Location: Nevis
Nevis ~ The crew woke up with the sunrise this morning to get ready for a day of adventures. After eating breakfast, we split into three groups; kayakers, horseback riders, and bikers. The bikers made their way up the mountain on Zion street as the kayakers parted along the side of the island, seeing the beautiful marine life in the shallows. Horseback along the streets of Nevis was an experience I will never forget. Getting to know the horses while they brought us through the jungle, along the beaches, and into the water was great. We then had time on the island to explore and do our own things. Some students were able to find enough time to get a little relaxing massage, and others walked along the streets and enjoyed snacks and cold drinks. We had a great dinner watching the sunset, and headed to the beach for our turtle walk. We are getting the ship ready for our upcoming adventure to Grenada.
UPDATE: The turtle walk was an amazing one-of-a-kind experience. We didn’t get back to Ocean Star until after 11 pm, but it was SO worth it. We got to excavate three recently hatched nests. In the first, we found 19 live hawksbill sea turtle hatchlings. We brought the babies a little way down the beach and released them from shore, making sure they were far back from the water enough that they could walk along the beach and imprint on the location. This makes sure that they know where to come back to when they are ready to lay eggs one day. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for all of us to work with a local sea turtle researcher to see these hatchlings, as well as count eggshells and unsuccessful eggs to determine hatching success. What an amazing night! We will all sleep well now after a long and fun-filled day.