St. Eustatius and Nevis!

The students took the on role of junior watch officers on this last transit.  The students rose to this challenge, and drew upon all the sailing and navigational skills they’ve learned to bring Westward safely to St. Eustatius island in five days from the Dominican Republic!

During this time, we celebrated Halloween of course, with a costume party, trivia game, scary stories, and piñata!  

We went ashore on the sleepy isle commonly referred to as Statia after breakfast on November 4 and hiked to the crater of the extinct volcano.   At the top, we enjoyed the views and exploring the rainforest that spilled into the crater.  A lucky few saw sunning iguanas!

After exploring the old town, which is marked by colorful old Dutch architecture, we went snorkeling in front of the town.  Colorful reef fish swam and hawksbill turtles hunted among remnants of old buildings and shipwrecks under the sea, including a sunken cannon.

We left early the next day for the larger island of Nevis.  We anchored the bay of the green extinct volcanic island mid afternoon.  We spent the rest of the day tidying up the boat, and studying literature, having a quiet productive study hall, and preparing to go ashore all the next day.

Onshore in bustling Charlestown, we visited the Nevis Turtles Group who told us about their efforts to tag the endangered hawksbill, leatherback, and green turtles that nest on the beaches of Nevis.  Their efforts to track turtles and stop poaching of the animals and their eggs have helped rebuild the turtle’s populations.  However, these ancient animals are still threatened by coastal development.

Emile, of the Turtle Group, graciously showed us the history of his home island.  We visited the birthplace of American founding father Alexander Hamilton, the old slave market, the Jewish cemetery from the 17^th century, and the ruins of the hot springs bath house where British tourists have been relaxing since the 18^th century.

In the Afternoon we met Jim Johnson for an eye opening exploration of the medicinal uses of rainforest plants.  Students learned which plants not to eat (because they may cause hair to fall out), and which plants have healing properties.  We enjoyed Jim’s enthusiastic and informative tour up the mountainside into the primal rainforest. 

We wrapped up this island day by joining Emile and his student volunteers of the Turtle Group in searching for nesting hawksbills on the beach.  It was a calm, starry night, and moon light lit our search! We investigated turtle nests, and counted the number of eggs that had hatched from one nest.  We retuned to Westward after midnight, exhausted, but full of the natural wonders we had seen that day.

~Eve

History Educator

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Samana, Dominican Republic October 27th-30th

There is certainly nothing more rewarding then arriving safely ashore after a long transit at sea.  The icing on the cake is dropping anchor off a Caribbean island brimming with lush, green beauty.

Samana, Dominican Republic treated us land-starved mariners well.  Our brief stay was filled with exploration and education.  We began our first full day with an early visit to the open market.  Narrow streets packed with venders selling everything from haircuts to crocs, diapers to lotto tickets, fresh vegetables to chicken feet.  Over seated motorbikes and overloaded trucks fought to deliver their goods.  A variety of stereos battled for airspace as the chatter of bargaining rose and fell to its own rhythm.  Amongst all of this, the students were given some pesos and the challenge of purchasing as much fresh fruit as they could carry.  They didn’t hesitate.  Under thirty minutes, with pesos to spare our valiant shoppers emerged from the frays of squabbling patrons laden with bundles of native fruits. 

Papayas, mangos, oranges, plantains, watermelons and a few previously “unknown” varieties were piled in the back of our days transportation.  For approximately $40 US dollars, the students bought the equivalent of what $150 US  dollars would buy of fresh, organic fruit in any state-side grocery store.  Mission accomplished!

    

As we sampled some of the goods we began our drive toward the mountains overlooking the town.  Before reaching our destination we had the opportunity to stop and visit a local elementary school.  The students dressed in crisp, clean uniforms greeted us with shy smiles.  We struggled with our limited Spanish vocabulary, as they graciously guided us through conversation.  Within ten minutes the ice was broken.  Apparently all it took was a game of Duck, Duck , Goose resulting in huge smiles and youthful laughter.

     It was a rewarding opportunity to meet these kids, for most of our students it really brought the Dominican Republic into perspective.  We were not just tourists, but travelers, and with that came the gravity of this experience.

    

After saying our goodbyes in both Spanish and English, we continued our travels further into the mountains.  Eventually we came to our destination, the Cascadas de Limon.  Our hike began with a near torrential down pour, spreading unavoidable, deep, muddy puddles up, down, left, right and center of our path.  The students trekked on with the typical faces one makes as tropical mud oozes between your toes.  Soon enough we reached our goal, the bottom of a majestic Waterfall.  The students spent the next hour swimming, dodging in and out of the cascading water, and exploring the small caves hidden behind the sheets of fresh rainforest water.  Not before too long it was time to head back through our muddy tracks.

     Our friend and local contact, Martin, arranged a delicious Dominican style lunch for us at a restaurant near the trailhead.  With our bellies full we relaxed and admired our lush surroundings before heading back into the bustle of town.  Back on Westward our Never Fail Party Comity threw a toga party to celebrate Evan’s 17th birthday.  After the festivities and dinner everyone hunkered down for study hall and an early bedtime.

     

The next morning began with the sunrise and another day of exploration.  Once again Martin came through , this time with a large twin engine tour boat to take us over to the national park.  Excited, happy faces emitted cries of “Yeeeee Haaa” as we sped across Bahia de Samana.  Once at the park we toured an enormous mangrove forest and ancient caves complete with petroglyphs before breaking at a secluded beach for lunch and a swim.  Of course time flies when you’re relaxing on a secluded Caribbean beach, before we knew it we were back on our mighty tall ship Westward. 

     As we knocked the sand off our feet, the students began preparations for setting sail toward our next destination.  The voyage planning was now in their hands, watches set to work researching port information, weather, wind, and plotting our course.  Shortly after we hauled anchor and set sail toward Nevis.  All in all, not a bad day of school.

     From all accounts Samana was a great success.   We have spent the last few days discussing our experience in the Dominican Republic.  The students have certainly impressed me with their detailed observances and poetic expressions of their encounters.  I am proud of the travelers they have become and look forward to our next port stop.

~Alyson

Literature Educator

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Photos from The passage to the Dominican Republic

Conner at the helm















Morgan at the helm during a squall, or as we like to call them, a fresh water shower!

Sophie stearing by the wind

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Journal Thoughts

“Journal Thoughts” - Anonymous

Getting to know people is one of the benefits to being in such a small living space. You make friends with people you never knew before, in a way that is totally unique to this experience. In our watch group , we have many different personalities. We may never have spent time together if it wasn’t for this trip. We’ve all seen each other learn and make mistakes. We’ve seen each other at all hours of the day and night. It’s an experience unique to our group. We’ve had some rough patches, and times when we had to drop what we were doing and support one another. We have a type of “Breakfast Club” dynamic going on. We have been taken out of our comfort zones to complete this challenge together.
“Who will love you? Who will fight? Who will fall far behind?” – Skinny Love, Bon Iver



Bow watch is a good time to get perspective and self –reflect. It is the only time you’re alone, but you’re not lonely. It is interesting to think about where you were a year ago, and where you are right now. You’ve changed so much, but you don’t realize it while its happening. Even in the past few weeks there has been so much to learn; from basic knot tying to calling sails. Time is slipping by though, already we have less than a month left of our voyage. If all this change happened in the few short weeks we have been on Ocean, what will happen in the next few weeks? What about next year? If we’ve made it this far, the possibilities are endless.
“When everything is lonely I can be my own best friend. I’ll get a coffee and the paper, have my own conversations.”
- Brighteyes

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Sea Time byJake Adick

“Sea Time” By Jake Adick

October 23, 2009
En Route to Samana, Dominican Republic

Time. A simple unit of measure, yet it is so much more to us on Ocean Classroom. To us, 10:00 pm does not exist, it’s 2200. To us the word minute does not just mean minutes in an hour, it also means minutes in a degree. A minute to us also means a single nautical mile on the latitude scale. Our day is not scheduled out in classes, what we are going to learn, and when we are going to do certain things. To us, all we know is when watch starts and ends, and that we have two classes at 1000 and 1400.
During watch anything can happen. You might have 30 minutes of idle time, or you might be out on the head rigging putting a miter furl on the jib tops’l. Still, to us, time is measured by the events taking place, not by what your wristwatch says. We have no need for it, the only thing we need to know is when we take the helm, stand bow watch, due a boat check and when it is “time” to rotate duties. Although being on time is immeasurably important, if you asked us what day it was, it is guaranteed the majority could not tell you.
At mountain classroom, before we left for Ocean, our literature teacher said “One day on land equals three days at sea.” Such a true statement. Our days are long, broken up by random hours of sleep, when you spend more then two days at sea everything meshes together. Right now I am approaching my eighth day at sea heading towards the Dominican Republic and I just learned today what day of the week it actually is. Truly, it is a strange feeling, it almost feels like life is simpler without the complexity of dates, times and long schedules. It lets you think more clearly and enjoy that once in a lifetime sunset while perched high aloft on the foremast.

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Night Watch by Sam Brown

Sam Brown
Night Watch
10. 24. 09

As we have spent more and more time on the open ocean following the daily rhythm of life aboard Westward, any shipmate can easily identify their favorite part of the day. Personally, night watches are my favorite part of the twenty-four hour day. On one particular night watch, we were motor-sailing in calm conditions about thirteen miles off the coast of Grand Caicos Island. I stood on bow watch scanning the horizon enjoying the warm breeze run through my hair. Visibility was perfect. Far off, about one point on the starboard bow, I could see a minuscule white light. I waited a few minutes until I was sure it was a light and not a star, and reported it to my mate, Mr. Dimock. He confirmed the light and we went below into the dog house to look on the radar. I was right, a ship of some sort was out there, and holding a course towards us. We were going to have to wait until he got a little closer to make our next decision. Slowly, the tiny white light I had seen grew bigger, until it was many white lights and red and green navigation lights heading towards us. I am going to see if I can contact them on the radio. We went back into the doghouse and tuned the VHF radio to channel 16, the international distress and hailing channel. Mr. Dimock spoke into the microphone, identifying us, our latitude and longitude, as well as theirs. Right after finishing our message, a voice answered back in a thick Eastern European accent. The ship shrouded in darkness was a cruise ship, the Liberty. The captain was aware of us and passing us port to port with a CPA – or closets point of approach – of two miles. We thanked him and signed off the radio. Ten minutes later, we had the binoculars on deck peering at the floating city just two miles off our beam. The cruise ship was so lit up it temporarily covered up the stars. It was strange to have a community of forty people so distinctly separate from a floating city of a couple thousand people. Not before long, the cruise ship was behind us, a tiny speck of white on the black horizon. My watch was just about over, and I assumed bow watch again, peering out at the horizon. This watch is just another example of why I like night watches. Every watch is spontaneous and busy. The stars and moon, when not covered by the clouds, practically illuminate over the deck and sometimes it feels as if our watch is the only watch on the boat. The thrill of sailing at night is an experience I simply can’t capture in words. I look forward to night watch every day.

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