Weeks 5 and 6

Thursday April 12th

We went to the beach at Ti Kai village.  This beach is harder to get to so we were trying to go on a cruise ship day to try and bring a little order and sustainable tourism.  Its an interesting problem to solve because everyone is used to doing something a certain way that probably is actually hurting everyone's business.

Friday April 13th

I just realized that we had a Friday the 13th like two weeks after the fact.  A testament to how busy we've been.  This day was interesting because we went down and met with our southern branch and some hotels to check out the happenings in Vieux Fort.  This beach had a massive amount of sargassum seaweed.  Right of the coast is one of the nature reserves that is a major point of interest for both nature nerd and traveler.   The Maria Islands are beautiful from the beach and I can't wait to take a tour and possibly the endemic Fer-de-lance snake (which is poisonous).  I also tried some new foods like creole bread (delicious), and pig tail bouillon (fatty and not my cup of soup ).  We also got to go around the small fishing village a little more and have more of an island type experience.

Vieux Fort Beach with Sargassum

Another Part of Vieux Fort Beach

Maria Islands Nature Reserve from the beach

Saturday April 14th

This day I finally went into Castries to experience the Market.  I bought some local curry, onions, and green peppers for some Chicken Curry....which turned out amazing.  We also met up with several of the two year volunteers for lunch and discussions.  I spent this day walking around til I was finally exhausted, but it was extremely productive buying things to cook some delectable dishes.  Need to add more dishes to my repertoire while I am here!

Week of April 15- 21

We spent a lot of time in the office trying to prep for our school visits.  I think we are making some progress.  We also were privileged with a trip to meet more of the members of the Saint Lucia National Trust who we will be working with on our project.  We made a few stops on the way to our meeting to take care of some NCA business on the beaches as well.  We got our foot in the door with the Director of the National Trust and became members of the National Trust and made plans for Earth Day with them on Sunday.

Reduit Beach with Pigeon Island in the background

Lunch after our Meeting  Curry Chicken (one of my favorite dishes now)

April 22nd EARTH DAY 

 How do I explain this eventful day?

We started off meeting the National Trust bus in Castries to head up to Pigeon Island.  We cleaned up probably about 15-20 bags of trash, and another effort the day before cleaned up 47 bags of trash on Gros Islet Beach.  It was a successful effort. While waiting for the evening activity "Sòlèy Kouché,"  we walked up signal peak again and spent some time swimming on the beach and getting burnt. It was totally worth it.  We went for a snack while it rained for the last few minutes before the event and it didn't disappoint.  They had really passionate speakers on the theme of "Ending Plastic Pollution."  Several people from volunteers to the Fisheries department came out.  We even were treated to some cultural music and a dance performance from a local dance troupe.  I have been having fun (and working hard), but this was by my favorite day to date.  It just so happened that it was an event similar to volunteering with my favorite groups back home.

The Dance Performance: A Tree, Plastic and...I think the girl was either humans or Mother Earth.

Second Trip to the top of Signal Peak

Week 4 ish

I have been slacking on writing in this thing and my journal.  The busier I get the harder it is to keep up with this.  I will try and do better folks. Last week was mostly researching different programs and nature reserves and management areas on Saint Lucia. I also tried a new food, Soursop, which is EXTREMELY delicious.  Its hard to describe the flavor.  The ones I have tried are pretty sweet which is contrary to the descriptions I've read where most are sour.  The texture is creamy apple in my opinion.  During the weekend tho I did get the chance to go swimming on Vigie Beach (pictures in a previous post of the beach).   I really spent that time relaxing and counting my blessings.  It was a great day to be on the beach.  Now that my fellow volunteer is here we get to start meeting with other stakeholders in the environmental clubs and the real fun begins!  Things will get more exciting.  ( Well even more exciting than island life).

More exciting stuff coming!

Week 3

First Real Week on the Job

Monday was a day filled with researching all I could about Saint Lucia and the curriculum that was currently in place.  The rest of the week, I had the pleasure of venturing out to different parts of the island to meet with stakeholders at the different beaches.  

Tuesday, our meeting was at Cappella Resort with several hotel owners close to the area, the police, and the licensed vendors.  This location was at the very scenic Marigot Bay where several movies have been shot like Dr. Dolittle (according to the advertisements).  This area is pretty remote and access to running water is a little difficult.  All stakeholders involved had very valid concerns that circled around similar problems.  One thing that many of the beaches share in common is unlicensed vendors trying to make a living.  It's a very difficult proposition to try and have a solution that fits everybody and the health of the beach.  However, everyone similarly agreed that if the beach is getting bad reviews then it hurts all the stakeholders. It seemed like a very productive meeting.  After the meeting, we were treated to a lunch at the resort restaurant and celebrated my supervisors birthday which was a pleasant surprise.

On Wednesday, We headed off to Sugar Beach in  scenic Soufriere near the iconic Pitons. I was  given a leave of absence from this meeting and was able to sight see at the Sulfur Springs Caldera.  It rained a bit as it usually does on a tropical island, but the views were gorgeous.   On the way back, we stopped and bought some Cassava bread, a gluten free unleavened bread, which comes in an assortment of  delicious flavors from guava to cherry to chocolate!

"Touching" The Piton

Sulfur Springs Caldera

Sugar Beach

Making the local treat of Cassava Bread

On Thursday, we went around a few of the beaches in the north with the Minister of our area to inspect some potential issues that could be addressed. Several of these beaches are a lot further inland than they used to be due to climate change and rising oceans.  The thing that was etched in my memory the most was when the Minister said how he remembered the beach being a good 20 feet further from the airport.  The same traces of climate change can be seen on Reduit Beach which is highly populated due to tourists coming on cruise ships.   There is a berm to stop the waves and seaweed from coming into the parking lot, but they still have water flowing over during rough seas or high tide. 

On Saint Lucia they observe Good Friday and Easter Monday as holidays so I had a long weekend. Saturday I got out and explored Pigeon Island where Fort Rodney is located with another response volunteer.  This fort was fought over due to its strategic position and scenic views.  I was not fully prepared for the large hills that we climbed, but it was a fun little excursion!

Martinique in the distance from the Fort

Top of the Hill exhausted

Pitons in the distance from the Fort