of most every Australian.  From birth, their toes are constantly connected to the water.  Surfing and swimming are extensions of their bodies.  Tell an Australian, you hate the ocean, and you’ll get thrown in repeatedly until you change your mind.  

I realised if I was going to live in Australia, I had to confront the ocean.  My training started each weekend forcing myself a little farther into the waves of Bondi Beach.  On my trip to the Philippines, I forced myself to snorkel with whale sharks, shocking myself with my enjoyment!  For those of you who read that post, you know that whale sharks were spotted the day I arrived and my travel partner forced me into the water with them.  It was the first time I really started to realise a potential love for the ocean.  Those magnificent beasts gently gliding through the shallow water… couldn’t give a crap that I was swimming alongside.  Their ignorance of me, made me calm.  I was so engrossed that I completely forgot about the vastness surrounding me. It was such an amazing experience that I knew I had to keep the momentum going… resulting in this blog entry.

Great. White. Sharks.  One of the most feared animals of the ocean.  Fuelled by movies like Jaws and Deep Blue Sea and unhealthy obsession with Shark Week, these beasts inspired fear, as well as a  deep admiration and curiosity, even behind glass at the aquarium.  Generally when I decide to do something… I go all in.  So of course, as soon as I thought I was “cool” with the ocean, cage diving with Great Whites seemed like a natural next step.  So I booked a non-refundable ticket on the Calypso Star, a famous cage-diving boat out of Port Lincoln, South Australia.

To get to Port Lincoln, I spent a few days driving and camping my way from Adelaide past Mount Remarkable National Park to Port Lincoln.  I had sunrise coffees with campsite kangaroos and beachside lunch stops at Greenly Beach and The Point.  It’s a lovely drive, although you can fly to Port Lincoln if you prefer.

For those of you interested in the road trip portion of the trip (Adelaide, Mount Remarkable National Park and Barossa Valley wine region, I’ve provided see my other blog post here. 

The day of the cage dive, I was up and at the boat by 6am.  It’s a three hour ride to the Neptune Islands, south of Port Lincoln, temporary home to Great Whites.  I watched the sunrise, while frosty salt water whipped my face.  

We were divided into groups of 8 and put into a dive order.  We were outfitted in 3mm thick wetsuits because we’d be down with the sharks for about 20 mins and it is VERY cold.  The tour provides a wet suit, masks, booties and sunscreen.  You can buy sickness tablets for a couple dollars and rent a Go Pro for $50.  All you need to bring is swimmers, a towel and dry change of clothes.  They’ll also sell you the pics they take for $35 (I always buy these because hell when am I going to do this again!). 

Calypso Star is the best shark boat because they have a license to “chum.”  If you are unfamiliar with the term, “chum,” it's dead fish guts and blood that they pour into the ocean to attract the sharks.  It wasn’t long before the fish bits attracted a 6 meter shark.  WOW.  At first I looked over the edge of the boat to catch a glimpse until I saw him clear the water a few yards out… no more looking over the side of the boat!

How does cage diving work? Essentially the cage hangs off the back of the boat and you enter the cage from the top, climbing down a metal ladder, to the bottom of the cage.  You have a weight belt around your waist to help you stay under the water to look at the shark and a dive respirator so you can breathe.  Between the intense rocking of the cage, the icy cold water, and the unnatural breathing, you have barely enough concentration to find the shark in the murky water and snap a pic.  

I was in Group 2 which turned out to be the best group because the water was clear because of the clouds in the sky (sunlight causes light to refract against bubbles in the water making it hard to see).  This guy was HUGE and VERY curious.  The best position in the cage is on either end because there isn’t a vertical bar in the corner of the cage, so you get a sweeping view of the shark without a stupid bar in your video.  However, it’s also the most disconcerting position due to the LACK of a bar.  I was so sure I’d panic.  I’d never used a respirator, I’d never been in water that rocky and cold, and I’d never been two feet away from a 6m shark before with no glass to separate us.

He was magnificent.  With the slightest turn of his tail he’d speed past us, one eye following our movements.  He was far more interested in us than the chum.  Pass after pass he’d approach the cage and lazily glide past, clearly the dominant species.  There is something about the lack of a glass wall that makes you really feel like you are out there with him.  It was probably the same “fight or flight” instinct that kept me intensely drawn to the edge of the cage scanning the murky darkness for another pass.  I was a mouse caught in the stare of a viper.  It was the coolest fucking thing I’ve ever done.  I probably would’ve died of exposure before willingly leaving the shark, if he hadn’t eventually wandered on his way.  After his departure, I realised how bloody cold I was and shot back up the surface.  

Adrenaline pumped through my veins warmed my body much faster than the dry change of clothes.  If I’d had the chance to get back in I would’ve.  I was so excited and awed and bloody proud of myself!  I did it!  And boy, would I do it again.  Since this trip a year ago, I’ve spent more and more time in the ocean, continuing to probe my fears.  It’s a gradual process.  If you have an intense fear of something, don’t let it get the best of you!  And if you have a fear of sharks; get in there with em!

The Yacht Week British Virgin Islands - Part Two

Alright powering through today!  Here is Part Two of The Yacht Week British Virgin Islands.

For those just checking in, here is the full itinerary of where the week took us (each represents where we were docked at night).  This post covers Jan 2 - Jan 5, 2014.  You can catch up on the last post here.

December 29 - Board boat / Night in Road Town, Tortola

December 30 -  Jost Van Dyke (by way of Sandy Split)

December 31 - Jost Van Dyke

January 1 - Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda

January 2 - Anegada (Bathes at Virgin Gorda before leaving)

January 3 - Bitter End, Virgin Gorda

January 4 - Norman Island (by way of snorkeling at the Indian Caves)

January 5 - Return to Road Town, Tortola (flew back)

 
Thursday, January 2, 2014

We woke up early so that we could take taxis to the Virgin Gorda Bathes which are known for their clear calm waters and snorkel caves.  I was toasted from last night so I took a nap in the sand but my crew mates said the caves were amazing.  The most amazing thing to me?  The smoothies this dude made out of the back of his car up at the entrance.  The taste of fresh fruit after five days at sea couldn't be beat!!

The rest of the afternoon and early evening was spent sailing to the next island, Anegada.  The plan for the night?  Lobster BBQ at Cow Wreck Beach.  It is a LONG taxi ride from where the boats are so bring booze with you!!  Also I highly recommend splitting a plate of food.  It's SUPER expensive and a lot of food.  And make sure you go to the bar to buy your food ticket before getting in the food line or you will have to wait all over again.

 

 

After inhaling the food we spent the rest of the evening boozing on VERY overpriced drinks (again BYOB is definitely the way to go here).  I finally got the "HOE" skipper to smile... a Yacht Week goal for me.  Mr. Stoic.  I spent the majority of the night dancing it out with Bruce and getting to know BoogieNights and Manimal better.  Manimal had been on Yacht Week with some of our friends in Croatia.  We all shared giant watermelon draanks and complimented BoogieNights on his tiny gold lame shorts.

Towards the end of the night I found myself dancing with one of the skippers.  We were feeling mischievous so we started a game of Pegs.  The premise of this game is that a group of you have a bunch of wooden clothesline pegs and you try to tag someone on their clothing with the peg.  If they get caught with the peg on them they have to remove that article of clothing and finish their drink.  Skipper and I made a great team as he would flirt with girls and I'd peg them or vice a versa.  We were unstoppable and finally everyone else stopped playing because they got too drunk.  We also instituted an impromptu limbo contest and finished the night destroying his crew at Hi Low (the card game).  God I love Yacht Week.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Next morning, Cookie, Bruce and I held a 8am innertube recap session complete with drinking breakfast beers since we'd all managed to lose each other at some point.  There were some hilarious stories.  I would later find out that this section of ocean was INFESTED with sharks and that they'd pulled a massive bull shark out on the beach just the day before we'd arrived.  WTF.

Inside Joke: "Two trips to the same boat this morning?" "I should get paid." "You did get paid."

We packed ourselves up and headed back to the other side of Virgin Gorda ... the Bitter End.  I loved this place!  There is an adorable little restaurant with a sand volleyball court and a mini pool that you can cool off in.  And the grocery store there, while small, was surprisingly well-stocked with food I love. 

 

 

We ended up wandering by some Aussie buddies and Mayo so we stopped and next thing I know I'm being forced to chug Painkillers on one knee in my unicorn onesie thanks to an infamous Aussie drinking song.  Cheers -ssholes!

Wanna play?

"Here's to [INSERT NAME OF PERSON WHO YOU WANT TO CHUG] he's true blue
He's a piss pot through and through
He's a bastard so they say
He tried to go to heaven but he went the other way
He went....
DOWN
DOWN
DOWN
(and so on until the person finishes chugging their drink)

 Needless to say... a couple of those and I was WGW... and starving.  We wandered back to the boat just in time to enjoy  EB1's homemade jerk chicken wings and sausage on the grill!  It was such a lovely afternoon.  Even WGW was feeling a little better (he'd been sick the last few days) so we spent an hour making a raft out of the floaties and laying about in the ocean.  I needed my drinking buddy to recuperate!!!

 

It was approaching "Pre-Party Hour" and we decided it was time for all the herd to come together so the entire crew donned their unicorn onesies.  We even twerked to Miley above deck for a dingy of Foxes on their way to shore.  The Foxes caught the twerking herd on Go-Pro but we still haven't been able to identify them to get a copy.  SAD.  It was also time to lose the legs off my onesie... not even sure I resembled a unicorn anymore... but at this point I'm pretty sure I smelled like an animal.

We too headed to shore a few hours later where we yet again danced... err pranced(?) our hearts out on the sand.  There were a bunch of the dancers on stilts too.  It was probably a pretty funny picture to watch a bunch of silly unicorns weaving in and out around these giants.  I obviously have to post one picture of all of us looking like "blue cows" (no one seemed able to understand they were unicorn outfits).  At one point I got lost and asked someone to "take me back to my herd."

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Our final day... I can't believe it went by so quickly!!!  Today we headed to Norman Island by way of the Indian caves.  We didn't actually stop at the caves themselves but snorkeled in the vicinity.  The ocean was SO choppy that the snorkeling was short-lived so we got to Norman on the early side.

 

  

Which gave us the entire afternoon to hit up Willy T, a 30 meter stationary schooner that is now a legendary bar.  We dinghed in and got after more Painkillers with BigBear and the ShallWeGoForASwim guys.  They were dressed in USA gear that was hilarious.  I just happened to be wearing EB1's USA pants so a twerk-off naturally ensued.

The other fun thing about Willy T's is that you can jump off the second story.  I was took by a patron that if I jumped off the boat naked I'd get a T-shirt.  My immediate response?  "Let me see the T-shirt."  As I anticipated... no T-shirt surfaced.

It was an aggressive afternoon followed by a very hazy family dinner at Pirate’s Bight restaurant on the beach followed by our final Yacht Week beach party.  I put on the full guilt trip to convince WGW to come party for his last night.  You're ready for this!!  He finally conceded, dressed up in his onesie and promised we'd close down the bar.

 

And close it down we did!  Finally the bar closed down and we jumped back in the dingy to head back to the boat (note we'd JUST been there about two hours earlier to drop off Bruce and EB1).  Strangely the boat did not seem to be where we'd left it.  WGW pointed out that maaaaybe my directional skills were a little off at this point to which I furiously disagreed.  Our boat was the only boat that had been strung with X-mas lights to find it in the dark, but the area where we'd left the boat was markedly devoid of lights.  I pointed at some blinking lights way off in the distance and said, "Those look like our lights but that's impossible.  That boat would be past Willy T's on it's way into the rocks..."

While turns out, after speaking to a boat near where ours was supposed to be that that indeed WAS our boat about to crash into the rocks.  Apparently it had come loose of the mooring, crashed into their boat, and drifted off past Willy T's towards the shore.  SHIT.  They told us their skipper had jumped ship and chased after our boat and was currently keeping it from slamming into the rocks.  We asked about our skipper, EB2, and they said there hadn't been any sign of him.  DOUBLE SHIT.

So WGW and I dinghed out to the lights directly to our boat.  Lifesaver (the skipper) waved us in and explained the latest.  SOS EB2!!!!  Still no answer.  So WGW, Lifesaver and I spent the entire night keeping watch for our skipper while finishing up the last of the Ramen noodles.  I have never been so tired...and SO angry.


Sunday, January 5, 2014 (or really Saturday continued...)

As evening became dawn we were still down a skipper and Mochila and Bruce had to leave to make their flight... too bad we still had to SAIL TO TORTOLA for them to do that.  Finally Lifesaver offered to sail them back to Tortola with his crew.  We piled their bags into his dinghy and were on the way to his boat when looks who comes back.... EB2.  So we turned back, got dropped off and began a massive sail back to Road Town as quickly as possible. 

Upon arrival in Tortola we literally left EB2 with the boat and ran for the ferry which we completely missed.  So we took a taxi to the other ferry station and grabbed one there instead.  The only thing that saved us was our flight being delayed.  Thank god we flew direct because everyone else got completely screwed with their connections thanks to the horrific East Coast winter.  I kissed my bed when I finally made it home.

Inside Jokes:
Amahzing
Alright alright alright

Overall, it was another "amahzing" Yacht Week experience and for me surpassed Croatia on many levels.  It was about lasting friendships not random hookups, family time with my crew, casual beach parties in the sand, and home err boat-cooked food.  I would go back in a heartbeat.  Definitely one of the top vacations of my life.

The Yacht Week British Virgin Islands - Part One

It's only 4 months late but I hope my Yacht Week British Virgin Islands blog is as entertaining and informative to read as it would've been fresh off the boat (pun intended).  For those who don't know, last July, I spent one amazing week exploring the Adriatic on board a 41ft monohull sailboat named Kala with three of my best friends in the world.  We ate, drank and clubbed our way through South Croatia with The Yacht Week.  Almost a year later I'm still wearing my wristband.  So, it seemed natural that I'd return from that trip only to immediate book a boat for New Year's Eve in the British Virgin Islands.  And here's Part One of how it went... 

Sunday,  December 29, 2013

We arrived via ferry from St Thomas in Tortola eager to register, meet up with our skipper, and board the boat.  Below is a map along with a written out itinerary of where the week would take us (each represents where we were docked at night).  This post covers Dec 29 - Jan 1, 2014.  Note, that for the British Virgin Islands route there is the NYE route and the March route which are not the same since for NYE they want to ensure you are on Jost Van Dyke for NYE since it's famous for that.

December 29 - Board boat / Night in Road Town, Tortola

December 30 -  Jost Van Dyke (by way of Sandy Split)

December 31 - Jost Van Dyke

January 1 - Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda

January 2 - Anegada (Bathes at Virgin Gorda before leaving)

January 3 - Bitter End, Virgin Gorda

January 4 - Norman Island (by way of snorkeling at the Indian Caves)

January 5 - Return to Road Town, Tortola (flew back)

This time around we'd organized a full crew of 8 people (including our skipper) on board a brand new beautiful 47ft sailboat.  It was SO much nicer and when split between all of us cheaper than the last trip!  Same number of cabins but the interior of the boat was much larger.  As usual, we'd made a specialty flag for the adventure!

 

 

 

Aboard the boat this time?

The Wounded Soldier, Bruce
Mochila
Cookie
WGW
Shamena
EB1
EB2

And they would prove to be the best crew one could have.  We spent the first night docked in Road Town, Tortola, partying on the boat.  We attempted to attend the club event that Yacht Week hosted but it was so shitty we left and came back for "family time" which would eventually come to mean "randoms off the boat this party's for the crew."  It was great bonding time for those that hadn't met before.  It was also the debut of the song that would become the theme of the trip... Van She's JAMAICA!!!!!!!!!!

Monday,  December 30, 2013

We began the sail to Jost Van Dyke via Sandy Split where some of us swam in to party on the beach for a few hours.  I'd forced everyone to purchase a unicorn onesie when they signed up for the boat so some of the ponies emerged on our first day.  Great for lounging on the boat - extra cushioning and shielding from the wind.  Turns out BVI is a MUCH rougher sail than Croatia which was like motoring on a pond.  We will clearly be SAILING this week!

 

It was fairly late when we arrived at Jost Van Dyke so we had to anchor at the far end of the island in Diamond Cay instead in White Bay which is more towards the middle of the island by Soggy Dollar Bar.  Looking back I highly recommend passing up Sandy Split and just heading straight to JVD to you get a spot in White Bay.  It would've made life a lot easier and cheaper in the long run... but I skip ahead.

 

 

This first night was spent making besties with the crews on the boats around us.  I spent my time trying different stick on mustaches with Mustache Matt.  Shamena decided that she wanted a late night dip in the ocean and yelled to the guys, "SHAAAALLLL WE GO FOR A SWIM???"  This result in two of the guys picking her up to throw her into the ocean only to make a gross miscalculation leaving Shamena to bounce her way down the side of the boat finishing with a final painful "splash."  That one act would lead to a MASSIVE bruise that stretched the entire length of her leg and an infamous calling card that would occur throughout the BVIs as multiple times we'd be greeted at bars with "Shaaaalll we go for a swim?"

After saving Shamena from a watery grave, we headed inland on our terrible dinghy to Foxy's Diamond Cay bar (the original famous Foxy's is inland; this is more of an outpost) which is little more than a shack on the beach - I loved it.  One of the boats created custom "Heaven on Earth" stamps (the name of their boat) that were politely condensed down to "HOE."  I immediately confiscated one and by the end of the night anyone attending that party was lucky if they managed to escape back to their boat unscathed.  The skipper for their boat tried to wrangle the stamp from me only to lose to my superior wrestling skills.. unfortunately I lost the tip of a finger in the battle. Ouch.

 

This time around I really just used my iPhone for taking photos which was probably a very stupid idea but I couldn't be bothered packing 4248902832 cameras this trip.  At some point I started to run low and asked the bartender if they could just my phone... his response? "I don't have a charger I just have electricity."  WELL THAT ISN'T HELPFUL.
 
The night ended with a girl following us back to the boat and promptly being dubbed "Mayo" after her drunken expedition of our fridge resulted in her dipping potato chips straight into a jar of mayonnaise.  Champ.

Tuesday,  December 31, 2013

Today would prove to be one of the best day's of my life.  New Year Eve on Jost Van Dyke, particularly the party at Foxy's is known throughout the world as one of the best places to ring in the new year.  And we would be there.  But first, we'd spend the afternoon at Soggy Dollar Bar, situated right on the beach.

And this is where I returned back to the preference to anchor in the bay near Soggy Dollar because from our outpost we had to take a VERY long, fairly expensive taxi ride halfway around the island.  At least the views were beautiful (sit on the left hand side of the taxi) and the taxis are more like open-air trucks so we could enjoy the fresh air.  The best part?  Bastille's "Pompeii" came on and our whole crew broke out into song including our special rendition of the chorus, "I'm gonna be an octopus about this!"  Needless to say we were in rare form on arrival.

Soggy Dollar Bar was my favorite place on the trip famously known for their deadly tropical drink, The Painkiller.  A couple of those and you'll be "white girl wasted" dancing your way down the beach.  They also had a buffet that for $20 you got your choice of "burger" and assorted side dishes.  Within two seconds of me walking out with my plate, Wounded Soldier Bruce tackled me sending my hamburger straight into the sand.  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

 

She reimbursed my $15 but I decided that I'd rather drowned my burger sorrows in $15 worth of Painkillers.  I spent the rest of the afternoon waist-deep in the beautiful blue ocean enjoying the people watching.  It was at this point that I realized how different BVI Yacht Week is from Croatia, even after only three days:

1. It's less exclusive - you don't need a wristband so it's not just Yacht Week everywhere you go.  The parties aren't Yacht Week people only so you get to mix with an array of people from little kids to old retired sailors all enjoying the sun and fun together.  It's a really nice feeling.
2. It's less diverse - Croatia had a much more international feel; BVI is much more American (neither being better or worse than the other... just different)
3. It's less "fancy" - Not that yachting is ever fancy but Croatia the events at night were very "clubby" versus BVI which is much more laidback, beach bars.

As the sun started to head back towards the ocean, we gathered up the crew and came back across the islands to prepare for the New Year's Eve party at Foxy's.  Again sort of annoying that we had to come all the way back to our side of the island when Foxy's is right near Soggy Dollar.  But we all knew we needed a little time on the boat if we were going to make it past midnight.

Some people decided to wear their special NYE outfits but WGW and I decided it was time for the unicorn onesies to emerge from the boat and meet the public.  Within about five minutes of wearing them on the boat we made the executive decision to cut off the arms.  Phew that's better!

Another long taxi ride back to Foxy's.  Bruce was wearing sunglasses that were shaped like "2014." It took us a second to realize the "1" had to be wide enough for her to see out of so it looked like a "0" hence why people kept saying "Happy 2004!"  Silly.

Foxy's was a madhouse!  There were people of all ages and types partying together which was really cool.  Made for some epic people watching!  Unfortunately, I'd gotten it into my head that I didn't need shoes because it would be a beach party but instead it's a sandy bottom bar inland.  It took a massive dad who just happened to be paying attention to keep me from stepping straight down until a broken bottle barefoot.  This sent me on a quest to find shoes...

 

Fifteen minutes later I managed to find and adopt a lone white flipflop amongst the rubble on the ground.  50% safer!  I spent the next few hours losing track of my friends so I decided to start painting people's faces (since obviously I'd brought face paint).  I finished up one attendee only to have a 40-year-old woman walk up and eagerly ask for a palm tree on her cheek.  When I finished, she slipped me a $20 and thanked me.  Confused, I pointed out that I didn't work there! I was just doing it for fun!  She started laughing and I told her I'd buy us beers with the money.  That's what I mean.  Everyone there was SO cool.  This also gave me the bright idea to paint another flip flop on so that I'd have two!

 

After awhile and a couple beers I was getting annoyed with my one real flip flop so I decided to discard it... only to have one of my friends appear 20 minutes later holding the flip flop to give back to me!  Miraculous?  I responded by tossing it to the side again only to have a DIFFERENT friend appear with it.  Okay, this isn't funny.  So I CHUCKED the thing towards the ocean as far as I could.  That should do it.

Our crew managed to find each other through the hullaballoo just in time to ring in the New Year together (Shamena had spent the last hour holding on to my tail to keep track of me).  I had to have Bruce takes photos because my fingers were so destroyed from accidents that I couldn't manage.

Turns out even my tail couldn't keep track of Shamena for long... as the rest of us stood waiting for a cab I turned only to find her... GONE.  You know what wasn't gone?  Part of my crew went to buy final beers for the ride and low and behold guess who comes along with them?  THE DAMN FLIP FLOP.  They thought this was hilarious.  I sank a beer in annoyance.

What felt like five hours later we finally managed to push our way into the back of one of the taxis and get back to the boat.  Back at the boat we happened to be next to the Party with Sluts boat (damnit that's a good flag!!) who had a professional sound system.  I decided that our boat had an equally impressive sound system so I tried to compete with their tunes by blasting JAMAICA (this song can only be spelled in CAPS).  It took about half the song for one of the speakers to blow.  Oops.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

The next day we spent the better part of the morning sailing to Spanish Town on the island of Virgin Gorda on some very rough seas.  Mochila definitely wasn't feeling so hot and EB2 ran into the marina when we arrived.  And THAT's what you get boat insurance!  We were extremely excited because they had....wait for it... SHOWERS AND GROCERIES!!!!

 

 

We tried to grab food but after two hours we still hadn't even put in our order so we decided to buy food and EB1 made steak and mashed potatoes on the boat grill.  Glad we did that anyway!  He is a GREAT chef! We enjoyed our dinner to a beautiful sunset probably brought on by the terrible stormy weather we'd had all day.

That night everyone seemed a little tuckered out from NYE but Mochila was back in action after spending the last couple days with a questionable stomach.  So she and I dawned Indian headdresses and wandered on to one of the other boats that was having a glowstick party.  We boarded the boat and introduced ourselves only for one of the crew to ask me if I was from New York and if I had a friend named Ryan.  Ryan had originally planned on coming on Yacht Week after we'd already filled our boat so I'd put him in touch with another crew that had a spot.  Then in the end he wasn't able to go but they'd already bought a US flag, made him a T-shirt and a special wristband.  It was so sweet!  I asked them for the wristband to take back to the States.  They were so much fun.

Mochila and I wandered from there to the sponsored party of the night which was really really fun.  We got lots of compliments on our headdresses.

And here ends Part One of the debauchery.  Check back soon for Part Two!!!