SEAmester Student Diaries
"diaries sent from sea"

March 28, 2008

Mary Duryea
UMass Dartmouth

A lot has happened since our last entry from Antigua. We are today at the half-way point of our journey and have had many great adventures thus far, and are anticipating more to come.

On our last day in Antigua we had a geology field trip to the Pillars of Hercules. We each took on the roles of oceanographers, petrologists and geomorphologists and worked together to solve the mystery of how this unique geologic formation formed. From there we hiked up to Shirley Heights for a cookout with a steel band playing to watch the sunset over English Harbour. It was a fun and beautiful way to end our time in Antigua.

During the sail to Dominica the wind was finally on our beam and the sailing was much smoother and faster than it had been en route to Antigua. After anchoring we took the public bus to Scotts Head for a field trip to study the tropical rocky intertidal zone, followed by snorkeling at Champagne Reef, so named for the volcanic bubbles rising up among the corals and fish. Our second day in Dominica was spent in the capital city Roseau where we explored the public market, the botanic garden and had a group meal at a Rastafarian restaurant. The next day we woke up early and met our guide, SeaCat, who led us on a hike to Dominica's famous Boiling Lake. We hiked through rainforests, clouds, and a volcanic caldera finally arriving at the Boiling Lake, making the arduous hike worthwhile. Back at the bottom we jumped into a gorge and swam against the current up to a waterfall. We ended our day in a scenic bar with peanut or passionfruit rum punches. Our final day in Dominica professor Hamilton took Barron and Bailey scuba diving then we got underway for Trinidad.

After two days of enjoyable sailing we arrived in Trinidad. Our visit there was very different from the other islands we've visited so far. On St. Patrick's Day we visited the panyard of the Invaders Steel Pan Orchestra practicing for an upcoming competition. The next day we took an informational scavenger hunt in Port of Spain and ate amazing street food like doubles. That night we went to the movies for a nice air conditioned break. Our last day in Trinidad we took a trip to the beaches of Blanchisseuse. It was a nice and much needed change of pace. We swam, surfed, and snorkeled leaving just as the sun went in and the rain began. That afternoon we took a boat tour through the mangroves of the Caroni Bird Sanctuary to see the hundreds of scarlet ibises fly in to roost for the night.

We set sail for the small island of Chacachacare in between Trinidad and Venezuela which was a leper colony until abandoned in the 1980s. We explored all the buildings that had been deserted leaving much of what they owned behind. We ended our day with a cookout on the island. The next morning we returned to Trinidad for water and fuel then set sail once again.

Our sail to the Dominican Republic took less than four days. We celebrated Easter Sunday at sea by dressing in our best for a delicious ham dinner and hunting for Easter eggs aboard the Spirit of Massachusetts. When we arrived in Santo Domingo we tied up to a dock just beneath the former home of Diego Colon, Christopher Columbus's brother. After cleaning the boat from top to bottom, we showered under a freshwater hose and went ashore for history class and to explore the city. We plan to stay in Santo Domingo for four days before our long passage to Georgia. We are all looking forward to exploring more of the Dominican Republic.