Seabase

This summer Troop 63 sent a total of 24 scouts and 8 adults to the Bahamas High Adventure Seabase program. These scout made up four crews, each with six scouts and two adults. These crews went on a week-long sailing adventure through the Sea of Abaco in the Bahamas. Of the four crews, crews one and two went on July 26, and ended on August 3. I was on crew four, and together with crew three we had our adventure from July 31 to August 8.

It started off with a very early morning, waking up at 4:30 AM to arrive at the church at 5:00. Everyone managed to show up, regardless of how tired they were. Crew three consisted of Karl Nyangoni, Tim Dingman, crew leader Adam Cove, Zach Sheingold, John Starr, and Andrew Gentile. The two adults were Mr. Dingman and Mr. Gentile. Crew four included Patrick DeMarle, Justin Brodie-Kommit, Jake Morely, James Starr, crew leader Nico von Stackelberg and Ben Watson. The adults were Mr. Brodie and Mr. von Stackelberg. After a 7:30 flight to Miami, we checked into the Days Inn and had lunch at a small Cuban restaurant called Las Vegas. The rest of the day was spent at the beach, until the evening, when we walked around South Beach and looked at very expensive cars.

We woke up fairly early the next morning to go to “Lion Country Safari,” a large drive through zoo. Many of the animals were very cool to see, including the lions, elephants, and rhinos. Several people expressed the desire to go “rhino tipping.” We ate lunch at Taco Bell, which, to my surprise, many people had never eaten at before. We went back to the hotel and hung out on the beach for a while. For dinner, we went into Little Havana, the Cuban section of Miami.

The next morning we scrambled out the door at 7:00 after a hastened breakfast to catch our flight to Marsh Harbor. After an hour long flight on a small puddle-hopper, we arrived and took taxis the Seabase Marina. We were given a quick talk and rushed out the door, since one of the boats needed to get out before low tide. Crew three went on the Highland Wanderer and crew four went on the Vita. Crew three left almost immediately. We stuck around for a while and then went to Hope Town on Elbow Cay. There was some very nice snorkeling there. Our captain, Jim, managed to talk some college-age girls into snorkeling with us. These girls also had some battery problems, and we did our best to help them out. We had pasta for dinner and slept on the boat.

The next morning we stuck around for a while, and then we made for Water Cay. Water Cay supposedly had some very interesting wrecks, which we were going to snorkel around. However, there was one downside. There were hundreds of jellyfish scattered through out the water. These jellyfish eventually caused everyone except three people to come in after less than ten minutes. We hung around for the rest of the day, and then had pasta for dinner.

The next morning, we decided to go to Treasure Cay. On the way there, James caught a fish, a 28” mutton snapper, which we named “Lobster.” Nico also caught a barracuda. Treasure Cay was great. There was a wonderful beach which was ranked in the top ten by National Geographic. There was also a bakery, Cafe La Florence, which provided us with a lemon cheesecake dessert. We played some beach volley ball and cooked the fish for dinner, with onions limes and some rice. It was delicious! We stayed at Treasure Cay for 2 days.

For breakfast on the second day, Captain Jim bought us some cinnamon buns from the bakery. Then, we hung out at the beach, played some more volley ball, and ate lunch at the bakery. We planned to go out after lunch, but because of the weather, we were forced to stay in Treasure Cay. Later that night, we went back to the Cay and hung out at the local bar, Tipsy's. We left Treasure Cay early the next day.

Our next stop was Great Guana Cay, where we went to hang out at Nipper's. Nipper's was a fun place with a bar, two pools, and a beach with some of the best snorkeling I've ever seen. Among other things, I saw an endless expanse of fan coral, a school of 200 or more black fish with blue fins, and a small moray eel. While we were snorkeling we also met up with the other crew. We all hung out at Nipper's for a while, and some of us got into a push up contest with some pipe fitters from New Jersey. They agreed to pay a $100 to anyone who could do 100 push ups. Zach Sheingold managed to do 89, but that's the closest anyone got. Our crew got to stay at Nipper's for dinner. In the morning, we set off for Marsh Harbor.

We had to wait a long time for a dock to free up before we could go ashore. We hit the showers right away. That evening, we went to a small diner-like restaurant and dishes like blacken dolphin and fried chicken. Many of us slept on the dock that night. It was the only night that it didn't rain.

The next morning, we spent the whole morning scrubbing down the boats. We packed up our somewhat salty belongings and went to the airport. Our flight was delayed and as a result we missed our connection. We arrived at Logan Airport 2 hours later than expected, tired but happy.

This trip was a truly an extraordinary experience for me. Despite the weather, we learned a lot about sailing, but we still had plenty of time to relax in the tropical air. I recommend this trip to all Scouts. It is probably the best Boy Scout trip I have ever been on.

by, Patrick D