Sculpture Reef

So, we got to snorkel here today....not a bad day at school!

http://www.underwatersculpture.com/
 

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Prickly Bay, Grenada

     Though the passage from Carriacou to Grenada is short, we utilized our sea time with tacking drills, and had a fantastic dinner of Beef Stroganov with Lizzie's homemade molasses cookies as dessert. We sailed through the night staying just off the island, weathered morning squalls, and arrived in a very sunny harbor this morning. We are looking forward to weekend exploration of Grenada and then some hard work on the cocoa plantation Monday. Oh, and some laundry...

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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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