Journal: April 2, 2006
Underway to Montserrat

Just another beautiful day in the Caribbean here aboard the Spirit of Massachusetts. Bioluminescent water is quickly becoming to best part of bow watch (if its not daylight and you can’t count seaweed for fun, that is.). Last night I watched dolphins playing in the bow wake, glowing an awkward green color as they raced in and out of the waves, exploding here and there with little fireworks of emerald lights. It’s amazing the little beautiful things you see out here that keep you going.

The sunrises and sunsets have, so far, not been up to par. Clouds often hide them, and all we get are teasers or red cloud tendrils sticking out into otherwise grey skies. Unfortunately, we’ve had a bit of a low pressure system around us lately (for those of you who watch the weather channel, you know low pressure often brings bad weather.) Despite these disappointing displays, the sky is still a great source of amusement here, what with the stars and clouds.

Being underway is an arduous process. Between night watches, dog watches, and regular watches, there is not a whole lot of sleep involved. Basically, if I’m not on deck hauling jib sheets or halyards, I’m fast asleep with my battery fan whirring away at my bunk side. Occasionally, I manage to summon enough energy to eat a good meal or two, but for the most part, sleep is my life.

Besides all the hard work, it’s still beautiful out here. The water makes little lapping noises punctuated by spray, and islands come and go on the horizon like passing ships. Usually it feels like we are the ones standing still while the ocean passes us by, apart from the awful rolling motion that makes eating such a chore, it feels like there is no forward movement at all. Still, I know we are making good time, and in two days we’ll hit Montserrat. I look forward to it.

Amelia Robertson

Journal:  April 3, 2006

At sea crossing the Saba Bank en route to Montserrat

Jamilyah had written an excellent journal entry on the computer for today and somehow, in the midst of transferring files, I lost it. So, here is an account to replace her entry. You will hear from her in a couple of days.

We have had uncharacteristic wind this year, both in strength and direction. We would expect and hope the tradewinds to give us consistent breeze from the northeast but we have had days of very light breeze and much of the wind that we have gotten has been from the Southeast. Thus, our voyage track to Montserrat has taken us north and east to Nevis before we turned southwest to reach Montserrat.

And what of our newest group of Tall Ship Semester for Girls students? They are making progress in their knowledge of the workings of the ship and their ability to support each other through each of the tasks. I am standing watch with B watch and I see Ryan pressing her mate and deckhand for more information as they explain each new concept. Jane has mastered her knots and quickly ties off buckets to dunk overboard for water. Ife called the striking of the jib as we came into Montserrat and the smile that she had on her face upon completion brightened the whole deck. Blanca, our alum on board, is standing on B watch too, and the skill level she demonstrates is impressive.

I see the others working as I go about my day. Jamiylah started the trip seasickness but she has turned into an energetic, supportive crew member. I would wager that Mercedes will be the first to get checked off on the next expectation list because it will give her clearance to go aloft with a crew member. Angel is washing her clothes in buckets of salt water on the foredeck. Mesha’s is patiently waiting for us to catch our first edible fish on the hand line that trails behind the boat all day. Mia has kept her Alaskan identity with her dislike for warm weather and her ubiquitous cowgirl hat (which graces her head in the majority of photos you will see of her). Despite recovering from illness, Melanie has learned her lines and is becoming used to the rocking of the boat in the foc’sle. Christine is in the bunk below me – she is constantly neatening her already organized bunk. And finally there is Christina, an anchor in her watch who keeps the mood light with her jokes and laughter.

In the Navigation report during the 1400 class, we realized that we have traveled over 500 nautical miles thus far and have over 2,000 more to go. This crew is shaping up and I look forward to their continued efforts and exploits.

Nettie Kelly

Journal: April 4th, 2006

Montserrat

Our fourth day underway towards Montserrat! Mia and I have done so much research about the country’s politics, geography, and culture and it will be so great to actually see the country for ourselves. I had the 2000 to 0000 watch last night which means that I got the much needed 7 hour sleep. Since the 2000 0000 is so early in the evening, it meant that I would be right back on when I woke up.

I woke up to Jane telling me that there were 5 minutes until breakfast. I ate a huge bowl of cheerios with some cartoned warm sweet milk. I love cartoned milk. It tastes so warm and creamy to my tongue. The milk we drink here reminds me of the milk that they gave us in the Dominican Republic last summer. So many things remind me of home, or experiences that I have shared with people back in the city. It makes me sad to think of everything that I left behind, but then I think about the adventure that I have embarked upon and I know that there is no way I could have done this had I not left some things behind.

After breakfast, we began the never ending cycle of washing dishes, cleaning the galley, and sweeping the soles. After all the dishes and cleaning was done, we started hauling up buckets to clean the deck. We scrubbed and scrubbed until the remnants of yesterday’s dinner was completely off the deck floor. After all the chores were done, we did some navigating and steering of the helm, which always gets me very stressed out trying to steer on course and not sending the ship into an emergency tack.

At 1000, we sat down for history class. Since we were so close to Montserrat, Mia and I presented some facts about Montserrat and discussed the volcano that hit in 1995 that devastated the whole island. We also went over interview questions and which methods of interviewing would get us the best stories. After class, C Watch went back on duty and started the navigation report of the day. We figured that we traveled almost 60 nautical miles and still had around 20 to go until we reached Montserrat.

At 1400, we had our first class in Celestial Navigation. The Captain gave us a background of why we would use it, and worked through some problems about finding the exact time of sunrise and sunset. The whole class was filled with foreign words and concepts. The crew and captain, however, had complete faith that we would master celestial navigation in no time.

We motored into the port of Montserrat Just in time to see the sun go down. It was all hands on deck as we struck all the sails and furled them to make them neat and tidy. I was amazed by, not only the size of the island, but the beautiful cliffs that encompassed the entire coast.

As we ended the day with dinner, we were all filled with the excitement of the upcoming adventures we would have on the island of Montserrat.

Christine Fong

Journal: April 6, 2006

Montserrat

Wow… What can I say about Montserrat? On one side of the island, everything is so green and alive. While on the other, it’s covered in ash and mud. The people here are so nice. Every time a car would pass us, whoever was in the car would honk at us and wave or say hi to us.

So today we had our first field day. Field day is a day to take everything apart on the ship and to clean it. We cleaned out our bunks, cleaned the deck with soap and water, and thoroughly cleaned everything else. Everyone was happy because we got to listen to music while we were cleaning up, which was a huge treat. After the Spirit was in “ship shape”, we all got cleaned up and prepared to go on land.

In Montserrat, today happened to be sports day, so the school that we visited didn’t have class, but sports events all day. After a while of watching the students racing, some of us decided to go and find food. Little did we know that we would soon be hooked on the notorious Ting, a grapefruit flavored Caribbean soda. We found this guy with an ice cream stand in his van, so we bought some and decided that it was the best ice cream in the world. After we all had ice cream, we decided to walk around Salem. After walking around for about an hour, we all started getting hungry so we found this nice looking place. Some people had French fries (yum!!!), while others had fried chicken and rice. After lunch, people just started looking around. On our way back to the Spirit, the bus driver pulled over and told us that we should try some water from the springs there called Runaway Gut. We all got some and agreed that the water from the springs was WAY better than the water on the ship. After getting back aboard, we all ate dinner and chilled out!

Jamiylah Asaad
 

Journal: April 6, 2006

Montserrat

We left Spirit for the island 0830 this morning to visit Montserrat Secondary School (MSS) and experience the everyday life of the youth in Montserrat. As a follow up to their traditional sports day celebration (which was yesterday), today was a day reserved for socializing and relaxing. When we arrived, most of the students were congregated in a small, plaza like area, conversing with one another and playing sports like football and dodge ball. The students were very welcoming to all of us. We introduced ourselves to some of the students and found that the aspects of culture that we identified most with allowed us to have a lot in common with the students at MSS. We shared musical interests and exchanged dancing techniques, favorite movies and places to go. It was as if any sense of age or language barrier was non-existent, we were all equals. After about an hour we gave a brief presentation about the TSSG program at the all school assembly. By this time we had already shared many of our stories with a lot of the students and their response was a positive one. They were really interested to know our names and to learn about our heritage and experiences in California (and Alaska).they were just as excited to learn about us as we were to learn about them. Around noon it was time for us to leave and our new friends were kind enough to escort us to a local restaurant where the kids often went to eat lunch called “The Attic.” When we finished eating we went to visit the Montserrat Volcano Observatory for a view of one of the most famous active volcanoes. They explained the formation of the different plates on earth and how two overlapping plates create a magma filled volcano. The volcano was labeled active in 1995 and in 1997 Montserrat experienced a deathly eruption, causing half of the island to be closed off to the public. This area is known as the exclusion zone and to this day it is against the law to be on that part of the island. The volcano is under twenty four hour surveillance to prevent any further devastation of the island. You can read more about it at the Montserrat Volcano Observatory’s website, www.mvo.ms I really feel like today was an amazing experience. Everything that we had previously studied about Montserrat was coming to life even more so than we had anticipated. The citizens of Montserrat are truly wonderful and good hearted it is just amazing to experience this culture that has overcome so much devastation and see them so full of life.

Christina Marquez

Journal: April 7, 2006

Montserrat

Today is our last day in Montserrat and we had a full day a head of us. We started out by going to the Montserrat Historic Trust where we looked at exhibits about Montserrat and saw a video about the “Volcano Crisis” which is how Montserratians refer to the volcanic activity of the last 10 years.

Later on, most of us went back to the school to finish our interviews and say our last good byes to the students we had met yesterday. The kids at the school got out early that day so we didn’t get to spend that much time with them but we were glad to get a chance to say good bye.

After we left the school, our taxi bus came to pick us up and we were on our way to St. George’s Hill and views of Plymouth. Plymouth was the capital of Montserrat that was destroyed by the volcanic ash from the big eruption. Most of it is buried in over 45 feet of ash and mud.

From St. George’s Hill, we looked down over the site of Plymouth. Then we went down closer to town and ended up at an old hotel and spa. It was so interesting to walk through it after the volcanic ash flows have gone though it and tons and tons of ash had fallen as well as mudslides of ash during subsequent rains. It is a ghost town. It had this weird vibe to it even though only 23 people died from this eruption it just felt so weird to be there and sad because so much life and history was in that town. Now it is all dead and can never be rebuilt again. Our taxi driver told us that the people who had lived in Plymouth were only allowed to go back to get there stuff and then had to leave. If the Police found any one living there or if you were there too long, you could be given a big fine.

After we left Plymouth we went on a hike to a beach were we got to snorkel. It was so fun. All the different colors of the fish were amazing. It was like all the colors of the rainbow. After we went to the beach, we went back to the boat so that everyone could change and get ready to go out to dinner. We went to a place called Tina’s and the food was so good. The only problem was it took forever for them to serve us but we got our food and quickly stuffed our faces.

After we ate we headed back to the boat and jumped right back into our routine of anchor watch. Tomorrow we have a big day a head of us we say good bye Montserrat and hello St. Eustatius.

Ife Cook

Journal: April 8th, 2006

Underway to Statia

Our last morning in Little Bay, Montserrat, passed uneventfully. A rousing anchor hauling lasted only half an hour for 2 and a half shots of chain, each shot being made up on ninety feet of chain. We haul the anchor with a hand-cranked windless which four to six people operate at a time and still only bring about one link of chain in with each crank. At the end of all that chain is a seven hundred pound anchor, so a positive attitude definitely helped.

Once the anchor was up, we hauled up the four lower sails and set out around the island, in hopes of being near the active volcano at night. In six foot swells and fierce wind, we managed to navigate the southern tip of Montserrat just in time for an amazing show. The volcano’s dome of lava was glowing a deep red, and occasionally lava would appear to leak out and seep down the side of the mountain. It was amazing to watch, considering earlier that day we passed Plymouth, once the capitol of the small island and now buried under forty feet of ash.

Night watches were a little nerve racking, what with the boat pitching back and forth in the swells. Everyone on board did a great job of keeping their feet on the slippery deck and doing what needed to be done, despite less then ideal conditions.

My watch got off at 2000 (8pm) and got back on at four am. However, a mere half an hour into my eight hour break, I awoke with start: “Oh my God”, I thought, “I have to be on deck right now!”. I rushed up, slapped on a harness, and waited for the rest of A Watch to arrive. Ten minutes later, one of the deck hands asked me what I was doing. I informed them I was waiting for the watch change. “That’s not for another three and a half hours, and aren’t you A Watch anyway?” Right. I nodded shakily, removed my harness, and went back below. I repeated the performance three more times before I finally started checking my watch whenever I awoke, which defiantly pleased the poor people on deck who had to keep sending me back below. The trip has been an amazing experience so far. Even washing dinner dishes is beautiful, when the sun is setting to port and the whole Caribbean ocean is laid out over the pasta pot. Whenever I catch myself thinking about who in their right mind would be scrubbing toilets at three am, I remember where I am and what I get to do. A positive attitude is everything out here, and I’m glad to be writing a journal entry at a reasonable hour when I can adequately convey how unique and incredible a program TSSG truly is.

Mia Robertson