St. Kitts, Snorkeling.

Dec 8-9

Yesterday we were on St. Kitts.  We had boat drill in the morning which means that we had to report to our emergency stations around 10am when the announcement and emergency signal came over the ship’s public address system.  Then we had to go out to our lifeboat/raft station and be counted.  It’s pretty straightforward and boring, but it takes about an hour and keeps us on the ship later than we would have to be otherwise.  So after boat drill all the glassblowers headed out and caught a taxi down to Shipwreck.  So named because the beach there has a bar on it named Shipwreck.  So clever. 

There's the shipwreck.

So we hung out there for most of the day.  Eric and I rented snorkel gear.  I had a lot of fun snorkeling.  The reef was very close to the shore and fairly shallow.   We saw some schools of fish and Eric saw a sea turtle, which I’m very jealous of.  He also saw a good sized ray.  But I saw an OCTOPUS!  That is very exciting for me.  I love octopi.  I’d never seen one not in captivity before, and I got a really good picture.  Coming out of the water from the first time in, I somehow lost my mask and snorkel.  When I told them, they said it would be $15 to replace and they gave me another to use for the rest of the day.  So reasonable.  My underwater camera is performing pretty well.  I’m still learning about its focusing and such.  It’s pretty difficult to aim and figure out when it’s going to take a picture when you’re underwater.  I also saw squid later on.  Also very exciting.  There were 2, each about half as big as my forearm and they were sort of muted rainbow colors.  They hovered below me for a couple minutes like they were checking me out, and then when I looked away for a second and then back they were gone.  I can’t help thinking that they are pretty smart.

This little fish was eating stuff off the bigger fish.  They would come hang around and the little guy would peck at them.

Speaking of smart animals, we also saw monkeys!  Eric calls them booze monkeys because apparently they were introduced to the island a while ago by some colonist who brought them to work!?  And somewhere along the way acquired a taste for rum.  Who knows?  It could happen.  So apparently now they’re very happy to accept rum or beer if it is offered.  However, the ones that were hanging around the beach parking lot were very well behaved.  No attacking the bar or flinging crap or anything, just very mild mannered hanging out and little monkeys play wrestling.  Very cute.

Today we are at sea and had a couple shows.  The first piece I made was rather large and nice and went very smoothly.  On the second I learned things.  Oh well.  Good day.  Yesterday I made a really nice twisty cane vase at the show after St. Kitts only to have the annealer crash because the door wasn’t quite closed, so it exploded.  Bummer.

Pop.  Bummer.

Last night was probably the craziest rain we've had.  We gave people blankets to huddle under.  Surprisingly few left.  They even stayed for a raffle at the end.

Tonight is Megan’s last formal night.  So hopefully we’ll be going out somewhere to eat.   That means on the ship somewhere but not the buffet.  Our friend Andrew the environmental officer is eating with the staff captain but will hopefully join US for dinner as well.  It’s sad to have her go.  And after Megan I’ll be the next one leaving!  Crazy.

Bye Megan.