Tortuga

This is a picture of the kids at the VBS we did.

We made it to shore and were finally on Tortuga. We left the beach and started walking down a well worn path which took us to the village where the rest of our group was. In the village we did a VBS, which was where we sang some songs with the kids and did a skit then we gave the kids a snack and as the kids left we would give them a goodie bag. For snack we gave the kids these peanut butter sandwiches that we had made before we left Northwest Haiti Christian Mission. We had put them all in a big trash bag so they wouldn’t get wet when we were on the boat. When we opened the bag to start passing the snack out, everything was covered in peanut butter. It was a pretty messy task to try and get them out of the bag and pass them out to the kids. It was interesting to watch the kids as we passed out the snacks. None of them looked questionably at the sticky peanut butter sandwiches we were giving them but they gratefully took them. Some immediately began chowing down on the sandwiches while others held onto theirs to be able to share with their family. After the VBS we went down to the soccer field, which was clear dry dusty field, to play a game of soccer (or football, as the Haitians call it) with some of the Haitians. Let me tell you it was a really intense game! After the game it was time to go back to the boat and head back to Haiti. Because it was smoother sailing on the way back to Haiti, a lot of people spent the 1 ½ hour trip taking cat naps and resting. So it was a pretty quiet ride back to Haiti, except for the sailors having a rather intense argument about whether fish can fly or not.

This was a picture I took on Tortuga
looking back at Haiti.

Tortuga: getting to shore

We reached Tortuga and the anchor was dropped. We had to wait for a little wooden boat to come and pick us up and take us to shore. Since the little boat didn’t have a motor, there was a Haitian guy that had a long, thick stick that he used to pole the boat in the water. It kind of reminded me of a gondola. Because they were so many of us, the little boat had to take a couple trips. The first boat load of people left and while the rest of us where waiting, some of the guys decided that they didn’t want to wait for the boat to come back. So they decided they were going to swim to shore. The shore was a good ways away from the boat, but after swimming a little bit, you could just stand up and walk the rest of the way to shore. So they set off swimming to shore and had the rest of us take their shoes and shirts ashore. The boat came back and took the last of us to shore. As we were heading to shore we noticed that some of the guys who had decided to swim to shore, were walking pretty funny and they kept looking in the water. As we got closer we asked them what was going on. They replied by telling us that they were trying not to step on of the many sea urchins that were scattered all over the place. A lot of the guys that decided to swim to shore ended up with lots of sea urchin spines in the bottom of their feet. For those who don’t know, stepping on a sea urchin is almost like stepping on a piece of glass. The night before we left I remember someone who worked at Northwest Haiti Christian Mission telling my group to make sure we wear our shoes, it’s too bad that those guys had to find out why the hard way.

Tortuga: The Boat Ride



I took this picture on the boat
on the way to Tortuga.



During the walk to the boat I wondered why we were even being carried in the first place. As we got closer to the boat, I realized that the reason why we were being carried was because when you reached the boat the water was too high. You could still stand in the water OK, but by yourself it would be very difficult to get into the boat. I climbed on board the tiny wooden sailboat and found a seat on the deck as I waited for the rest of my group and a couple other groups to get on board. Once everyone was on the boat it got pretty crowded. We set off across the channel for Tortuga; we had been told it was only about 5 miles. It shouldn’t take too long to get there, right? Well, it probably wouldn’t have taken that long if the boat had a motor, but since it didn’t, it took us 1 ½ hours of being propelled by the wind and sailing against current to get there. For some, it was 1 ½ hours of lackadaisical sailing with a gentle breeze and the sun shining warmly on the picturesque blue-green Caribbean. For others, it was 1 ½ hours of pure torture spent with heads drooped over the side of the boat as you puked your guts into the ocean. Thankfully, I was one of the people that enjoyed the boat ride. I couldn’t get over how blue the water was!

I took this picture on the boat looking back at the Haitian shore.

Read my previous blogs to hear more about my many other Haiti experiences.

Tortuga: Getting to the Boat



This is a picture of a couple of people being carried to our boat

While my group was in Haiti, we got the chance to visit Tortuga (an island about 5 miles from the coast of where we were staying). In order to get to Tortuga, we had to take a boat. I was a little hesitant to begin this journey because the only boats I had ever been on were canoes and paddleboats; I wasn’t sure what to expect, or worse yet, if I would get seasick. When we reached the beach we saw the boat a little ways of in the water. It was a plain wooden sailboat, nothing really fancy, but it would work. We had been standing there for a little bit just looking at the boat when a thought came to my mind: How are we going to get on the boat? There wasn’t a dock and the boat was a little ways off in the water, were we just going to walk out to the boat? Not quite. My question was answered a little bit later when I noticed a big Haitian guy go up to someone and I watched as he picked the person up and put them on his shoulders and start carrying the person out to the boat. Next thing I knew, I was the one that was being picked up and carried out to the boat. At first, I was okay but when we got further into the water where the guy was walking against the waves, I got a little nervous that I would throw off his balance. My first reaction was to cling to his head but in doing so I was making it so he couldn't see which he naturally didn't like. So I concentrated on keeping my balance as we slowly made it to the boat.