.jpeg?fit=%2C&ssl=1)
Streets, houses, cars and farmland on the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent are covered in a thick layer of ash. The sailing ship De Wylde Swan could not escape it, says Marco van der Werf, the captain. High school students follow a sailing school program on this training ship.
Clouds of ash
“The volcano erupted thirty miles away last Friday,” says Marco. He speaks of an exceptional situation. “There is still a lot of ash in the air, which means that we can see less.” Kim is an apprentice on the boat, and says they don’t even see the sun anymore. “We see clouds of ash, and when it rains it all comes down.” A black haze, the captain calls it.
Residents of the island of Saint Vincent, where the volcano has erupted, are being evacuated. The images below show how the thousands of people are being evacuated from the gray ash landscape.
–
–
The group, aged 15 to 18 years old, flew to the Caribbean on March 21 to sail from Sint Maarten, to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and back in five weeks. “I think it is really unique that this is happening now that we are sailing here,” says Maddy, an apprentice on the ship. “Last week we were still at Saint Vincent.”
Kim adds: “Besides the ash on the deck, we don’t notice much of the eruption.” In between sailing (and deck scrubbing) there is normal school. Before departure, each student has made a self-study schedule in consultation with their schools, and several teachers are traveling with them to support them in this. “The biology teacher has now changed her curriculum so that we learn everything about volcanoes and ash.”
–
–
The ship actually had to pass Saint Vincent, but that is not possible now, says Captain Marco. “We wanted to get spare parts for the ship there, but also a negative corona test so that the students could fly back to the Netherlands on 23 April.” Now they are sailing to Union Island, where they can probably do the tests and replace the spare parts.
Last year also changed route
It is not the first time that the Wylde Swan has had to change its route. Last year, the ship had to return to the Netherlands earlier than planned due to the corona measures in the Caribbean. Then we spoke with Captain Martijn Boucher. He tells in the images below that they have made it a great adventure.
–
–
