Location: Charlestown, Nevis
The day began with a delicious breakfast of banana pancakes prepared by AJ and Ryan. Following this, Simon went ashore to clear customs, and we had our first scheduled meeting on board. Soon after, we began shuttling to the dock and met Barry, our taxi driver, who took us to Oualie Beach. Here we met Barb Whitman, and marine biologist on Nevis, who runs a program called “Under the Sea.” She began with a presentation over-viewing all the different phyla of marine invertebrates, and then we headed to her touch tanks. Here, we were able to touch and examine many organisms up close and really study them in detail while learning about them. We were able to see brittle stars, cushion sea stars, sea cucumbers, sea squirts, sponges, crabs, even an octopus, and a sea turtle called “Crush,” who has been very ill recently and is recovering well. After this, we headed back to Charlestown and enjoyed the local cuisine. We then had some free time ashore and returned to Ocean Star at 15:30. AJ and Ryan prepared another feast for dinner, Sweet and Sour Chicken, and we then headed off for our first night out to Sunshine’s Bar on the beach.