Location: Admiralty Bay, Bequia
We love sail days on Ostar, and today is exceptionally special because it was our first time going FULL SAIL! That means we were flying every sail, from the main to the flying jib and even the fish, wayyy too high. The “fish,” short for the fisherman sail, doesn’t have a boom like many of our other sails (except the jibs); it is essentially a big square with a line on each corner that goes way up towards the top of the rig. Fun fact: the fisherman sail got its name because it was designed to sit higher up and allow for more working space on the deck of fishing vessels. With all the sails up, we made our way from Mayreau over to Bequia, one of the larger Grenadine islands. After we got close to our destination, we started dropping the sails, but this process was all STUDENT-led 🙂 It’s impressive to think how far everyone has come in our first month of the trip.
In addition to a day of sailing, we had a role-playing discussion underway about whaling. Bequia is one of the few nations that still hunt whales today. For our discussion, the students split into four groups and we had one group represent a working group of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), one group was Greenpeace, and one group was Sea Shepherd. One group was local Bequian whalers and community members. After reading through some info on their position, everyone had to present their opinions on whaling in character. I was largely impressed by the intense, thoughtful, in-character arguments that were brought forward. Afterward, we discussed this topic out of character to explore the different perspectives and nuances a bit further.
Once we were all settled in Bequia, we put the boat to bed, tucking in all the sails under their sail covers, getting dive gear back out and ready, and various other tasks to get the boat ready for a few days at anchor. Boat to bed quickly transitioned into Oceanography class, where we talked about the chemical properties of seawater. We had a lovely dinner with an exceptionally colorful sunset. Then Olivia and Max did a wonderful job presenting cultural and historical information about the islands of Mayreau and Bequia to everyone on board.
There’s a lot to love about Bequia, but getting more advanced training dives in the week and seeing lots of marine life is certainly one to look forward to. Stay tuned!