During last winter’s Olympic games we kept hearing coverage about how nice and friendly Canadians are. We’ve met a few over the years and have never been given reason to doubt the stereotype. Visiting a large Canadian port like Halifax, however, gave us the chance to experience Canucks en masse; and they really are nice! For one thing, everybody — and I mean everybody — stops their vehicles for pedestrians at crosswalks. We saw a big ol’ 18-wheeler come to a complete halt just to let one single walker amble across. People in Indiana are pretty nice, too, but until now I always thought eighteen wheelers don’t stop for nuthin’ smaller than a dump truck.
Perhaps the jaunty crosswalk man has something to do with it. As our new friend (and husband of Shannon’s partner in librarian crime) Lance pointed out, this little lighted guy looks like he has a place to go, a purpose in life, and a spring in his step:
If that’s the iconic image of a Canadian pedestrian flashing through every driver’s mind, it’s no wonder they’re willing to hit the brakes.
The post office boxes in Maple Leaf Land are also worth stopping to notice. How stylish. How colorful. How difficult for would-be taggers to mark with noticeable graffiti.
Not yet convinced? Peep this. The public trash bins in Halifax have recycling slots on the sides and solar-powered compactors for non-recyclable trash in the middle. These Canadians are friendly to both humans and the environment.
Thanks, Canada, for jumpstarting our voyage around the world with your niceties and hospitality. Thanks, too, for the Timbits! Now that your neighborliness is confirmed we’ll have to schedule another visit when we get back to the U.S.
We want to devote a blog post to the crew of the MV Explorer, the hardest working crew on the seven seas. First of all, let us clarify–we Bloomquai are not on the ship’s crew. We are staff, so we do not wear uniforms, but we do still answer to Captain Roman–ultimately everyone on board does! The crew stay on the ship for contracted amounts of time, usually several months, with some breaks for home visits in between. On most ships, they have told us that the crew changes regularly. Not so on the Explorer, a smaller and specialized academic vessel where there are many opportunities for advancement. Faculty, staff, and passengers who have been voyaging with SAS for years greet many crewmembers like old friends–because they are.
Crew have their own quarters, cafeteria, and entertainment areas on the ship separate from those of the passengers and staff. We do not have access to those areas. Crew members rarely leave the ship, and they deserve to have a place to go to truly be “off duty” when their daily shifts end. They hail from all over the world–the U.S., the Phillippines, Australia, Greece, Croatia, Great Britain, and the list goes on. Typically around 21 different countries are represented at any one time. Many talents are also represented on the crew, and they perform during the shipwide talent show along with students and faculty/staff. Some have the voice of an opera singer, others more of a Sinatra-esque croon. Some juggle glass bottles, others dance better than any contestant on a primetime television talent show, and there is even a performance artist in the mix.
Why are they so great? There are many examples. Every morning, Sam and I wake up early and are out of our cabin working or having breakfast by about 7:00 am. If we come back to our cabin at 7:15 am, Phillip (during past voyages it was Jess), our awesome cabin steward, has already made the bed, given us new towels, cleaned our bathroom until its spic and span, emptied our trash, and vacuumed our floor. Both Jess and Phillip have always been thorough and efficient, but not only that, they greet us with huge smiles and a cheerful hello every time we see them.
At every port, an observer will find a number of crew members busy scrubbing and touching up the paint on the ship. These guys and gals are hard-working and talented, and they keep the Explorer looking fantastic. We have never seen her without a perfect paint job, from the deep blue bottom and bright white top of the hull’s outer plating, to the straight orange stripe that separates the two.
Over 200 crew members staff our ship, which can carry somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 non-crew passengers. A ratio of one crew member for every four passengers begs the question: who needs Allstate? We’re already in good hands.
Our final three ports of call were the ABC islands in the Dutch Antilles: Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao. We went scuba diving in Bonaire and beached it in Curacao and Aruba. The ABCs all have arid climates which was quite a change from the tropical rainforests to which we’d become accustomed. Curacao was especially beautiful, and the weather was oh-so-fine. If it were closer to the U.S. and easier for friends and family to come visit we’d probably be headed to the real estate office to find a new island home as soon as we get back to the States. We’re headed for home now and are a little sad that the trip is almost over…but boy do we feel like a couple of lucky stiffs.
Just who is the Big Winner here? I think it's the monkey.
This party bus seems to have just a little more party than we're looking for.
During our evening in Trinidad, we attended a cultural show that knocked our socks off with national champion calypso singers, steel pan players, talented drummers, and limbo-ologists.
Our camera battery died shortly after the show began. Thankfully, my iPhone camera still had some juice. Too bad it isn’t the newly announced iPhone 4 because the video quality I captured is certainly not HD. Nevertheless, prepare to be amazed. The Flaming Limbo is the national dance of Trinidad, and we’ve never seen anything like it.
Believe it or not, the female performer who clears the flaming limbo stick with ease in the video above is really, truly a grandmother in her 60′s (I would have guessed 30, tops). She was at one time the world record holder for clearing a flaming limbo stick at a mere 6 inches off the ground.
We visited Trinidad and Tobago on a national holiday, so most of the shops and restaurants were closed. We had the good fortune, however, of hitting on a day when they were hosting an international cricket match between the local Caribbean West Indies team (wearing maroon) and South Africa (wearing green). Neither Shannon nor I never had ever attended or even watched a televised cricket match before, so it was quite a cultural experience.
If you’ve never been to a cricket match, trying to get a handle on the rules the first time feels a bit like trying to learn Whackbat:
With a little help from the people around us, we eventually got the gist of bowlers, batsman, overs, runs, and wickets and settled in to have a right jolly old time at the oval. In this particular flavor of international cricket, the games only last about 8-10 hours instead of the 3-5 days that a match play version can take…whew! We only stayed for the first half during which the West Indies team was at bat. Though WI worked hard to keep it from happening, South Africa ended up winning easily as even the locals we spoke with correctly predicted. Here are some images we captured during our time at Queen’s Oval.
This dude has a really sweet lookin' beard.
Cheerleaders in the West Indies don’t wear team colors or do planned dances out on the cricket pitch. Instead, they are sponsored by local businesses such as Carib Beer or Digicel Mobile Technology, and they wear the colors of their sponsor. The actual cheering is done in the stands and mostly consists of waving big flags with the sponsor’s logo on them and jumping around to some thumping, driving drum beats.
The night before our arrival in Grenada, our friend and co-worker Courtney had a vision: she forsaw us zipping around the winding mountain roads on mopeds or scooters. We left the ship with that plan in mind but were unfortunately not able to find a scooter rental shop once ashore…we’ll have to try again on some other island. We settled for a 4×4 instead and headed out of the bustling town of St. Georges into the mountains to the village of Grenville on the opposite side of the island.
There are no road signs anywhere in Grenada. Visitors must try to find a good map, make some guesses about the route to take to a destination, and stop to ask where to go next whenever a Grenadian comes into view. Thankfully, the islanders were the friendliest people we’ve met so far and seemed more than happy to point or lead us in the right direction.
This kind man in a green minivan led us all the way across the country to the small village we wanted to visit. How's that for hospitality?
It’s not the main cruise ship season, but even if it was, chances are good that Grenada would have few tourists. The MV Explorer was the only ship on the pier, and we were definitely the only non-locals on the eastern side of the island. Somehow, this fact seemed to inspire the people we met to be even friendlier. We had lunch at a local restaurant called “Good Food” that consisted of fish and “provisions” such as plantains, rice, beans, macaroni, and coo coo. We sampled a very strong and spicy homemade ginger beer (ginger ale), a bitter licorice drink that most foreigners hate, and some special edition Caribbean-brewed Guinness (our waitress raised her eyebrows in an impressed way when I chose the Guinness over the lighter Carib island lager — it’s fun to feel like you impressed the waitress).
When we visit ports along with other cruise ships, we always marvel at the obvious difference in the behavior of our passengers vs. the behavior of theirs. The respect SaS passengers display when stepping on foreign soil is unparalleled. Still, it’s no secret that the tourism industry in general has an ugly side. The book A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid has a lot to teach us about the negative way American and European tourists are often viewed in many of these Caribbean islands. It is recommended reading for anyone traveling anywhere, but especially those visiting the Caribbean. Grenadians, however, have a way of teaching people how to be better tourists without the attitude, anger, or resentment that a conscientious traveler can occasionally feel just below the surface. The following sign about credit vs. cash from our lunch spot is a case in point. Why be enemies when we can be friends?
This sign was posted behind the cash register at the Good Food restaurant.
We left Grenville in search of hot springs (a.k.a. “the boiling springs” or “de hot water, mon”) in the remote areas of the Grenadian mountains. Courtney’s guide book recommended that the surest way to find them was to drive into a tiny mountain village and “ask anybody how to get there.” This worked well for meeting people and having fun, but we ran out of time and had to head back toward the ship before we ever found the springs themselves. We met a rasta man named Junior out hacking through the jungle with a machete and his two skinny dogs. He showed us some nutmeg trees and pointed us back on the “off-road” path to the springs. We met a big bull whose body language suggested that the road belonged to him. So we turned around and headed along a beautiful scenic coastal drive to the main port of St. Georges. No, we didn’t find the hot springs…but we did find Grenada. We all loved it and hope to return for a longer visit someday.
This year, our voyage has had very few days at sea and many, many days in port. That is awesome because we get to see lots and lots of different countries, but it’s easy to wear yourself out if you don’t pause and take it slow every now and then. In Barbados, we decided to have a pure beach day. We took a stroll through town, talked with friendly locals, and spent the rest of the day swimming, lying around, drinking fruity cocktails, eating in an open-air beachside restaurant, swimming some more, and lying around. It was tough, but we somehow survived and felt refreshed and ready to man the library desk and computer lab when we boarded the ship.
One of the most fascinating aspects of Barbados is its standard of living compared to its Caribbean neighbors…and really, compared to anywhere. WKU’s Dr. Bernie Strenecky, who conceptualized the highly successful $100 Solution program, presented on Barbados during our pre-port briefing. He said the Bajan standard of living is number three in the world, just behind the U.S. and Canada. Not only that, the local population boasts a literacy rate just over 98%. All those readers really impress a traveling librarian.
Shannon, Courtney, Derek, and Debbie getting ready to hit the Boatyard beach.
Oh yeah, one more thing. The Bajan flag is really awesome. It features a broken trident, which signifies their break from Britain to become a sovereign and independent nation in 1966. If that doesn’t scream independence for an island nation, what does?
The island of Dominica (pronounced “doe mee NEE kuh”) is a volcanic island rich in natural beauty and vastly undeveloped to date. Like most of the eastern Caribbean islands, tourism is the main economy, but at Dominica the focus is on eco-tours to the rainforest, hot springs, and waterfalls as well as small mom ‘n pop hotels and restaurants plunked down in various elevations of the jungle-covered volcanic mountains. There are no large chain resorts at all. Part of the reason for this is undoubtedly that it’s just plain hard to build on an island where the mountains cover everything right up to the shoreline.
Many locals live in poverty, but this existence is accompanied by a fierce pride in both governmental independence and the lush beauty of the island. Dominicans are also proud of their cricket pitch, which is substantial enough to house international matches. The international West Indies Islands team is playing South Africa at Dominica on June 4, and many locals were discussing the match during our visit.
We started our day with a whale watching tour, where we were lucky enough to see a big female sperm whale breach 3 times followed by a spectacular fluke and dive. Our guides are part of a whale research team on Dominica, and they were very skilled at scanning the horizon for irregular waves to find these beautiful creatures. The sight of the whale itself filled the entire boat with energy, but the enthusiastic shouts and yells of the whale team’s crew took us over the top. “Whale comin’ up at 1 o’clock!!” “There’s one breach, here come another!! Let’s haul ass to get over there!!” They even recognized the change in her swimming pattern seconds before she dove and shouted out, “Here it comes! Get rrreeady for it!!!” That gave me just enough notice to be able to snap the following pics:
A female sperm whale off the coast of Dominica
Sperm whale fluke and dive
We also did some snorkeling at Champagne Beach, where the volcanic activity under the reef causes hot streams of water full of tiny bubbles to flow out of the coral continuously. It fees like you’re snorkeling around in a big glass of champagne.
For the second half of the day we hired a taxi driver to take us up up up into the mountainous rainforest. It was a short wet hike to a couple of beautiful waterfalls, and then we had a shrimp and plantain lunch at tiny little restaurant in the heart of the forest with a breathtaking view of the river. Full success.
The island of St. Kitts is a wonder to behold. Sugar plantation subsidies from Britain and the rest of Europe have dried up, so the country is in the process of switching primary industries from sugar production to tourism. Because the island remains largely undeveloped, its natural beauty and beautiful coastline is unmarred by highrise hotels and timeshare condominiums. Instead, the land is covered with a mixture of fallow sugar cane fields, volcanic jungles, and a smattering of tiny villages.
Scenic vista on the island of St. Kitts
We started out our day with a short bus tour on the way to board an old scenic narrow gauge train that goes all around the entire island. We had a guide named Teddy who charmed a couple of our college students with his nickname “Teddy Bear”. Teddy mixed facts and descriptions about island history with down-to-earth humor and an endearing Kittsian accent–a charming island lilt peppered with British pronunciations. Everyone loved him.
One of Teddy’s helpful tips was about the myriad sheep and goats that roam all over the fields and roads of the island. The sheep have been sheered recently and since the two animals are very similar in coloring and general appearance, it can be difficult to differentiate them at a distance. Teddy made it easier: “De sheep have tails dat hang down loose, where de goats have tails dat stick out or up. So…dat’s how you tell the difference. If you kin see de ass, it’s a goat!”
If you can see de ass, it's a goat.
St. Kitts is also known for its rich volcanic soil. The Carib name for the island is Liamuiga, which means “land of fertile soil.” Teddy says the soil is so rich that, “If you stand around in it too long, you’ll probably start growing, too. Everything grows here. Throw something out there, and it just starts growing.”
If they’re not involved in the blossoming tourism industry, many St. Kittsians are subsistence farmers. The fertile soil, warm weather, and manageable amounts of rainfall make subsistence farming easier than it might be in the states, but local residents face one difficulty that would be totally foreign to farmers around Indianapolis: green velvet monkeys. You think it’s hard to keep wabbits from eating your vegetables? Try defending your crops from a strong, clever, agile primate with opposable thumbs. The monkeys were brought to St. Kitts by the French in the 1600s as pets. Now they outnumber the humans 2-to-1 and are nearly impossible to keep away because they are a protected species. For a while local villagers tried to use dogs to keep them away. That worked for a while because at first the monkeys were scared of the dogs, but now they’ve learned to be friendly with the canines–so much so that they have been spotted riding around on the dogs’ backs from time to time!
The scenic train ride went all over the island, providing us with many picturesque vistas. A wonderful staff served us delicious piña coladas. Local residents waved and smiled to us in every village. A local a cappella group serenaded us with harmonic renditions of traditional island songs and old fashioned Christian spirituals (video below).
We spent May 29 walking around the old part of San Juan, Puerto Rico. We explored old forts, ate good food, and sweated out all of the water we drank in the heat and humidity. We started with a hike up the hill to one of the two main forts in the city, Castillo San Cristóbal. The view of San Juan from the top was amazing, and the fort made all the Patrick O’Brian stories we’ve read about early 19th century British navy battles with the French and Spanish come alive. It was easy to imagine Ol’ Goldilocks leading a secretive marine assault on the fort in the middle of the night.
Sam and Shannon at Castillo San Cristóbal
View of Old San Juan from Castillo San Cristóbal
After the fort, we checked out a couple museums and walked down to have lunch at a great local restaurant. Deliciously cold local beer was served in enormous frosty tin mugs…mmmmmm.
A huge mug of local Puerto Rican beer. 1.5 bottles only filled it halfway.
We closed out the day with a beautiful little coastal park that was chock full of over-exuberant pigeons fighting over food from locals and tourists alike. It was wild chaos and flapping of wings. Most of the kids (and many of the adults) in the park were a little freaked out by what felt like a Hitchcock-esque flock of attack pigeons. The video below gives you a sense of the mania.
