Location: Great Harbor, Peter Island
Hi Everyone! Staff here, filling in for our shippie Sariah who unfortunately left us a bit early this session.
We began this morning by breaking up our raft with FriendShip who we had eaten cake and brownies, and watched “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” the night before. Once free, we headed over to Salt Island, where we would spend most of the day. Underway, we finished making pancakes, some plain and some with banana which was a new food combination for many of the students. Once arrived at the island, we ate our breakfast and moved into a dish to clean up. Over the past 18 days, our students have been in sailing class with our skipper Amelia learning parts of the boat, boat safety, and sailing terminology. A few days ago, they took the practical part of their sailing examination, and this morning it was time for a review session followed by the written exam. We are happy to report that all of our students passed! After the test, it was time for the much-anticipated lunch of ramen noodles, fueling us up for our afternoon hike. We took our dinghy “Junior” over to the beach. Salt Island is the site of the famous shipwreck, the HMS Rhone. The Rhone sank in 1867 during a hurricane. Our shippies were pretty interested in the haunting story of the Rhone, where 123 people strapped to their beds to prevent them from freaking out during the storm and tragically drowned when the ship broke on the rocks. The people of Salt Island retrieved the bodies and gave them proper burial on the Island. In appreciation of this deed, Queen Victoria decreed that the people of Salt Island no longer owed a tax to the British Crown and instead needed only send a bag of salt to England once a year. This is the salt that the British crown uses for special occasions such as their Christmas dinner. While we were on the island, we hiked to the top to see the beautiful view that extends over the Caribbean and the mooring balls that mark the now popular dive site of the wreck. Today the island’s only inhabitants are ghosts, as there is no fresh water. We did not see the goats, but we did see their poop, so we can confirm they are alive and well. Once off the island, we headed back to Great Harbor on Peter Island, where we slept the night before for showers, dinner, and hopefully a good night’s rest to carry us through the rest of the session.