This is a personal journal in a public space, kept by Jessica Moyer and Brett Matulis. We are not so vain as to believe that complete strangers are interested in our daily lives. Rather, this blog was created when we decided to move to the British West Indies. It is intended to serve as a way for us to share news, post photos, and eventually, revisit memories. It was created for us and for those of our friends and families that are interested in our lives on the remote island of South Caicos.
Given the recent goings-on here on South Caicos, I thought it suiting to begin reading Moby Dick. (Actually, I'm cheating a little by listening to the audiobook, but that's neither here nor there). The idea came after others started poking fun at me, saying I was obsessed with finding the whales. The book is about Captain Ahab's crazed search for the elusive White Whale (actually an albino Sperm Whale). He becomes completely consumed by the hunt and is left unable to focus on or take pleasure in anything else. While my recent obsession with whale watching certainly hasn't reached this degree, the parallel they've drawn to Ahab is might not be that far off base for many other things in my life.
We spent much of the day yesterday in search of the whales. But we were not lucky enough to find them. The season is coming to a close soon. Most of the whales should be gone by the middle of March, though some stragglers can supposedly still be seen well into April.
On one of the dives yesterday, I could hear them. The male humpbacks are known for deep their whale-songs. The sound can travel for miles and miles, but I kept hoping they'd just come swimming by. It's really hard to swim with them let alone dive with them. They move so quickly that you can't really plan that sort of thing. You just need to be lucky.
I went out to the very tip of the East Bay Spur (a coral formation that juts out into "the blue") hoping they'd come by.
The whales are nearby. Yesterday there were two sightings; one by me from land, and one by the students from the boats. So this morning several of us got up for a pre-breakfast excursion to look for them (and go for a dive). As it turns out, whales like to sleep in. We didn't see any. They seem to like the south side of South Caicos, though. It was from the bluffs at Shark Bay that I saw them yesterday, right next to the place where I saw them breaching Tuesday. Pepe suspects that these ones aren't just passing through, but are spending some time here. I hope that is true.
Yesterday from Shark Bay. It looked like 3 whales (1 adult, 1 juvenile, and 1 sub-adult).
Waving Hello
Shark Bay from the Bluffs
I was disappointed about not seeing them this morning partly because seeing them from land just isn't the same as seeing them from the water, but mostly because Jessee was along and she hasn't gotten to see them yet at all. It's not fair sometimes that she doesn't get to enjoy as many of the perks of being in a place like this. Even when the other staff are really busy, part of their job requires that they go in the water. When Jessee's busy she can go weeks without being able to get out there. Tomorrow's Sunday, though, and hopefully it will be nice and sunny (there's has been a serious lack of sun on SUNdays lately) and we'll be able to spend lots of time out there looking for them.
From the dive: a funny looking Smooth Trunkfish, looking it's funniest.
This morning we went turtling. The students had an exam and the turtle researchers were in need of some assistance, so most of the staff went out to help. We took both of our remaining boats in search of turtles in the harbor. One boat used the "Manta Tow" method (where you get pulled behind the boat until you spot a turtle) and the other group just went snorkeling around.
Manta Towing
Jessee and I were in the snorkeling group. I preferred that because I really need the exercise these days. Basically we just swam around until somebody spotted one and then we all gave chase, using the boat to ferry snorkelers ahead. It's works sort of like a relay race until the turtle is so tired it can't run anymore. At that point it usually sits on the bottom and we're able to dive down and grab it.
The snorkeling group managed to get two and the Manta Tow group got one - two Hawksbills and a Green (it's a shame we weren't after Eagle Rays because there were loads of them). I made my first capture using this method, though the credit is mostly due to John who is incredibly good at swimming after and wearing the turtles out. He let me get one of them anyway. I dove down and grabbed on on the first try, but I also got hold of a clump of soft corals. I let go with that hand to release the coral and the turtle wiggled loose. Fortunately it was very tired and didn't make it far before settling on the bottom again. This time it cleverly nestled into a patch of fire coral. I dove down again, but reached for it cautiously so as not to be stung by the coral, and it got away again! It wasn't until my fourth attempt that I managed to hold on and bring it to the surface.
Success!
Struggling on the Surface (both of us!)
HELP!
On the Boat
It was a lot of fun to get out and spend the morning in the water. Jessee really enjoyed it too - she was commenting how she rarely has time to get out there anymore. It makes a big difference to have something out of the routine.
The Day's Catch: 2 Hawksbills & 1 Green (Don't worry, putting them on their backs doesn't hurt them! It actually calms them down and keeps them from crawling around and getting into trouble)
This morning I went for a walk to East Bay to read my book. When I got there I sat down on a bench somebody had built between two trees. After a brief moment, I caught from of the corner of my eye the unmistakable shape of a whale breaching! It was just beyond the reef in the vicinity of one of our regular dive sites.
I had to ask myself if I'd really seen what I'd just seen, but there was no question about it. It was massive and it's entire body (except the very end of its tail) was out of the water. There's nothing else it could have been. I stood up and walked to the water's edge just in time to see it do it again! And again! In all I saw them breach 8 times!!! I couldn't believe it because I had spent hours over the past few weeks trying to find them, and here they were when I wasn't even looking.
On the lookout, weeks ago.
There's no saying how many there were. I was too far away and the surf was too rough to see anything besides the jumps. I was able to confirm that they were Humpbacks though; I distinctly saw the long pectoral fin on one of them. The breaches were spaced far enough apart that it could have been as few as just one individual, but I think there must have been several.
Watching Nothing
They were heading East so I scrambled to get my things, keeping my eyes on the water, and hurried down the beach in their direction. I got out to a point by Shark Bay that would have had a great view, but they had passed. I only wish I had had access to a boat so that I could get out there to see them up close.
This week is "education week" on South Caicos, and there are several events taking place associated with it. Today there was an ecumenical service at the Methodist Church. It's the sort of thing I would normally avoid, but a few of our students were asked to perform, so I attended. The place was packed and I actually ended up standing outside one of the side doors (which made it all the more easy to slip away after their performance).
Various members of the community (religious figures, teachers, government officials) stood before the people in attendance (mostly students from the schools and their teachers) and extolled the virtues and importance of education. I was struck by the number of young children (about 3-9 years old) on the island. I'd never seen them all gathered in one spot before. The number of older students was considerably lower and the generation between 20 and 30 is almost non-existent. This, I believe, is less because of a growing population and more because the economy here is stagnant and development is stalled. The moment people are old enough to leave home, they do.
This was actually one of the themes of the day's event. The students were told of the importance of not only staying committed to their education, but also remaining committed to their community. They were told they would likely need to leave the island to achieve higher levels of education, but that they should remember South Caicos and return to improve their home. Judging by the missing generation, this doesn't currently seem to be happening.
The other thing that made the event stand apart from anything you might encounter in the United States was how it was conducted. It was more of a sermon where the kids were preached to than an assembly of motivational speakers. I can't imagine the uproar that would come if somebody tried to put this sort of thing on in the US public school system. But we're not in the United States, and this is a highly religious community. (Just last night Jessee and I were trying to count how many churches there are on this island. We were able to list 9 off the top of our heads and we're confident we didn't get them all. And that's for a population of about 1500.)
About 20 or 25 minutes into the service they invited the trio of our students (a guitarist, a signer, and a violinist) up to the stage to perform the song they had prepared - a rendition of "Hallelujah" originally written by Leonard Cohen. They got off to a rocky start. The violinist had trouble tuning her instrument and then within seconds of starting, the bridge of the violin snapped off completely under the tension of the strings, likely a result of the recent bout of humid weather we've had. The remaining two continued and were extremely well received by the crowd. Listen to a clip of it below:
I thought they did really well, even without the violin. I heard them practicing yesterday and the violin was my favorite part. What I enjoyed the very most, however, was the irony of the whole thing. Despite the title, Cohen's song is (in my interpretation) quite humanistic. It's about the pleasures of King David's adulterous affair with Bathsheba. It seemed, however, the congregation only heard the refrain - a repetition of "Hallelujah" - and they received the song as a call to the faithful.
According to what I read on wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathsheba), the Bible says that after beginning their affair King David gave an order that led to the death of Bathsheba's husband in battle. King David then married the widowed Bathsheba and the couple had a son. That son died a few days after birth, which David interpreted as punishment from God for his sins. The Biblical story has obvious lessons about being faithful, but the song the students sang is more about human pleasures of his sinful activities.
Your faith was strong but you needed proof You saw her bathing on the roof Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
These lines establish that the verse is about King David, whose affair with Bathsheba began in this way.
She broke your throne,
Bathsheba's son Solomon succeeded David instead of David's eldest son Adonijah.
and she cut your hair
This is saying that David was left powerless (actually a confused reference because it was Samson whose strength supposedly came from his uncut hair).
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
Despite all that was lost, the affair was pure human pleasure and David has no regrets.
I'm not sure if the students planned it this way (my guess is that they didn't), but it seemed like very humanistic themes being delivered to an unaware religious audience. On the other hand, it might just be that my secular ears hear what they want to hear. Clearly the congregation heard something quite different. The video doesn't do a justice to their reaction, they truly exploded in cheers and the preacher shouted: "This don't feel like an educational service anymore! Bishop Cox, this sounds like a Revival!"
Yesterday, while we were loading up the boat for a dive, I noticed a small Hawksbill Turtle floating on the surface at the dock. It looked to be in very poor condition, sick or injured, because it wasn't moving much. It barely responded when we scooped it up for a closer look. It was definitely weak, but alive, and it had injury on it head. We decided to call the local turtle researchers, who we thought might be able to help.
Harvey the Hawksbill
He arrived in minutes and was really excited when he saw what we had found. Apparently turtles in this "size class" (about 10 or 12cm) are extremely rare. In fact, he'd never seen one before. You can find an occasional hatchling (which are considerably smaller than ours) and young turtles (which are around 20cm and up), but turtles of this size are usually out in the deep open ocean.
There's no saying how this little turtle ended up here and in the condition its in, but we've had a couple days of rough weather and it might have drifted in during that. The researchers are going to try to help nurse our little turtle back to health and treat its wounds before releasing it. In the meantime, I plan to suggest naming it Harvey.
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