Hi everyone! I haven't written on this blog for such a long time! There has been a lot of stuff going on – that's why. I suppose I should start from Bequia and the turtle sanctuary, it seems such a long time ago!
Well, I got in touch with Brother King, the owner of the sanctuary, and he said I could go along any time I wanted but if I wanted to help with the feeding I would have to get there very early in the morning! Anyway, I got Mum's bike out and got up at 6 am, took the bike ashore and cycled the 4 miles to the sanctuary. When I arrived Randolph had already started the feeding. Randolph is Brother King's right hand man who has been with him since day one of the turtle sanctuary (14 years ago). He is very nice but he has an extremely strong Caribbean accent which makes him very difficult to understand and the fact that he has only 2 or 3 teeth in his mouth doesn't help either! Anyway, he had already started feeding the turtles with their usual fishy breakfast. After feeding we had to scrub the insides of the tanks and wash out the turtle poo. Hmm, definitely my least favourite job! Brother King himself wasn't helping us because he had recently damaged a nerve in his leg. A clever scheme to get out of scrubbing poop I think? Anyway for the next few weeks I got up early (I'm a teenager so that wasn't easy!) and cycled along to help out in the mornings.
In the sanctuary there are mainly only Hawks bill turtles although there are a few Greens as well. Brother King used to be a skin diving fisherman and when he retired he built the turtle sanctuary and now, 14 years later, he is still running it. He has saved hundreds of turtles. The main predator of the turtles is humans. The locals take the eggs from the nests and eat them and the fishermen catch the turtles from the sea and sell them at the market for meat and their beautiful shells. Brother King patrols the beaches during the nesting season and takes any nests that he finds to the beach in front of the sanctuary where he waits for the eggs to hatch (3 months). When they hatch he takes them into the sanctuary and raises them until they are about 5 years old when he releases them back into the wild. The babies usually eat jellyfish but since he cannot provide this he feeds them tinned tuna-fish. The older turtles are fed fish. One of the reasons that these turtles are endangered is that they are not fully matured and ready to mate until they are 22 years old. Hawks bill turtles can live up to 200 years of age.
After staying in Bequia for a couple of weeks it was time to move on. We went back to St. Vincent to Ottley Haul, a boat yard, where we were hauled out and we have been here since then doing work on the boat. Both of the masts are off and we are oiling them. We have done all the varnish on the gunnel and the banister and now we are getting ready to go home to Scotland for two months! Our flight is on the 21st – this Sunday! Our return flight is on the 23rd August. During the last few weeks I have been helping out at the canteen for the workers from the boat yard. The cook there is a lady called Lu and she is very nice. She has had 8 children. Four girl and four boys. They have all grown up and flown away now and she is 53 years old and still working. She is not married and never has been but she is very friendly and has been lovely to us while we have been here.
My birthday was last Friday and I turned 15. Mum and Dad gave me a beginners dive course which I did in the morning. It was great! Sam gave me a skirt which he made himself! We went out for lunch and I had lovely day. Thanks to everyone who sent birthday greetings!
Anyway, now the tension is building and we are all very excited about coming home! 5 days to go!
