Location: Deshaies, Guadeloupe
New watch teams, two different sails, pigeon island. dragged by Steve (story by Matty, not in order)
Today began by blasting our unofficial anthem, which I probably can’t type here because it means something bad in Russian, but it is Russian house music. Wake up was held promptly at six this morning so we could get out of a French-speaking island, only to find out Guadalupe is also French-speaking… Kidding! French culture is awesome. We were sailing by 6:45; my personal time is improving. We tried to sail the whole way but found ourselves too close to the island, so the wind was just not on our side. We got to Pigeon island at around two and snorkeled for around an hour. Steve had to tow us into the snorkeling spot by a rope off the back of the dinghy because it is a national park, and we cannot anchor. It was awesome. Pulled a sneaky nap on the island and was almost left with the pigeons! Worth it, though. We got new watch teams today, and for anyone who’s wondering at home, Duncan and I are finally together, bow watches for days.
We headed on up to Deshaies afterward and met Pierre Lavagne de Castellan, a Frenchman who has been working on a whale communication project here in Guadeloupe. With the help of acoustic engineers and marine biologists from Ecole Centrale de Nantes, he developed a special instrument in the shape of a shell that is meant to sound similar to the call of a whale when sounded underwater. His mission is to practice interspecies communication with humpback whales and gradually establish a musical dialogue between whales and humans. It was an amazing presentation, and it would be great to come back and swim with whales in the future. There might be a national geographic or BBC film in the works about this project soon, but for now, if you want to learn more about this incredible project, check out
Thank you, Pierre, for coming out to visit us again!