Dutch Counterparts, Seaturtles, and Whalers in Bequia

Walking back across the island from Friendship Bay, where we checked out some whale boats local whalers used to hunt humpbacks, we saw a large schooner anchored off of Gamage's stern flying the Friesian flag. She turned out to be the Wylde Swan, of the Netherlands, with teenage trainees aboard. What a fortuitous turn of events! We decided to prolong our stay to interact with another group of high school students learning at sea. We played some typical Dutch games and were able to check out each other's boats... the Wylde Swan boasts air conditioning, flush toilets, showers, and watermakers. But she also taught our kids how much they love Gamage, and the very real and intimate relationship we all have to our ship, our home.

Earlier in Bequia we visited the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary, where "Brother" King taught us about his quest to conserve the Hawksbill Sea Turtle, the very species he grew up hunting as a young man.

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Dominica, according to Rose

      

       

     We wake early to meet a man named Sea Cat at the green-striped Island Pride Gasoil station in Rosseau. We drive up into the verdant, wet hills in a huge white van, its bench seats covered in eclectic red and gold palm tree print, its floor in ancient, coffee colored linoleum. We stop first at a fruit plantation to provision for the ship. Hiking up the slope past the occasional meandering goat, behind the squat white stucco house, we arrive at the orchard. Haphazard clumps of gnarled and lichen covered trees: grapefruit, lemon, sour orange. I scramble up a rough barked grapefruit tree, avoiding the spreading green bromeliads which cling to the curved branches like limpets to a rock, their thick waxy leaves forming still pools of water at the base.

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Bequia

As the full moon set and the sun rose at dawn, Bequia loomed to windward just a few miles away. After tacking into Admiralty Bay, the students came ashore and explored Port Elizabeth, where the cold bitter lemon sodas, pizza, and wifi internet made us feel a bit more... modern than we've felt aboard a wooden schooner for the past three weeks. Tomorrow we will visit the Old Hegg Sea Turtle Sanctuary, where "Brother" King will share his mission to conserve the very hawksbill turtles he grew up hunting. Then we'll visit the whaleboats. Bequians are allowed to hunt a few whales each year, according to the International Whaling Commission, using traditional techniques that include wooden wind and oar-powered boats, iron harpoons, and rope. We'll learn about their traditions, history and heritage, and their practices, and try to measure these with our own thoughts on whales and how humans should interact with them. It should be an exciting day... look forward to more photos and student writing soon!

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Iles des Saintes

       From Dominica we set sail for Iles des Saintes, a group of eight picturesque French islands only 30nm away. We entered on the same tack as the French during the Bataille des Saintes in 1782. We tacked back and forth to our anchorage under a bright sun and strong wind. On the sail from Dominica, we were lucky enough to see a pod of juvenile Sperm whales swimming incredibly close to the ship.  The students were overjoyed and turned this into an opportunity to learn more about Sperm whales and report on them during our evening almanac.

       Yesterday we explored the largest island in the group, Terre de Haut, where we climbed up to a Napoleonic fort for a history class. By the end of the day we were snorkeling in turquoise waters around a rock formation called Pain de Sucre and students were studying the invertebrate of the Caribbean. The drastic difference between Dominica and Iles des Saintes was apparent as we walked the narrow streets of Terre de Haut, practiced our French, exchanged our Eastern Caribbean dollars for Euros, and sampled the local baguettes. We are definitely learning about the cultural and biological variety of the Caribbean!

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From Fishcakes to the Boiling Lake

      Worn out, weary, and full of wonderment, we are finally ready to weigh anchor. For the last two days we have been shepherded about the island by our charismatic tour guide, SeaCat, an Ocean Classroom legend. It's an experience just to ride around in his passenger van, which has a sunglasses-wearing octopus spray-painted on the front and back, as SeaCat says hello to all his local friends. Yesterday he took us to the Carib territory where we met the culture of the higher Dominican elevations and sampled just about every fruit and spice the island has to offer. We climbed trees to pick grapefruit, guava, and oranges, but the highlight was when SeaCat ground roasted cocoa beans and mixed them with milk and sugar for us to eat with our breadfruit and jerk chicken lunch. We returned to the ship heavily laden with fruit and spices for our next passage.

      Today we experienced another adventure with SeaCat: the epic trek to the Boiling Lake. Twenty-six kilometers of treacherous terrain, a rumored 20,000 footsteps, our adventure took us up to a view of the surrounding islands, down into the valley of desolation, and eventually to the other-worldy  boiling lake. We soaked in hot springs, painted our faces with sulphorous mud, and swam through a deep gorge that led us to a hidden waterfall. We ended the day with a delicious shipboard meal and  the anticipation of our next port of call.

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Dominica!

We arrived in Dominica after a nearly 3 day passage from Statia, ready to take in the Nature Island. We've already explored town, shopped for the region's best fruit and veggies at an open air market, and snorkeled Champagne reef, where the island's volcanic activity causes bubbles to form out of the reef.

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We've also got photos posted online at: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjS5ntnm, which will be out photo home for the rest of the voyage... Enjoy!

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