Echo Days 11, 12 and 13: Saba, the Baths, and Final Sail

Written by Mia Altenau

Day 11

       After the buildup of a lot of excitement, the Tintoret crew finally got to explore Saba. It took three separate vessels to get to the unique island: the dinghy drove to the dive boat which drove to land, where we were picked up by a taxi and driven to the dive shop in town. From there, everyone dispersed and explored the small village for a brief two hours before walking up a steep street to Jo Bean’s glass shop. As usual, Jo was excited to dispense her knowledge of glass art to Sail Caribbean students. Everyone left with at least one bead made that day. The crew then quickly scarfed down some delicious bologna sandwiches and began an ascent of Mount Scenery. The exhilarating jungle hike of 1064 steps had everyone heaving by the top—a peak somberly shrouded in thick clouds and swirling in screaming winds. The peak of Mount Scenery was the cherry on top of a day spent absorbing the breathtaking beauty of Saba.

       The crew swiftly returned to boats and collectively showered, ate dinner, and prepped the boat for a strict 6 pm departure, at which point the overnight sail returning home to the BVI’s began.

Written by Julian Reda

Day 12

       The sail back up-island was a tricky one.  Tall swell made holding course difficult, and we needed to stay as close as possible to a run without jibing in order to make good time.  Nonetheless, we made it to a mooring ball in Road Harbour, Tortola after just under 16 hours of sailing time. After a lengthy check-in at Immigration in the ferry terminal, we as a crew, decided to head to Cooper Island Beach Club for a relaxing day.  We quickly executed a silent mooring ball pickup with a deck brush instead of a boat hook. On land, we spent our time hanging out, talking to family members back home, and playing frisbee, football and hacky sack.

       We then returned to boats for a round of showers and started dinner prep for an interesting dinner of mac and cheese, bacon, and rice and beans. Afterwards, we exercised a deep clean to prep for our move to the Baths and eventually Scrub Island tomorrow.

Written by James Cordery

Day 13

Today was to be our last full day of program, and although emotions were high we were all still excited to finally visit the Baths. We made an eager start, getting off the ball at Cooper at around 7 am. We made ourselves breakfast underway, eating almost all the food we had left! Once we arrived in the Baths, we swiftly made our way to shore. On shore, we started our hike to Devil’s Bay. Hiking through the giant boulders found at the Baths was incredible, and also served as a great distraction from the sad realization that we had almost finished program. Once at Devil’s Bay, we were able to chill out, catch some sun, and snorkel. As our time at the Baths was drawing to a close, we decided to quickly visit Jump Rock, which was rather daunting but exhilarating.

We then made our final sail back to Scrub Island where we picked up some lunch and began a deep boat clean. After a couple hours of intense cleaning accompanied with some motivational music, our boat was looking spic and span! Many of our crew had been studying for certain ASA sailing qualifications throughout the program and were ready to finally take on the required tests. As expected, the entire crew passed their respective tests, setting a positive mood for the rest of the evening.

To round off what has been an awesome program, we celebrated with dinner at Marina Cay. Here, we reviewed the last couple weeks and evaluated some of the areas we have improved in that we can take into staff training.