The Caine Mutiny and Other Snowbird Pursuits - Florida 2008

I guess it would be appropriate to elaborate on the title I chose for these three previous entries.

As a Sophomore, The Kid has been reading some books that require a little more thought than usual. Herman Wouk, another one of my favorite authors is a great story weaver and this trip to Florida we took 2 Herman Wouk books with us. One The Kid was reading, The Caine Mutiny: A Novel, is a story about an incident that happened during WWII. The Kid, in a conclusion essay, had decided to focus on an interesting character in the story, Captain Queeg, (a YouTube Video) and on the classic question one always asks about this novel, was Queeg's sanity questionable? I had my all time favorite Herman Wouk story with me, Don't Stop the Carnival: A Novel. This is a story about changes in attitudes and changes in latitudes, a theme I am rather fond of.

Rarely do we travel without purpose, and this year our trip to Florida was to kayak, but also to read these great books.

Our Kayak adventures in Southern Florida included a passage across the intracostal waterway to Don Pedro Island. This island is only accessible by boat and worth the effort.

A quite paddle on Red Lake near Caspersen beach. Red Lake is a home to abundant wildlife and if you're not careful, can dump you out into a very busy Florida intercostal waterway!


And after all the reading and paddling, we took time to walk the famous "sharktooth" beach.


Caspersen beach is where you can find sharks teeth on the beach. It used to be that you could find thousands in a walk, now you're lucky to find one. The word is out!

The Caine Mutiny and Other Snowbird Pursuits - The Wakulla Kid

Florida 2008 A friend sent an email with just one link: A Hotel Built of Ice and Snow Just for grins I nibbled and landed on: ICEHOTEL (YouTube video) is situated in the village Jukkasjärvi, 200 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden. The heart and backbone is the River Torne flowing freely through the unspoilt wilderness. Covered with a meter thick ice layer winter time the river is the source of all our art, architecture and design. The pure water and the steady movement of the river creates the clearest ice possible.

I have only been in Sweden twice. Once in Stockholm and that was basically civilized and the other time was in Lulea, in Northern Sweden, about 70 miles from the Arctic circle. That was a party. I went in June when it was daylight all day.

My friend has a warped sense of humor I suppose, especially since I had sent Valentines greetings from the sunny state of Florida...

The Kid and I have been kayaking in Florida, while temperatures in Ohio dipped to the teens and below. One of my good friends moved to Tallahassee and invited us down with the lure of a Manatee sighting in the Wakulla river. The Wakulla is situated near Tallhasse and is an intersting place. There is an awesome lodge that is on the National Register of Historic Places, a spring and a river that are crystal clear and an assortment of wildlife I thought was only reserved for the Everglades.

We launched kayaks in 90 degree weather with the hopes of seeing Manatees and after an hour paddle upriver, saw incredible birds, plantlife and alligators, each one bigger than the last one and no Manatees. Now as gators go, they really don't mess with you much because they'd rather sit in the sun - like us snowbirds, but this big fella was one I'd have tossed a beer as a peace offering if I had had one. Instead I told him if he posed real nice, I'd get him on Hollywood squares(a tale I reserve for really big gators).

Needeless to say The Kid didn't stick around for the photo opportunity.

Windjammer Ships and Pirate Adventures: Anguilla

Day 7: Anguilla February 23, 2007 The Best Beach in the World & The Diver Kid I’ve been so busy reviewing books for our upcoming school year, I forgot to conclude the story of our trip on the S.V. Polynesia. Anguilla has the best beach I have ever seen. There is one stop light on this island and lots of goats. There’s also an Ace Hardware, in the middle of nowhere - no where near the stop light.

Anguilla is a place I’d like to explore more.

Shoal beach is an incredible stretch of land that I hope not too many people ever find. It is the real Caribbean. Desolate to the point that you can still find a patch of pink sand all your own, but populated just enough that you can get a decent cheeseburger if you really wanted one.

We rode on one of the local school buses to get to Shoal Beach, that’s the thing about Windjammer, you really do get to feel like your part of the island culture. We spent several hours strolling the beach, but as luck would have it, we had to find our own way back to the ship as we were leaving the beach earlier than the rest of our shipmates. The Kid was going to try scuba for the first time. The taxi ride back from the beach was an interesting one. We shared the cab with one of the other three beginner scuba students and boy did we have a ball with the cab driver. He was very proud of his island, he said he would take us the best way back to the ship -- and he did. Apparently, Brittany Spears did one of her rehabs on this island and this was a big stop for the cab drivers to show non-locals. Our cab driver was no different. He also showed us many interesting places, that weren’t on paved roads and we eventually ended up in close proximity of the Polynesia.

The Kid had a rare opportunity presented to him earlier in the week. Windjammer had 3 dive masters on this ship, one was the resident dive master and the other two were new to Windjammer and were learning where all the great dive spots were from Tomas, the dive master on the Polynesia. There were three beginner divers. An interesting and rare ratio, so The Kid decided it was time. Floored the heck out of me because this is a kid who doesn’t like to swim, has had every swim lesson under the sun, but won’t swim. But I remembered this was also the kid who snorkeled with Nurse sharks at Hol Chan in Belize (that story for another day), so I signed the consent papers and let him have his adventure. The class was 4 hours, preceded with a safety video. It was an awesome opportunity in an amazing place. The Kid got to do a 20-40 foot dive in some of the clearest water in the Caribbean, an adventure he won’t soon forget. I wrote “He was all smiles when he got back from his dive” in my journal.

Anguilla is another place in the Caribbean that I would like to explore more. I think if I had to settle on a place today where I'd check-out in the Caribbean, Anguilla would be on my short list. Bequia is at the top, followed by Anguilla, then Mayreau. St. Vincent, Guadeloupe, Nevis, Statia, Dominica and several of the Grenadines are also places I’d explore further if I had the time and the sailboat. Our Windjammer adventure ended in St. Marten, where it began. It was a great trip and I would recommend a Windjammer adventure to anyone taking their homeschool on the road. We’ll do it again. And now it’s time to plan our Not-Back-To-School-Trip....we’re thinking the beach in September....

Windjammer Ships and Pirate Adventures: Statia - The Real Caribbean

Day 6: Statia (Saint Eustatius) - February 22, 2007
The Real Caribbean and Crab Number 3

The real Caribbean is one you won't ever see from a cruise ship. The Windjammer fleet is rare and so are the attitudes aboard. Shipmates are just as interested in the real Caribbean as we are and that's what I like about sailing like this. You are on a huge, beautiful antique sailing ship with other sailing nuts going places only sailors - and - pirates know about.

Saint Eustatius, or Statia, as the locals call it, was my favorite place on this trip. It is also what you would call the "real Caribbean".

	So What is the "real" Caribbean? Well, it's awesome people, black beaches, dormant volcanoes, history, hidden beaches all untouched by commercialism. No cruise ships..... The journal entry I wrote in my diary: "Statia is my favorite stop so far. It is what the Caribbean is really like for a traveler. The people are friendly. The buildings are old, historical and tidy. Black beaches and a dormant volcano. Blue beads once could be found on the beaches. The first country to acknowledge the new American flag after the [North] American revolution."
The blue beads of Statia were fun. Many of the locals had them, and the bartenders had the best ones, and the best tales. It was hot in Statia, remember it was February, and we snowbirds were very happy to be there. In the morning, I got to explore by myself, a rare treat. The Kid was interested in the book he was reading...I suppose that's what I get for raising a bookworm...sigh. But it gave me the opportunity to get to know the island on my own. There is a museum on Statia that is filled with very awesome artifacts and documents of the long and colorful history of this island. The day we were on the island, one of the local schools was having a bake sale...good, good, good - if you like coconut. It wasn't until afternoon, and it was well into the 100's that The Kid actually came ashore. Needless to say, I dragged him to the museum, past the bake sale [that was cleaning up to head to the beach] and The Kid got to see the famed blue beads [though later that day, the bartender had better ones than the museum!].
	Though as remote as Statia might seem, it was there I had camera malfunction. Call it bad planning, bad Karma, or an invitation to really discover this island. I have a Nikkon that is far more complicated than I ever imagined and it went "haywire" tha day on Statia. The batteries died. Amazing as it might seem, we found in a small local shop, much like what you might find in Mayberry, batteries and a photographer who knew just what I needed. He also told me how to find the film I needed as well. That was an interesting walk through the "suburbs" to a local superette, run by an old Chinese guy who was happy to see us and very helpful as well....
	The film was very important that day as that was the evening of the famous Windjammer Crab races [no crabs are harmed or treated badly!]. many of the crabs are celebrities on board. We won $16USD on crab #3. You'll just have to go on a Windjammer adventure to find out what that is all about! Next Stop: Anguilla

Windjammer Ships and Pirate Adventures: Nevis

Day 5: Nevis -- February 21, 2007

Imitation is the Best Form of Flattery

	As we saw in St. Barths, with the Mick Jagger imitator, a mirror image of something great is just that, or is it? Nevis, though in the French West Indies, is British, and looked to us anyway - a lot like Dominica. There was a rain forest, few people and the people were incredibly friendly - the ones we met anyway...Like Dominica, it teased us to explore further. It seemed to be a place where nature prevails and commercialism is prohibited. Twenty years ago in St. Maarten a guy named Rainbow gave me a pair of bracelets he made of beads from natural plants on the island. He told me that they would bring me luck. They have. It wasn’t until a medicine walk in Nevis this year that I discovered this is true and what the name of the beads are. The bracelet has brown beads and red beads, both of native plants, the red beads are called Jumbie beads and are used in a tea to calm colic, or just about anything else that ails you.After our morning Medicine walk, a three hour moderate hike up the dromant volcano on Nevis, we relaxed on the deck of the Polynesia all afternoon. Normally we travel with our Teva sandles, but were told that Chaco's were far superior. Well let me tell you, I'll take the Teva's anyday up the side of a volcano! Nevis is an Island I would return to. We didn’t get to spend enough time there and I really liked what I saw. There is a Four Seasons there that looked wonderful along with a few bars and restaurants. It is the kind of place to homeshool for a few weeks in the winter to be sure! The Travelin’ homeschooler and The Kid will return to this place for sure! Next Stop: Statia

Windjammer Ships and Pirate Adventures: St. Maarten

Days 1-3: St. Maarten/St. Martin -- February 16-18, 2007

What can you say about a month out of the cold? We’re good at being snowbirds? How about we went sailing on a big boat, err, ship in the French West Indies?

I think everyone has a little bit of a pirate spirit in them and sailing on a Windjammer ship is a good way to bring that out! One thing Windjammer employees will tell you is that “this ain’t no foo foo ship”...I am guessing it’s a jab at those huge floating cities we see invade tiny Caribbean islands...I’ve never been on a cruiseship....but being barefoot for a week on a beautiful antique ship is such a thrill. It’s also a good way to homeschool. You get culture,geography, history and even math and Science.

Just to start our adventure off early, we flew to St. Maarten 3 days prior to getting on the SV Polynesia. The last time I was in St. Maarten was almost 20 years ago and boy have things changed. The airport is no longer an open air shack on an airstrip (even going to St. Maarten they verify that you have your sun tan lotion squirreled away in 3.5 ounce bottles now).

St. Maarten in it’s heyday, was quite the hot spot, but those spots are gone now taken by hurricanes and better ideas, though some places remain. We stayed out at Cupecoy beach which is known for sandstone beaches and they still are quite beautiful, despite the obvious increase in tourism. There always was a charm to most spots in St. Maarten, the restaurants and inns and Hotels. The beaches still are great, and some are still clothing optional -- as always in places other than the US. The experience of a 14 year old boy and that of a “geezer” on one of these kinds of beaches is remarkably different as I found out. Enough on that topic The Kid says...

We rented a car in St. Maarten because The Kid just didn’t understand why I thought it was one of the more beautiful places I had been. Our plan for that day was to drive around the island and have lunch at Captain Oliver’s, and that’s what we did. With a map that we should have saved as a collectors item, we started out. “How can we get lost on and island?” The Kid wanted to know. “I don’t want to drive by the cool stuff, so pay attention to the map.” My attempt to get a map reading lesson in for the day.

St. Maarten is an island that is ruled by two different nations. One side is French and the other side is Dutch. Both sides are distinctively different and this was also part of the study. Marigot, on the French side is as bustling as ever, but far more cosmopolitan than we were looking for. We drove through Marigot and headed for Anse Marcel, a little off the beaten path and more like the St. Martin I remembered. We also headed to Orient Beach, the one all the cruise ships go to for the “beach au natural”, as the Kid read Our French lesson for the day. The beach was crowded, so we headed for Oyster Pond and Captain Oliver’s. This place was as good as ever and is still right out of a Buffett song.

Front Street in Philipsburg is quite different from 20 years ago. I think there are more diamonds and emeralds on this Island than anywhere else. It was also on Front Street three days later that we met up with sailing mates from our Mandalay trip Judy, Palmer, Nell, Claude, Shary & Chris...

Next Stop: St. Barts

It's Good to Be Sunburnt and Greek

One of the really wonderful things about homeschooling and travel is that you get all that great socialization, especially if you are willing to participate in local cultural events.

We went to the Greek Festival in Sarasota, Florida over the weekend. More precisely it was called the Greek Glendi - A Greek Festival hosted by St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church. According to the program brochure we received, they were celebrating the music of Greece, which fits perfectly with our recent music studies.

There was a lot of music and dancing, with explanations of many of the dances.The St. Barbara Hellenic Dancers were in colorful costumes that showed authentic Greek history and culture. Every Greek costume is an interesting combination of garment and accessories that is characteristic of a group of people who live in a particular region of Greece. According to the narrator at the festival, there are songs for washing sowing, harvesting - there are love songs, lullabies and laments.

The Greek Orthodox Church evolved in the era of the Great Byzantine Empire, for those of you not up on the middle ages. Byzantine chanting is where a lot of the songs we heard came from. These songs were full of melody and harmony. The folk music of Greece claims a history that is long and checkered and worthy of every homeschoolers attention. Popular music commonly known as Bouzouki music possesses unique characteristics that existed in parts of Greece, yesterday and today. The emotions of the Greek people show through in the dances and and in the music we saw and heard. Greek architecture is a study in itself. Some say the Greeks invented architecture. Anybody who saw the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" understands that sort of enthusiasm for anything Greek. But most Greek Orthodox Churches I have seen so far in our travels are pretty interesting structures and this building in Sarasota is no different. A beautiful dome amidst Palms and Banyon trees adorned with Spanish Moss. If you're interested, you can go inside these churches and see many beautiful icons, lots of candles and gold ornamentation. Though the music and the architecture are part of the "study" of local culture, at a Greek festival, in our book, the food is always the attraction. Greek pastries and food are the best "fast food" you can get in my opinion. There's nothing better than a Gyro and Baklava and a stroll through the other food and crafts booths. Church festivals always seem to guarantee that homemade touch and the little old Greek Florida ladies were out in force at this one for sure....though none of them had key lime pies on hand...
At the Greek Market
Greek Jewelry	Greek Shaws

I'm Pretty Sure It's Not Poison Ivy - The Whole Story

We often take our schooling on the road. Last February we went to Cabbage Key, Florida to study Botany and Conservation. We're thinking about a return engagement, this time we'l take the kayaks.

My journal from that week...
I'm Pretty Sure It's Not Poison Ivy
Cabbage Key, Florida - February 2005

Does This Kayak Make Me Look Fat?

Ask your 13 year old that question sometime. When you camp you tend to eat bad food, really bad food. Even in Canada. The fact that people are speaking French all around you doesn’t change that either. It is very difficult to make any kind of sauce over a camp fire - at least this chef hasn’t learned that trick yet. So after days of sausages and granola, one tends to worry about the waistline. We have a guinea pig that gets fat eating lettuce and timothy hay, so I thought the concern over sausage and goodies from HENRIETTA'S PINE BAKERY (Dwight, ON) was legitimate.

Back in August at this very web log I recorded our top 10 paddler tips from our trip to Canada. Since then I've lost those pounds that I worried about. They probably weren't there in the first place but as a person who used to run 5 miles and butterfly the aquatic part of triathlons, I know better than to load up on junk. It was also one of the last times I fretted over such nonsense.

Last night we went to listen to Mikhail Gorbachev speak at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. It was a weighty talk, while we’re on that topic. He described how disappointed he was in globalization and described that the world today needs a little perestroika. I agree. Some of us try to introduce the concept of new thinking for the new world to our kids. As homeschoolers, we’ve already demonstrated the concept of thinking outside the box - or new thinking for the new world - by not accepting mediocre schooling for our kids. But that’s as political as I’ll get here. There are other ways to introduce new thinking. How about taking your kid kayaking just when the leaves are changing colors in a place so rugged it’s just you and God and Elmer Fudd?

We went to Grayson Lake in Northeastern Kentucky two weekends ago. We wanted to go one last cool place before we put the kayaks away for the winter and this was the place we chose. Little did we know it was hunting season. Posted at the very spot we wanted to launch our boats was a sign that said “WARNING: Stay away from Clifty Creek South shore, across from the boat launch area between September 1 and October 1. Dove hunting in progress.” As it was October 8, we launched our boats and I introduced Daffy Duck’s Hunter song, you know the one: “hunters to the left of me, hunters to the right of me, bang, bang, bang.” Made for an interesting paddle for my student. I suppose I could have told him about the movie "Deliverance" and hummed that tune instead, but I was trying to think outside the box.

We sometimes “car-camp” because it adds variety to our travel. Lately we have been camping a lot because we like taking the kayaks with us. The kayaks permit us to explore places you would never otherwise see in some of these places. In some campgrounds we are just amazed at what we see. The campground at Grayson Lake was very interesting needless to say, especially as it was hunting season. Now I always thought hunters were the hearty types, but that shows how inside the box I was thinking. Hunters these days camp in luxury yachts, or “Hilton on Wheels” as my student describes it. Our entire camping experience is set up in under 10 minutes, including the tent and the campfire. And as we sat cooking our hot-dogs over an open fire, we watched these rugged hunters unfurl their awnings and put up their confederate flags, haul out the Barco loungers and set up the satellite dishes for the two day weekend. While all the activity was progressing, we were entertained by a simple example of homeschooler-out-of-the-box thinking. A small boy stopped by our campsite while he was waiting for his parents to set up their camp site. We offered him a hot-dog and between bites in the best Kentucky accent I have ever heard, he asked us if our RV was broken down. My student asked him why he thought that and he replied that “ain’t no one he ever knew that slept in a tent that little” My student replied “Kind of hard to stow an RV in a kayak”.


The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil. It is not for you to choose what he shall know, what he shall do. It is chosen and foreordained and he only holds the key to his own secret.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Log Book: Cabbage Key, Florida USA

Cabbage Key, Florida - February 2005 I'm Pretty Sure It's Not Poison Ivy

DAY 1 & 2
The whole point of Cabbage Key was to study Botany and do nothing. That’s what we did for seven days. Cabbage Key is directly across from marker 60 on the Florida Intercoastal Waterway. That’s due west form Pine Island, Florida, USA. . Sanibel and Captiva islands are 8 miles to the south. The high point of this morning so far was watching Chip the dockmaster at Cabbage Key replace the Channel Mark signs stolen away by hurricane Charley. This high point however was soon replaced by our sighting a lone dolphin scoot by the dock.

We debated if reading "A Farewell to Arms" by Ernest Hemingway is considered doing nothing. But we decided reading was an activity, especially when it’s Hemingway, so we went back to watching the dolphins and the Osprey. My student was learning that it was very difficult to do nothing.

Our “school days” on Cabbage key begin on our dock reading. Along with studying Botany, we’re finishing "A Farewell to Arms" and “Sophie’s World” by Jostein Gaarder. When you travel to an Island that you can only get to by boat you choose your school materials carefully. We thought Botany, Philosophy and Hemingway made an interesting accompaniment to learning the art of doing nothing.


DAY 3
At Cabbage Key we leased the Tarpon Research station. The original buildings on Cabbage Key were built in 1929, by Alan Rinehart and Grace Houghton Rinehart as their winter estate. The Rineharts financed the research lab in 1940. It’s a rustic place and a good place to study Botany. Even though it was clear the effect of hurricane Charley remained, the island was managing to recover. Our study of Botany involves photographing and identifying 40 vascular and 5 non-vascular plants. Cabbage Key is a great place to do just that. So was a neighboring island Cayo Costa.

DAY 4
Cayo Costa is a Florida State park where you can find and abundance of wild life and plant life. We saw osprey, sharks and sea urchins. We also photographed many different plant species. Cayo Costa is another island you can only access by boat but it is well worth the effort. There are secret lagoons, miles of unspoiled beach and acres of wild Florida. This place allows you to imagine what Native Floridians lived like. You can camp at Cayo Costa and there are primitive cabins you can rent, but we chose to stay at cabbage Key.

DAY 5
There are some very good nature trails at Cabbage Key, there is also something very good at the restaurant here. Magically, between the hours of 11 & 2 PM hoards of boats bringing people for lunch ascend on this island. We ate dinner up at the main building but then there is no parade for dinner, so one of these days we’ll meander over there at lunch, but today we’re content watching the boats come and in enjoying our studies on the dock.

They say Jimmy Buffett wrote his song “Cheeseburger in Paradise” at Cabbage Key. There’s a nice photo of him in the bar here. In fact the the bar and the entire main building walls are lines with dollar bills stapled and taped up. There are thousands of them and Mr. Buffet's is framed along with his photo. Today is the day we’re going to go for Cheeseburgers. In fact, that’s the big plan for today, but we’ll see. It is cloudy today, so we don’t expect the parade of boats. At dawn there was a parade of birds at our boatdock however. It might indicate the front they predicted is really going to arrive. Each day I watch the osprey dive for fish at around 4 PM. Today is the first day they’ve been at it this early.

Taking the learning on the road is one of the great things about homeschooing. It can be done rather inexpensively if you choose do it that way, or you can spend a royal fortune; fun, but not really necessary. There isn‘t a tuition paid anywhere that can bring your student what they can learn traveling. We generally travel to a place for a specific reason. In the case of Cabbage Key we wanted to study plants. We took the books: Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification by Thomas J. Elpel, Guide to the Vascular Plants of Florida by Richard P. Wunderlin, Bruce Hansen, Bruce F. Hansen, Florida Wild Flowers and Roadside Plants by Ritchie C. Bell, Bryan J. Taylor and several rolls of film to photograph plant life so we could assemble a presentation of our study and identify the plants later at home. We always come away from a place with more experience and knowledge than we expect. For example, on this trip my student learned how to navigate a small water craft through oyster beds and mangrove keys.

My student also learned how to “almost catch” a fish as big as himself - or so it looked. Fishing is a big deal here. Many people have large fishing poles on their boats and we can see boats sitting for hours in shallow water fishing. I always imagine what it is like for the fish. It would be like if my cup of coffee here was the bait and when I drank it I would be ripped out of this chair from the face of existence as I know it. Wow.

DAY 6
Today I am going to have another cheeseburger. The main activity yesterday was to find out what the attraction was at the main building at lunchtime, and now I know, it was the burgers. Boy were they good. The other big thing scheduled for today is to talk to the captain who will be taking us back to the mainland. The big decision is to go on Saturday morning or on Sunday morning. The front they predicted arrived, there’s no rain but there are tremendous winds. The temperature dropped from the high 70’s to the mid 50’s, so it’s difficult to do nothing on the dock today. Even a hike on the island’s trails would be difficult because the sand is blowing. We met a man yesterday on the dock that was going camping at Cayo Costa. I thought about him this morning as I made my coffee in semi warmth. He didn’t have a sleeping bag, so I imagine he was pretty chilly. Today is also the first day I had trouble getting my student to do his reading. I suppose everyone who chooses to home school hits difficult days. I think back to the days when I was in a classroom and remember how I longed to be anywhere else but in that classroom and I look at my student being stubborn about reading this morning in this beautiful place. I wonder how many other homeschooling moms play with the idea of sending their students to a school just so they understand how the many of their peers are being educated.

Log Book: West Indies, Caribbean

West Indies, Caribbean 2004

A Little Bit About Irie
How do you describe the Caribbean to someone who hasn't experienced it? That's what I tried to do with my student. You can't describe it - well not really. The pictures you'll see on these pages will not color the sea the right shades of blue, will not allow you to feel the salt air, will not allow you to know the culture of the Caribbean. You'll have to go there to enjoy that! These web pages are intended to introduce you to 12 beautiful islands in the Caribbean. The photographs on these pages will allow you to preview some of the sites and people you'll find in the West Indies. These pages will also introduce you to some of the "pirates" you may find there sailing on Windjammer ships.

Taking your homeschool on the road is always an experience. Many people have heard of homeschooling but still ask a lot of questions anyway. Once they find out they are in the middle of your "classroom", they share a wealth of information with your student - especially if he is willing to ask questions.

We sailed for 13 days on the S/V Mandalay, one of the prettiest ships I have ever seen. We met some of the most interesting people on this trip, and the best part was that these interesting people were also great pirates! So in part this web site is for them, but it is also our class review of the 13 days we spent in the Caribbean.

Ship Facts: Mandalay

They say the Mandalay is the queen of the Windjammer fleet. Here's why. It is a 236 foot Barquentine commissioned by E.F. Hutton in 1923.

A Barquentine is a vessel with at least three masts, all of them fore-and-aft rigged, except for the foremost one, which is square rigged. Three-masted barquentines were very common in the Baltic and the North Sea, and three- and four-masted barquentines also sailed on deep-water trades. A number of five-masted barquentines were built, and even some six-masted ones in America. It can be argued that the barquentine belongs to the family of schooners; indeed, in Scandinavian languages the barquentine is referred to as a "schooner ship".

E.F. Hutton sold this beautiful ship in the 1930's because his wife didn't like the size of it and he built a sister ship called the "Sea Cloud", which we saw in Antigua. What's not to like about the Mandalay?

It has a crew of 30, it has 72 berths and a Draft of 15 ft. It's the kind of ship you only see in the movies, but I got to sail on it to some really neat remote Islands.

Grenada
From Grenada's first sighting by Christopher Columbus in 1498 all the way up to 1650 when French settlement began the indigenous Caribs greatly resisted European settlement on Grenada.

For me Grenada was the perfect "intro" to the sights, smells, sounds and the people of the Caribbean. We had a cab driver nicknamed "One Time" he pointed out all different kinds of plants like Cocoa, Nutmeg and this one plant with flowers that had 37 different colors on them! He also showed us the Dasheen plant that Callaloo is made of. He took us to Concord falls and Dougaldston Spice Estate. At the spice estate we saw drying Cocoa Beans, Cinnamon bark and Nutmeg pods. Then we went to Concord falls for a swim and after that we went back to the ship.


Carriacou - "Land of Many Reefs"

The island of Carriacou has awesome beaches and a pace of life that can only be described as slow motion. There are about 12,000 residents on Carriacou, and half of them are goats! Carriacou has great views of the neighboring Grenadines and a couple of near shore islets of its own that can be visited for picnicking and snorkeling like Sandy Island.

When we were in Carriacou we took the island tour we saw hand made boats, sugar mills and the Carriacou museum that had Carib Indian artifacts. It also housed the artwork of Canute Caliste. His style is "folk art" and feature Island people and local scenery. One of his paintings hangs in the White house. We also learned that there's no local lakes or rivers and that people have to catch the rainwater in their own cisterns to have water for their family and gardens. Carriacou once had sugar cane plantations, but they are now farming fields with a variety of plants for food. One of the sugar cane plantations now hosts a Jazz festival every year. The other beautiful tree that grows here is the Mahogany tree which furniture is made from.

I also learned about more that 100 rum shops in less than 3 sq miles. These rum shops will sell different rums as well as Jack Iron rum. Jack Iron rum I learned can be used as lighter fluid as I learned from Tuck! Tuck also told me that Jack Iron rum is made in Trinidad and sold throughout the Caribbean. It's the same stuff that Windjammer buys, in Trinidad, for Swizzles. On the Mandalay, they keep the Jack Iron rum on deck in huge barrels. Tuck has a great collection of information about rum if you want to learn more: "Rums of the Caribbean" - about halfway down the page.

After the tour we spent the rest of the day goofing off and snorkeling at Sandy Island (it's really a Sand Spit island!)

Union Island
Tour Book description of St. Vincent and Grenadines: A multi-island nation well known to wintering yachties, aristocrats and rock stars but off the beaten path for most other visitors. St Vincent is a refreshingly rugged and raw-edged backwater, while the 30 islands and cays that comprise the Grenadines are among the most popular cruising grounds in the Caribbean. The Grenadines reach like stepping stones between St Vincent and Grenada and are surrounded by coral reefs and clear blue waters ideal for diving, snorkeling and boating. Fewer than a dozen are inhabited, and even these are lightly populated and barely developed. Although some of the Grenadines, like Mustique and Palm Island, cater to the rich and famous, others, like Bequia and Union Island, attract an international crew of sea salts and beachcombers and offer decent places to stay and eat.

Union Island was a beach day for us. We walked along the beach and snorkeled a little bit (that's where we saw the flying fish but my web picture is from a book called "Coral Reefs of the Caribbean, The Bahamas and Florida" by Alfonso Silva Lee and Roger E. Dooley I bought in Bequia). It was a rainy day so we basically hung out. My friend Spice and I took on a crab with an attitude. While we were skipping rocks, he came out of the ocean with his pinchers armed! He was not happy that we had invaded his beach! He chased us, then we chased him and we tried to fool him, but he was a smart crab! He eventually retreated to the ocean, quite proud that he had kept his beach free from humans.

I also learned about knot tying along the way. In Bequia, I bought a book called" Knots and Splices" by Cyrus L. Day and I practiced tying knots. Between, Duane, the First Mate, Kevin one of the deckhands and Captain Matt, I learned quite a few really useful knots. If you are interested in seamanship and knots, Tuck sent me some really good links: Boy's Manual Of Seamanship And Gunnery & BOY'S MANUAL OF SEAMANSHIP AND GUNNERY: SECOND I NSTRUCTION SECOND INSTRUCTION

Mayreau

On Mayreau we hiked to the top of the island and visited the only school on the island where we watched Crystal, the Activities Mate from the Mandalay, play hopscotch with the kids. The School on Mayreau is Mandalay's adopted school. They bring school supplies donated by Windjammer and passengers and other items to the school. We sent some school supplies to the school too.

We also encountered some high school students who were aboard the sailing vessel Spirit of Massachusetts while we were at the school on Mayreau. The Spirit of Massachusetts is a ship used by Outward Bound Hurricane Island School where high school age students can test their mettle sailing in the Caribbean for 90 days. The ship itself is similar to sailing ships that came to the Americas and West Indies in the 1700 & 1800s.

After our stop at the school of Mayreau, we hiked to the other side of the island to Saltwhistle Bay and got something to drink. We saw the cemetry on Mayreau on our hike to Salt Whistle Bay. People live a long time it seems here on Mayreau. Tuck sent me some really good photos of the cemetary and he said I could post them here.

After some pineapple juice and feeling rather lazy we took a water taxi back around the island to where the Mandalay was anchored. For lunch we had a picnic on the beach. The crew went to a lot of trouble to make this picnic happen. They hauled food and grills and tables from the ship to the beach. They were really hard workers. After lunch we went sea kayaking. We got sunburned!

Some things I learned about Mayreau was that it had just gotten electricity within the last two years and that it was a private island owned by the Eustace family until 1915. Eventually it became part of St. Vincent but is still governed by Eustace family heirs. It's a really good place to just get away from it all!!

Tobago Cays

We got into Tobago Cays early in the morning and went ashore before it got crowded. We hiked around a bit and found the fisherman's conch shell depository and found some really cool shells. Then we went to the other side of the island and hiked up to the top of the island and we could see really far! Around eleven o'clock the private yachts started to come in and destroy the calm and peace of the island. Before going back to the ship we walked the beach which was becoming more and more crowed. We saw coral fragments lying on the beach that I decided were broken off by all the boats coming in and not caring about destroying this beautiful place. I think it's good that countries are reserving more and more land for national parks.

Bequia

We got in to Bequia around dinner-time. Earlier that morning I stumped captain Matt with the question "does Mac's pizza deliver to the ship?" I had the whole ship rocking in laughter but it was a honest question! Apparently they didn't so we went ashore to enjoy some of the best darn pizza on Bequia at Mac's. Right as the pizza was set in front of me Clunk! I fell asleep right in my pizza. We boxed up the best darn pizza with the imprint of my face on it and headed back to the ship. The next morning it was kind of raining but we went to model boat builder shops and to a street festival. After that we went back to the ship for lunch and to get ready for our trip to Moonhole on the southern point of the island.

The trip to Moonhole wasn't a paved road. Most of the way we were bouncing around and watching out for chickens on the road. When we got there it started to rain again but we still had fun. Moonhole is a private house made entirely of rock and into the hillside. But Moonhole is also a sea side arch that during some parts of the year the moon can be seen through it.The original house was right under the arch but a rock fell from the bottom of the arch and fell through the house so they moved up the hill 100 or so feet. You can see the ocean 360 degrees around you. Frigate birds hover around you and the ocean breeze hits you in the face and you know this is bliss. We stopped at the open kitchen and the adults had rum punch and I had fresh limeade. I go to feed the giant turtles who lived there. Our time finally came to an end like all good things do but when I left there I had a new definition of bliss.

St. Vincent

We got into St. Vincent early in the morning after we dropped anchor we had breakfast. The sail to St. Vincent was a rough all night sail. Captain Matt did a great job despite a blown out foresail. The speedboats came to take us to Baleine falls just after breakfast. It was a hour long boat ride. We stopped at some pretty good places. One stop was at a "bat cave" which was a cave that has some interesting formations. Another one of our stops was at the Pirates of the Caribbean set. That was a great movie!

"The biggest DVD in film history was shot in St.Vincent and the Grenadines.The Ministry of Tourism and Culture of St.Vincent and the Grenadines played host to Disney Films in 2002/2003 for the filming of the box office smash PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN. The movie set was built locally at the Ottley Hall Marina and Shipyard and at Wallilabou on the Leeward side of the island.More than half the film was actually shot in SVG".


Along the way was also saw LaSoufriere, St. Vincent's active volcano.

The waves near the stop for Baleine falls were pretty intense, some of the people on our boat though they were maybe 10 foot waves. It made for an interesting landing. After we landed we hiked up to the falls. It wasn't a paved trail, it was a real jungle hike. We waded though deep pools and streams to get to the actual falls. When we got to the falls, we went swimming and a couple of people in my opinon, who were half crazy, climbed half way up the falls and jumped into the pool below.

After the falls we went to where the actors stayed during the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean at Wallilobou Bay. We had a really good West Indian Lunch. After lunch our speed boat captain took us to a black beach for a swim. The landing was in really deep water and the sand really was black! I brought back a bag of black sand that Tim scooped up for me. The beach was really pretty. It was bordered by Sea Almond Trees that were just starting to bloom pink. After our swim and on our way back to the Mandalay, we were treated to a siting of rare Osprey. (Birds in St. Vincent)

The Osprey, a bird of prey is related to the Hawk and the New World vulture, it is found near water in most parts of the world. American Osprey, or fish hawk, has white underparts and a wingspan of 5 to 6 ft.. It feeds and solely exclusively on all live fish and is usually seen hovering over the water, into which it plunges feet first to grasp its prey.

After our day long adventure to Baleine falls we went back to the ship. Dinner and bed felt really good!

St. Lucia

When we got into Castries bay in the morning, there was a slight drizzle of rain but even still Captain Matt still moved Mandalay up to the dock perfectly. Since Castries had dock that the Mandalay could pull straight up to, we took on fresh water. While Mandalay was busy with that we went on an 4x4 jeep tour through a banana plantation and a water fall. It might have been drizzling but we still had a great time! While we where on the jeep tour the Mandalay sailed out of Castries to Rodney Bay and at about one o'clock we meet them there and had a late lunch. then the rest of the day we spent messing around in the Rodney bay area.

Martinique

Martinique is a small Island in the Caribbean : about 1100 km2, its largest side is 40km and its longest side is 80 km ! It is part of the French West Indies (FWI) with Saint Martin and La Guadeloupe. There are 32 "towns", but the main city is Fort de France, on the east side of the island.

The highest point is at 1397 m (the Pelée Mountain), in the north. About 390, 000 people live in the Island. The main language is French (and creole which is the local language), but they understand very well English.

Our day in Martinique was a "town day" we just goofed around town looked in shops. We saw the Martinique library it was very neat inside. There were a lot of old books high up on shelves. I imagined them to be the old leather kind, because we couldn't really pick them up to look. They probably were written in French. I am learning French and my mom reads some French, mostly technical stuff - and food and cookbooks! We think we can get by in French towns!!!

We also saw the Cathedral of St. Louis. It was huge. It was lit by candles and there was singing. It was a peaceful place, more stately than the church we saw on Mayreau, but equal in tranquility.

Our day wasn't with out a mission we had to get French wine for the French wine and Cheese party on the Mandalay. My mom said that the interesting part about that was that when she looked at the selections made by the other passengers, there really weren't many duplicates. That can say that Martinique really had a lot of wine, or each person on the Mandalay was really that unique!!! Mom also bought some Art, Pastis, Chicory and Oh yeah, French Pringles.

Pastis - anise-flavored liqueurs (liqueurs d'anis): This is a category of liqueurs that are flavored with either anise, star anise, or licorice. Examples include anisette and pastis from France, ouzo and mistra from Greece, anesone and sambuca from Italy, anis and ojen from Spain, and kasra from Libya. This is a licorice-flavored liqueur that the French like to serve with water. It's higher in alcohol than anis or anisette.

Beignets and Cafe au Lait (from Emeril) - Cafe au lait is brewed coffee, preferably dark French roast with chicory, with half scalded -- NOT steamed -- milk, poured together from two pots: 6 rounded tablespoons dark roast New Orleans coffee with chicory (Community, French Market, CDM, Union, etc.), 6 cups water, 6 cups milk

Dominica
Dominica was the last of the Caribbean islands to be colonized by Europeans, due chiefly to the fierce resistance of the native Caribs. France ceded possession to Great Britain in 1763, which made the island a colony in 1805. In 1980, two years after independence, Dominica's fortunes improved when a corrupt and tyrannical administration was replaced by that of Mary Eugenia CHARLES, the first female prime minister in the Caribbean, who remained in office for 15 years.

Economy - overview: The economy depends on agriculture and is highly vulnerable to climatic conditions, notably tropical storms. Agriculture, primarily bananas, accounts for 21% of GDP and employs 40% of the labor force. Development of the tourist industry remains difficult because of the rugged coastline, lack of beaches, and the lack of an international airport. Hurricane Luis devastated the country's banana crop in September 1995; tropical storms had wiped out one-quarter of the crop in 1994 as well. The subsequent recovery has been fueled by increases in construction, soap production, and tourist arrivals. The government is attempting to develop an offshore financial industry in order to diversify the island's production base.

We decided to go on a whale watch, but there was another hike you could take to boiling lake. It was an 8 mile strenuous hike, so we'll save that for next time!. I found this link at Google about the boiling lake. It has pictures and stories: http://www.avirtualdominica.com/thelake.htm

Our morning in Dominica started with a bus ride to town where we spent hal the day the shops were interesting. That afternoon was awesome. We went on a whale watching trip on the way out to the whale migration route we saw 300 to 500 dolphins swimming around our boat we only saw two sperm whales but they and the dolphins made the day one of the best on the trip in my opinion.

Iles de Saints

Guadeloupe is an archipelago of nine inhabited islands, including Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Desirade, Iles des Saintes (2), Saint-Barthelemy, Iles de la Petite Terre, and Saint-Martin (French part of the island of Saint Martin)

Iles de Saints was another French island so of course it had a fort only this one was at the highest point on the island. It was a steep hike and about half way up people started to hitch hike. But our little group (mom, Diane, Tim, Tuck, and me) hiked all the way up. The fort is now a museum so we looked around for about an hour then we went back to town. We got some excellent ice cream then we went shopping. We looked at what felt like every shop on the island then we went back to the ship to goof around. Later that day as we left I went on the widows net off the bowsprit.

Antigua

Antigua was our last island (bummer) so we took the island tour. We saw English Harbor and Nelson's dockyard. In English Harbor we had a tour of the harbor we saw the sail mending loft, the officers' quarters, and the barracks. Today the harbor is home to hundreds of locals boats although the old buildings aren't being used as they once were. The officers' quarters is a museum of the harbor over the years. The barracks, which are now roofless due to a fire years ago, are now a bar and picnic tables. The day was very warm and calm but I sad because I knew it was the last day of being around the wonderful people on the ship and that we would have to say goodbye.

We also saw the Sea Cloud the Mandalay's sister ship. The Mandalay in my opinion looks far superior with her wood decks and her charm.

Antigua was the perfect wrap up for a perfect trip and I can't wait to go on the Mandalay again!