The Adventures of a Wandering Vet Student: Sea of Fools.

Ah, the day we have been waiting for all week. The Catamaran trip! The day was partly overcast all day, which was a blessing as it wasn't straight sun for 5 hours. The rain held off, which was more than we could ask.

These are the two boats we took out. Our group was on the yellow one.

Elvis was one of our deckhands. Not even joking.

The gang relaxing before heading out.

Derek and I enjoying the nice breeze!

Christin and Kristen. Now you know why I number them all of the time.

Mandy and Andrew enjoying their second honeymoon.

We set sail from Port Zante, and headed over the Shitten Bay (not shitten you) on the coast of the peninsula of St. Kitts. There is very nice snorkeling there, so we anchored the ship and everyone spent an hour or two snorkeling. The school provided masks, fins, and snorkels; I only thought for a moment about the sanitary-ness of my snorkel (I could see the bite marks from previous users) and then dove in! The water was wonderful (seems a lot less salty here, and soooo much cleaner than Florida!), and there were lots of fish and sea life. Alas, we did not see the turtle or squid that were promised. But it was still great fun and I even managed to float this time!

I look like I belong in a mental rehabilitation center.

This one would be great if I didn't have that damn snorkel in my mouth.

Not the most attractive picture, but what the heck. Remember, water adds 50 pounds or so.

After snorkeling, we boarded the ship and sailed for Nevis, a small island 2 miles off the peninsula of St. Kitts. And by small, I mean that if there weren't a very tall volcanic mound in the middle, you could see the other side of the island very clearly if you stood on your tip-toes. Everyone headed straight for Sunshine's Bar & Grill, home of the Killer Bee. We all tried a Killer Bee, a mixed drink that tasted sort of like spiced grapefruit juice with LOTS of alcohol in it. I did not have a second. Our captain gave us an hour to check out Nevis, and then it was back on the boat for the ride home. We were all super exhausted, and headed home for a power nap before the big Welcome Back Students party that night.

The drink is so well known they post it on their sign!

This is the Sunshine Bar. A tiny shack. And yes, that's a cute pit mix puppy one of the students is playing with. Some little boy on the beach took advantage of the stupid vet students and started running around with his two puppies for us to oooh and aaah over. Not sure if he was expecting money/vet care or just being sweet and sharing...

My Killer Bee and beer chaser.

That pesky mountain gets in the way...and the trees seem to be missing some parts here.

Nevis looking over towards St. Kitts.

View of Basseterre as we entered the port.

View of our dorms from the sea.

I think I mentioned it before, but all of the buses on this island have their own individual personalities. Here are a few choice examples of the mini-buses for the orientation groups. The Olympian, of course, was the best ever.

Good Ol' Uncle Millie...

The King of St. Kitts.

I'm not sure what this one says.

The Olympian took the gold this orientation week.

The Welcome Back party was held at The Godfather's Bar on Shipwreck Beach. Not much of a bar, and no privy available which really knocked it to the bottom of my list of bars to hit again. There was a bonfire, which provided some warmth until the wind started kicking the smoke our way. Lots of beers were sampled that evening, as it was our last hurrah before the start of the semester! It was also the first evening that our orientation leaders were allowed to drink with us, as they were officially off the clock. It was like they were making up for lost time. And we have the video to prove it. :)