Bonjour to family, friends, envious school mates ;)… It’s
Simone and I’m sad to say it’s been an entire week already on the island, which
means we are nearing the end of our trip. Crazy how fast time flies when you’re
working hard and having fun. First of all, happy Father’s day to all the dads.
I’m sure you’re enjoying the peace and quiet. I hope you all had a great day
back at home!
Today was a great day for us, too. It’s a day where we
really caught up on our much needed rest and really enjoyed the Caribbean
vacation aspect of the trip that seemed to elude us the past week, as we’d been
scouring the Atlantic side in rain and wind and darkness. It was incredibly
refreshing to see the beautiful turquoise green water we don’t get on the East
coast. Safe to say, it was my favorite day so far on this trip.
We started with a 6:45 wake up call from Miss Yen after an
eventful beach patrol. Though no turtles, it seemed some popcorn Dani and Sarah
picked up from the store didn’t quite agree with them, and Miss Yen took some
of us back to the hotel. Sarah’s doing great now, and feels much better. So far
Carly is the only original girl here to make it out unscathed by some form of
sickness. But don’t worry, nothing has been serious.
After breakfast, we made our way to one of the Caribbean
beaches and met up with the “in-water team”. The “in-water team” is a group
from the St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network who go out into the sea and
catch a sea turtle with their bare hands. Turtles are very fast, and are
impressively powerful, so to catch a turtle is a pretty big feat. We waited on
the beach while the team went scouting and we were happy to play on the sand,
rest in the sun, and make some friends with the local kids. After, the team
returned carrying a fairly good sized Hawksbill turtle, who was larger than the
lap of the girl who caught it- it was also her first ever turtle catch- and the
turtle was very pretty. Its shell was what they called “tortoise shell” and
used to make belts, shoes, ect. The team asked what kind of turtle we thought
it was, and immediately I said, “Hawksbill.” They asked, “Why?” My answer was
that, “It isn’t as green as a green sea turtle.” Though that seemed logical,
the answer is actually that Hawksbills are defined because they have a sharp
beaked mouth, just like its namesake bird. The turtle was patient as Dr.
Stewart joined us for the poking, prodding, measuring, and blood drawing. We
all got to touch the turtle, and even some of the locals came to see it, and
get a lesson in turtle protection. The turtle was about only 10 years old, so
fairly young. It can grow up to 200 pounds when fully grown and can only show
sign of their gender when they are 40 years old. It was such an incredible
experience to be able to be so close to an animal that not very many people get
the chance to see.
After, we came back to the hotel for some much needed rest.
It’s funny when you’re in such whirlwind of activity that you don’t notice
you’re tired until you sit in your bed for a minute and this overwhelming
exhaustion comes over you. Carly, Oriana, and I napped for over 2 hours! Once
we were refreshed, we headed to Cockleshell Bay to hit the Caribbean sea!
Everybody had a great time tanning and swimming in the gorgeous water. The
scenery looked like something out of a travel brochure, complete with palm
tree, huts, and a clear view of Nevis in the background. Oriana, Carly, Seth,
Matt, and I bravely tried out the water trampoline and had fun jumping off into
the water. We all goofed off- especially Miss Yen and Mrs. Newman. We took
funny pictures, enjoyed some St. Kitts inside jokes, and ate delicious pizzas
by the beach. We ate at a place called Spice Mill, which was great. They
brought us yummy smoothies for dessert and Oriana and I enjoyed some seaside
(virgin!) Pina Coladas.
It was a pretty low key day in the beautiful sunny
Caribbean, and a great experience with the Hawksbill turtle. We have now seen
all 3 of the sea turtle species that live in St. Kitts. Pretty cool to see
things come full circle. We also ended the day on a great high note- we have
the night off of beach patrol! This means we get to sleep in our beds for more
than 7 hours for the second time we’ve arrived. We’ll be ready and looking
forward to our jungle tour tomorrow morning.
Thanks for checking in on us!
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