Thursday, October 15 – Right outside of Mauritius 
2:35
I saw whales again yesterday! This time a hell of a lot closer. They were jumping out of the water! It was incredible. Life is beautiful!

Tuesday, October 20 – Indian Ocean
2:53
Sea Olympics is today! I am so excited that I can’t sleep. I’ve been lying in bed for about an hour thinking about today. I keep going over my routine for synchronized swimming. Yesterday I made the torch for my sea (The Sargasso Sea), with help from Lindsay. I think it looks rather awesome. Lindsay and I get to carry it in during Opening Ceremonies! I’m so stoked. Other events I’m participating in dodge ball and a leg in the relay. I wish I could participate in more, but the timing doesn’t work out. Our sea is really small and there’s some events we aren’t even participating in.
Sargasso Cheer: “Show me your O face!”

Friday, October 23 – Latitude: 8 degrees, Longitude: 81 degrees
1:54
I figured I’d mention Mauritius before I get to India in six hours. Mauritius is a spring break destination. It is paradise. Beth, Erin, Cody, Ryan, Jackie, and I all stayed at The Klondike, a bungalow in Flic en Flack. Paradise. Our location was prime. Right on the water. Also, a group of our friends stayed at The Klondike, too. Things I want to remember: Cody = Coose, the delicious honey chicken pita, alcohol, the Germans, the playground, Ryan’s shirt at the club, and the giant bats.
The second day of Mauritius (our only full day) was the day of Ryan and I’s adventure. Ryan and I (the two of us tend to sleep in) got up around noon after everyone else. I made some great grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup for lunch. We made our way down to the beach where we got a kayak. The others got the other kayak available and the paddle boat. They only hung with us for like ten minutes, and then Ryan and I went off on our own adventure.

I loved kayaking. We were out for 4 hours. We had to have gone about 2 miles each way. The view was absolutely stunning. The weather was so comfortable. Ryan and I’s talks were awesome. One of the things we wanted to do in Mauritius was to find a nude beach since we both missed out on it in Spain and in South Africa. Well, they don’t have them in Mauritius. I decided that we should just go further out in the water and we could make our own nude beach on the kayak. In our attempts to do this, the water became really rough. The kayak was taking the waves like a boogie board and I got really stoked and thought, “Let’s ride one in!” Before we knew it, our kayak was sideways and we capsized. My sunglasses are now off the coast of Mauritius. Now, how funny would that have been had we taken off our bathing suits and then capsized? Hilarious. We decided to go closer to the shore (smart decision), and head back. On our way back to the villa, I noticed a splash to my left. Upon second glance, I noticed there were whales surfacing about 200 feet away. It was the icing on the cake. This adventure and this day is ranked in my top 5 days of this trip. I wish I could explain it better, but it will always be in my heart and in my memories.
I don’t think I’ll ever be back to Mauritius, but I’m glad I went. It was a lot of fun! There was a quote on one of our bottles of rum that said something along the lines of Mauritius is what heaven was based off of.

Sunday, November 1 – Singapore (just refueling)
17:14
I was thinking to myself, “whoa, I haven’t written in a long time”, then I checked the date and I haven’t written in 8 days. Only 8 days and so much has happened. I’ve come and gone from India. There was a crew talent show. Yesterday was Halloween. Just an incredible amount of stuff! Time is flying by on now.
Where to start? My first day in India was a lot of fun. When we pulled into port I was so emotional and actually cried. I was so excited to be in my number one port! I left the ship with Shannon, Matt, Kristen and Chelsea. After waiting in a very long security line (that happened every time you left and came back from Chennai), we got in a rickshaw (after being confronted by ten different drivers) and went off to a camera store for Chelsea and then lunch. Our rickshaw drivers took us to a local Indian restaurant, where we were the ONLY white people in the whole place. After we ordered, Ian and Stella showed up (Ian is the husband to a teacher on the ship, and Stella is their 4 year old daughter. They are British, whereas Stella was born in America, but has a cute little British accent). We invited them to join us, which happened to be one of the best decisions of the voyage thus far. He kindly accepted and sat down with us. He had been in India before, so he explained the food to us and how to eat it.
We ended up spending the rest of the day with him and Stella. We went to a few shops. My favorite part of the day was when Ian, Matt, Shannon, Stella and I found a restaurant that offered beer. Ian, Matt, and I each had a King Fisher Super Strong beer. It was rather tasty. I don’t know if it was because it was a 40 or if it was “super strong” but I felt rather buzzed after the fact. Stella and Shannon had juice and Sprite, btw. Ian is super rad. He knew that my shoulder tattoos came from Hedwig and the Angry Inch! The greatest parts of this day was just experiencing it. There isn’t any crazy stories to tell. I went to a Welcome Reception later on in the night, and that was really fascinating. The Indian culture is so colorful. I forgot to mention how much I love rickshaws. I want one. The way they drive in India is so ridiculous and so much fun.
I had some good times in India, but nothing to really write about. The pictures will be enough for me. There’s one night, the night I actually went out, that I didn’t have a camera. I had a blast, and I really wish I had my camera!
I will just paste my India stickey note here and call it a day:
Kapaleeswarar Temple
“Jizz in my Pants” sound in the port
Auto Rickshaws/rickshaws
Second day: Nikola, Kristin, FJ.
Third day: Chelsea, Sean Frank, Rachel and Danielle/ night: Chelsea and Sean.
Fourth day: Service project, hanging out with Ryan, Beth and Erin, Awesome night with Matt and pals. Park Hotel (celebrity, sweet lime, taxi ride, Maria, favorite SASers).
Fifth day: Matt, Joey and our new friend in the AM, FDP in the afternoon.

I loved India. I looked forward to India. I wish I spent my time better in India or planned a bit more. I know I will be back so it’s not that big of deal, but there’s so much I want to do there.
I’m in a stupid weird mood, so I suck at writing right now. Just know that Halloween was great. I saw a water spout! I love this voyage!