The wind was down to 10 – 15 knots so after Doug took the dinghy into the resort and gave the Baker his $3 along with a thank-you note, we left.
The channel was very narrow leaving the harbor and I steered EcoAdventurer too close to the green marker and we ran aground. First I put her in reverse, which had no effect, and then I gave the sturdy diesel a log of thrust and turned to port and she lifted off the sand and we continued. Whew!! Just what we need when we are in a hurry and have to be somewhere at a particular time, which is a no-on a sailboat. I heard a sailor say, “you can figure out where you are going to be but not when you will be there.” You need to sail when the wind and weather are right. Some people have waited up to a month to sail off from one place to their destination.
Anyway, we ended up motoring all of the way because the mainsail got stuck coming out. We soon realized that is was because of the SSB antenna, which is a little rope, had been tied to the line that pulls the mainsail out. Rather than fix this in the middle of a strong breeze, we just continued motoring on.
We got to Marsh Harbor, anchored fairly close to the dinghy dock in 9 ½ feet of water (our draft is 6’2”) and took the dinghy into shore and parked it in the shallow end of the dinghy dock and walked to the FRIENDS office – about 3 blocks away. While waiting for the school bus to arrive and d’Shan Maycock, the Education Director, we talked to two scientists who were using the FRIENDS office temporary for their research. Both were professors. One was a bird man and the other studying mammals. I asked the mammal expert what furry things resided on Great Abaco Island and he said, “Other than rats, that aren’t native, there are none.” I said, “then what are you studying”? And, he said “bats. Bats are the only wild mammal on the island.” He continued, “they live in caves mostly, and most of them are insect eaters, although there are some fruit eating bats that are fairly large, here too. I think he said they were about a foot long. But, he added, “Not as large as the 3 foot fruit eating bats in SE Asia.” The other scientist was studying bird fossils that they were finding in the Blue Holes and caves around Great Abaco Island. There were fossils of two extinct birds he had found recently – one was a caracara.
On the field trip, D’Shan told the students that the event that created a strong enough interest to bring scientists from all over the world here to the Bahamas, was the huge tortoise shell that was recently found in one of Great Abacos Blue Holes. The tortoise was a large land turtle – not the sea turtles that do live in the seas around the island. No one knew that these tortoises ever lived here before. Since that exciting find, they have found fossils of crocodiles, and a number of other creatures, some of which are extinct.
Doug and I got on the school bus with about 30 10th grade high school students, their teacher, a teacher’s aide and D’Shan plus the bus driver. We drove into Abaco Camp, with it’s Caribbean pine forest of very young pine trees, because the place used to be a logging camp. Once we arrived at the Sea of Abaco, the pines dwindled and the mangroves took over. We got off the bus at the sea and walked along a road parallel to it. D’Shan explained that there are 3 types of Mangroves: Red, White and Black Mangroves. The students thought there were four but she explained that the 4th is Buttonwood and although associated with Mangroves, is actually not one.
As it turns out, D’Shan got her degree in Environmental Science at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore. We found this out when she was showing the students the remains of a blue crab that most likely an Egret had devoured. She said, “Blue crabs also live in the Chesapeake Bay in the US, where I went to college.” She added, “We went to Ocean City, Maryland and ate these blue crabs steamed with Old Bay seasoning.” I said, “You did? That’s the beach we go to – that and Rehoboth Beach Delaware.”
D’Shan was very sharp and very nice as well. She is married with three boys. Her oldest, an 11 year old, just won first prize at the Science Fair by describing how building a road through the mangroves (without using culverts) stops the flow of water from one side to the other, drying up the water on one side and not allowing the fish populations from going back and forth, which has been shown to reduce the number and varieties of fish. D’Shan had told us the same thing on the field trip. Her son had even purchased two fish from a lab and has simulated how the negative environmental impact would occur. The fish use the mangroves as a nursery for their babies that feed upon the algae around the base of the mangroves.
At one point, while we were at the beach, one of the girls found an oyster-like shell and pulled it off from the ancient coral sticking out of the sand. She was excited and said they use this creature raw in salads, like conch salads. She borrowed Doug’s swiss army-knife and cut the creature out and ate it right there, on the spot. Another girl was appalled and burst out laughing. Most of the students said they ate seafood, but one boy said he didn’t eat any seafood! From this discussion you could tell there was quite a difference in culture even among these public school students.
One of the students, a boy of 15, walked with Doug and me and talked to us. I asked him what he wanted to be when he was older. He immediately replied, “a doctor.” Then he added, “or maybe working as a choreographer, or possibly in culinary arts.” It reminded me of when my daughter, April, was asked the same question when she was only about 8, replied “a lawyer, or a cashier!” Then, he proceeded to describe how one prepares all sorts of meals – conch salad, land crab and dumpling, and peas and rice. He described how to prepare these things in great detail. I said, “you must be hungry. I always talk about food, when I’m hungry.” Most of the students were going to KFC but he said, “I’m going to subway instead,” and then patted his flat stomach, implying that he wanted to stay trim. The trip was fun and informative.
We arrived back at the dinghy dock to find the dinghy sitting on mud!! It was low tide and apparently a very low tide. Sometimes the tide is below normal. A man who spends his time helping boaters get in and out of their dinghy for tips, helped Doug carry the entire dinghy with motor across the floating dock to the water side. He earned his tip and we were glad he was there. Then we dinghed out to EcoAdventurer in the harbor to find that it, too, was sitting on the sand!! But it was sitting straight up – not leaning – we figured because of our fin keel. An hour later, we were floating again as the tide came up. This is the 2nd time we were on the sandy bottom today with the big boat and once with the dinghy. Guess there is a lesson to be learned in all of this.
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