Written by Mikayla, Mate on Just Chillin
July 4th, 2026 – Port Zante St Kitts to Sandy Point at Kitts
Skipper of the Day: Laura
Navigator of the Day: Travis
Weather: Sunny, high 80s, some breeze
Today we got to sleep in a bit until 7:30, when we were awoken by the sounds of eagles screeching and Toby Keith, courtesy of the red, white, and blue. Happy Fourth of July!!
Today’s plan includes a car tour of St Kitts, motor jibing to the other side of St Kitts, and a fun Fourth of July dinner. Our Associate Director, Murph, came back early this morning with some fun exotic tropical fruit for us to try: tamarind, star fruit, and passion fruit. Just chillin then had a boatload of pancakes made by our breakfast prep crew of the day, Stella!
By 9 am, we were on the dock loading up for Percy’s car tour of the island!! First stop: a jungle hike. Here we got to see native plants, swing from vines, see wild pigs, and hear wild monkeys. We then moved on to our next stop, which was a gorgeous botanical garden. This garden housed a variety of tropical plants, a gorgeous view of the water, and a 400-year-old Samand tree named Sammy. Our final stop was the Brimstone Hill Fortress, a UNESCO World Heritage Site! We ate our pre-packed lunches up on the top of the fort overlooking the water. This fort began construction in 1960 and took almost 100 years to complete. This fortress was occupied by both France and England during different points of the American Revolutionary War.
After our fun, historical road trip of the island, we then returned to the boats and did pre-departure checks and began motoring to Sandy Point, a bay on the other side of St Kitts. Laura led Just Chillin in a motor jib sail, and Jaxon operated the windless to set our anchor upon arrival.
Here we had some hot dogs and hamburgers made by Seb and Travis while listening to some country music. Mates Mikayla and Nina baked a Fourth of July cake to wrap up the Fourth of July celebrations. Gavin’s favorite part was the dinner celebration with the Fourth of July cake! Everyone is very excited for tomorrow’s activities: scuba diving and a volcano hike!
July 5th, 2026 – Volcano Hike
Skipper of the Day: Seb
Navigator of the Day: Phin
We had a much earlier start to the morning today, with staff waking up at 6 to start preparing for our motor from Sandy Point Saint Kitts to Oranjestad St Eustatius (Statia). As our student crew woke up, they joined in on our motoring, with Seb as our skipper of the day. Upon arrival at the bay. Travis and Jaxson worked together operating the windless to get us anchored in the port city of Oranjestad. Gavin, Tombre, and Phin made us a great breakfast of sausage and egg sandwiches, fueling us up for our activities ahead.
We all shuttled to shore to do a quick trip through immigration before splitting up for our two activities of the day. The diving group was led by divemaster Mikayla to a local dive shop, Scubaqua, for a dive briefing and gear pickup while all other students were shuttled back to the boats for some water fun time!
Both groups returned to the boats for lunch of chicken nuggets and caesar salad, prepared on just chillin by Laura and Seb. Our dive group then shuttled back to shore to the dive boat for today’s dive in Statia! Due to the high currents of the region, this dive was a drift dive on ridges made from volcanic activity over 1600 years ago. On this dive, we saw huge lobster, drum fish, lionfish, and even some shrimp!!
While our divers were diving, our other group, led by Murph, Max, and Sean, went to shore and completed the Quill Volcano hike. This super cool hike had 2000 feet of elevation and ended in the crater of the volcano. The two groups joined back together in the evening back at boats, where Kal and Jaxon made a delicious dinner of chicken fried rice.
Travis’s favorite part of the day was diving; he thought seeing the cool animals, coral, sea fans, and sponges was gorgeous, and it was so good to be back in the water diving. Everyone is super excited for our early morning trip tomorrow to a new island, Saba, for another volcano hike and a glassblowing course with Jo Beans!!
