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Grade Eights on the Seven Seas

19 September 2015
Reece FG, Quin N, & Kenya B, Grade 8s; Photos by Brent Lee
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Aboard the SALTS’ (Sail and Life Training Society) vessel, The Pacific Swift, we all took turns doing night shifts. Each shift was an hour long and covered between 11pm and 6:50am. Every shift had two people on watch: we were watching to see if the anchor was moving in the water. In the morning we ate breakfast and then decided that before setting sail we would go play some games on an island that we were anchored near, we played two games, one with partners and the other with an individual. After we got back from the island we set sail, this time actually putting all of the sails up and let me say it was pretty darn cool, we were sailing for approximately four hours then decided to anchor in a nearby harbour for the night. That night we ate dinner and then played camouflage. We finished our night with mug up and singing. As the trip progressed, all the Grade 8s were all really tired from three days of getting up in the middle of the night for night watch. We were also exhausted from waking up at 7:00 in the morning for three days in a row. Each day, one of the Watches got the 8:00 sleep in, which was very exciting. Late in that day, a few people boarded the Zodiac and went to Prevost Island to pick apples from the orchard which was planted decades ago and continues to grow wild. As we picked them, we discovered that the fresh apples were extremely appetizing. They were destined for apple pie made on board and for dessert. While we picked, some of the people goofed around and threw groundfall apples against a tree; they detonated like a hand grenade in a bunker. After an hour in the orchard, we returned to ship and we motored toward Deep Cove where we planned to moor for the night. Upon arrival, we lowered the anchor until it hit bottom with made a big thud. We were not going anywhere. Later that evening we started Mug Up. We played Wop It on the upper deck and then we went down to the hold to sing songs and play games before bed time - our last night on the Pacific Swift! The fourth day was an upsetting, sad, happy day. It was upsetting because we were leaving the boat and the ocean. It was sad because we were leaving all our wonderful crewmates, and it was a happy day because we no longer had to use the head (aka the very scary toilet).  As we were entering the bay, we saw two or three humpback whales. When you see an animal that big you realize how small humans really are. When the boat stopped moving we got all our stuff on to the top deck and started to load it on to the zodiac. The students went in three trips because we couldn't fit all of us on the zodiac.  When we had made it safely to shore, we started to head up to the classroom. When we got there we wanted to do it all over again. It definitely was a trip that we were all going to remember for a long, long time. The only problem is…I don’t think that Brentwood will ever be able to top a trip like that for a long time. We would like to thank Mrs. Patel and Mr. Lee for making this all possible. It was a great way to start our Grade 8 year together. Reece FG, Quin N, & Kenya B, Grade 8s For some drone footage of our adventure, thanks to the ineffable and indefatigable Mr. Lee, please see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_b5mLpzXoY&feature=youtu.be

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