A view from the deck of the Mayotte.

By Ellie Rogers

It was 4 a.m., pitch black out, and the waves were massive. The bow of Mayotte, our fifty-foot monohull sailboat, plunged in and out of swells. Eleven of us were crossing a Southeastern portion of the Caribbean Sea. 

My mind drifted in and out of exhaustion as I was fighting to stay alert for just two more hours until my shift was over. The two other crewmates that shared the 3 a.m.-6 a.m. shift with me, Rocco and Caroline, were fast asleep on the cockpit benches and neglecting to radio our sister monohull, Zanzibar, sailing just a few miles behind us. Everyone else was fast asleep below deck in their cabins. 

Without land in sight and in the middle of the ocean, everything was absolutely silent as I stood at the helm, guiding us towards the Leeward Islands, where we would arrive approximately twenty-six hours later. 

The salon!

This experience describes just one of many I have had at sea with a program called Sail Caribbean, run by qualified counselors from all over the world. Preparing yourself to live on a fifty-foot boat for five weeks with a group of strangers, ranging from 15 to 18 years old, is not something that everyone would enjoy. Every session begins in St. Thomas and sails to islands like St. Bart’s, Saba, Sint Eustatius, and many more. Living on a boat for the entire time is difficult, but it is such an unforgettable experience that it is completely worth every minute. 

A day spent on the sea is like no other. Every morning, we all wake with the sunrise. Music begins buzzing from the salon speakers, and we all make our way to the cockpit to eat breakfast. Mornings like these are silent and tired. During this moment of everyone eating, subdued conversations of how horribly crewmates slept are often overheard. Sleeping on a boat is demanding, thanks to nightly rainstorms soaking everything above deck, the treacherous heat, and limited places to sleep that often require fighting another crewmate for space. 

Mayotte’s cockpit.

Following breakfast and breakfast clean-up, we are responsible for cleaning the galley, scrubbing surfaces, taking hammocks down, and tidying up. Next, we sail. Typically, a sail might last as little as three hours, or up to a constant sail of twenty hours without stopping. These sails often include lunch while underway, and sunburns. During these sails, the crew bonds. We dance, sing, make snacks, gossip about our lives back home, and become a family. By the end of the trip, we are so close that going home without each other seems abnormal. 

When we arrive at our next destination, the first thought is to jump off the boat into the water. Having been deprived of swimming for the entirety of the day so far, due to our typically rushed morning, everyone is eager to get in. We swim, work on our tans, lay in hammocks together, nap, and occasionally swim to a nearby beach or town to shop and explore. Another key component to this part of the day is studying for our crew tests, an exam that we take at the end of every session to ensure that we can receive various certifications. This part of the day tends to be everyone’s favorite. As dusk comes, dinner prep begins, and everyone showers off the side of the boat in their bathing suits, lathering up as the sun sets and dancing along to the music. At night, the entire sunburnt crew applies aloe and then proceeds to eat dinner together, where we talk about the day. Our captain and mate sit us down for a meeting to review what needs to be improved about our sail from the day, and then they send us to set up for sleep. As it comes time to get to bed, everyone sets up their hammocks on the deck, lays down next to their friends to talk and laugh until sleep comes. 

While this life is strenuous yet thrilling, it is not always perfect. I can recall multiple times when my belongings and others’ have gone overboard, losing multiple things at various places around the boat due to limited space, and nights when we were afraid of lightning striking our mast due to a tropical storm. I can recall on the first day of camp last summer when one of my crewmates, Ethan’s, sleeping bag blew off of the boat in the middle of the night and floated away before morning. 

After my experiences on the Mayotte, living on a boat is something I aspire to and plan to do more in my future. 

All photos by Ethan Wollins.