Spring 2001 SEAmester East Journal
Sent weekly from sea by on-board SEAmester coordinator and professor Chris Hamilton ...
SEAmester Log, Part 3
April 13, 2001
St. Mary's, Georgia
Its been nearly a month since my last entry from Mona Island, Puerto Rico. As you may know by now we did not get the chance to visit Haiti. The US State Department had issued a warning against visiting the country because of possible instability due to the inauguration off Jean Bertrand Aristide, the controversial former prime minister who exiled to the United States in the early 90's while we invaded Haiti. So, we decided to stay along the southern coast of Hispanola (the island containing both Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and visit Santo Domingo, the capital of the D.R.
On Thursday March 22, we entered the Ozama River and sailed up to the pier in Santo Domingo. This was no small feat, not only sailing up to a pier in a 130' schooner, but also in the currents of a river with a tidal influence, another example of the expertise of our captain, JB Smith. So thus began our visit to Santo Domingo, the oldest European city in the Americas and a bustling modern Latin American city. We took a walking tour of the city, visiting its museums and historic sites, gave the students a bit of free time to call home and explore the city on their own. One morning while we were there, we had a visit from Father Bruno, a friend of the captain's, and a Haitian Episcopalian priest living in Santo Domingo. He spoke to the students about life in Haiti and told some very powerful stories about the hardships in his home country.
While we were in Santo Domingo the Spirit of Massachusetts, a schooner very similar to the Harvey Gamage, and owned by the same organization. They were in the middle of an educational program called Ocean Classroom with some 20 high school students on board. We traded tours of each other's boats, but they were busy with their itinerary and activities so social interaction between the two groups was limited (also since they were in high school, they weren't allowed much time on their own in town, and did not go out at night).
We left Santo Domingo and pointed our bow toward Cuba, sailing along the southern coast of Haiti close enough to see rugged landscape with the terrible deforestation (upwards of 97%) under which the country is suffering. On Thursday March 29th after four days of downwind sailing, we passed by El Morro Castle, at the entrance to Santiago de Cuba. After about 10 very official, but very friendly, officials inspected our passports and produce we were cleared into Cuba and tied up to a dock in a marina. Most students were wiped out and stayed on board that evening but a handful ventured out into town for what turned out to be a great night. Upon exiting the marina we were instantly befriended by a fellow who showed us where to catch the public bus to town for 20 centavos (one cent!) versus the tourist taxis costing about $8. He also led us to a small club where the music and dancing were traditional and outstanding, the drink of the house was rum (at $3 a bottle) and an old man in the corner rolled excellent cigars for 50 cents each. We made dozens of friends that night most of whom spoke some English, enough that with our broken Spanish we were able to communicate. Everyone seemed very surprised to meet visitors from the United States.
Since we had arrived in Santiago a few days later than we had expected, we missed out on the tours and activities that had been planned out for us by a local professor I had met on the internet, Jorge Munoz. We salvaged what we could out of them, but were faced with transportation problems. First, the marina was far enough from town to make walking unreasonable and second, there was a major international jet ski competition in the bay that weekend which seemed to be consuming every possible form of transportation from busses to taxis. The funny thing is that everyone kept telling us how lucky we were to be there during this big event, not realizing that we couldn't be less interested in jet skis when there was Cuba to explore.
We hiked to El Morro, the 17th century fortress guarding the entrance to the bay and visited the extraordinary town on the first day. The second day we had arranged for a bus to pick us up at the marina at 0900 but the bus was taken away from us because a high level government official wanted to bring his friends to the jet ski competition (many local rumors that it was Fidel himself). Jorge finally found a bus for us and took us to visit San Juan Hills (remember Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders) and the Monacada Barracks (which Castro, as a young lawyer, and his gang attacked at the inception of the revolution) and back to town where we had arranged for a group meal at a local restaurant. The food was great and everyone loved the chance to sit at a nice table with linen table cloths and great service. A local band showed up and got every one on their feet and dancing. There was more music in the street that night and everyone enjoyed the nightlife, some went to a Cuban major league baseball game.
For the next day I had arranged for 5 old American cars to take us for a ride into the countryside. Realize now that about 25% of the cars in Cuba are pre-1960 American cars, and most of us got a ride in one of these beasts at some point in our visit. But the fellow who I arranged things with showed up 3 hours late and only had one old American car, a '53 Chevy, and 4 Russian Ladas. Oh well, we argued over the price, piled into the cars, and headed out of the city. They took us to a few beaches which was crowded with locals but really nothing special, then on to a waterfall that had been recommended to us, which, appropriately on April fools day, was dry, no water.
There is so much to say about Cuba. I can't even begin to do it justice in this short entry, save to say that everyone was fascinated by the country, and I think most realized that living conditions were not as bad as we're led to believe in the US. Some of the great strengths of the country under socialism are the abolition of racial discrimination, and the high level and availability of health care and education, which is free to everyone. They have the highest literacy rate in Latin America (96%) and a very strong and healthy community. But, they are lacking some of the freedom's we have in the US such as freedom to protest the government and freedom to start or operate private capitalist ventures. I encourage those of you who know someone on this trip to ask them about their impressions of Cuba.
While we were in Santiago, the Spirit of Massachusetts showed up and tied up against us. Both boats left at the same time on April 2 and circled each other for a little bit off-shore for photo opportunities. We spent the next few days sailing against the wind to get around the eastern tip of Cuba. As we were running late we decided to scratch our visit to Baracoa, Cuba and just head for the Bahamas. We also decided to visit an island in the Bahamas other than East Plana Cay so that we could make progress to the west and ride the Gulf Stream to the north. After sailing downwind to the west along the north coast of Cuba, and through the Old Bahama Channel, we arrived at Cay Sal Bank and the island of Anguilla Cay. This was to be SEAmester's first visit to this island and we scoped out the coast until we found a suitable spot (nice big white sand beach) to go ashore. After an initial exploration and a brief lesson on the geology and natural history of the Bahamas, we brought everyone ashore for the day and to spend the night sleeping on the beach.
The island was about two miles long and maybe one third mile wide and completely uninhabited, at least by people. As we were to discover that night, there were a fair number of hutias (guinea pig sized rodents) on the island that came poking around our camp and food stores. The dominant tree on the island was the silver palm, which is beautiful and in the US occurs naturally in only a small park in the Florida Keys. So, we set up camp, collected firewood, went snorkeling, hiking and exploring and gathered back together for a cookout followed by a bonfire and sleeping on the beach. A great way to conclude our visit to the Caribbean.
We shook the sand out of our toes and got back on board to set sail for St. Mary's. Upon leaving the island we soon entered the Gulf Stream, which, like a moving sidewalk, added and extra 3-4 knots to our overall speed, which we needed since the wind was so light. Soon we could see Miami on the western horizon and felt the air starting to chill, especially at night. We finally pulled into Fernandina Florida on April 11, cleared into customs, and everyone went ashore to make phone calls, get ice cream and begin readjusting to the mindset of life in the United States. The students seem happy to be back in the states again and to be surrounded by things familiar and comfortable and they are looking forward to our passage to the north, but the Caribbean has left an indelible impression on everyone and many are already talking about returning to see more.
Fair winds and calm seas,
Chris Hamilton
Past entries
Part 1
Part 2
Fall 2000's Seamester Diary Archive
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