Everyone, Meet, Everyone

So far, my time spent with the Park has been a crazy whirl-wind of jungle, rough seas, and heat. It has been spent with a really good crew.

Vibe and Andreas were our two historians from the University of Copenhagen whom we dragged out of the archives and made Hack their way through the bush to find the earliest historic sites on Hassel Island. Vibe is an amazing friend- we were practically inseparable for four weeks. We got through more than one day with just complete, uncontrollable giggling. We didn't remember what was so damn funny later on, but we were pretty sure that it was comic gold. Andreas is just about the sweetest person you could meet, as well as a hip Ska-reggae musician. He was my laundry buddy- the two of us would be folding everyone else's underwear, usually while they were getting us dinner.

Casper was our Danish archaeologist, and was pretty cool for one of those underwater, prehistoric guys. He provided interesting insights into Caribbean archaeology in the Danish West Indies, especially over VI Pale Ales at the Tap Room, or on one of the killer hikes in the Park.

Mandy and Eric were Team USA! Mandy is a graduate student at the University of Tennessee; I'm wicked jealous that she has gotten to study on the famous "body farm". She also says deliciously evil things in a perfectly sweet voice- it seems to take awhile for people to catch on. Obviously, I really, really like her. Eric was our "little brother", an undergraduate from Beloit College in Wisconsin who was here trying to figure out if he wanted to do archaeology- I think after Hassel Island the answer is probably no. He was also my SCUBA buddy, which was way fun.

Jessica is my roommate. Also NPS, but smart enough not to be Cultural Resources; she is one of the biologists for the park. She also puts up with living with me, and hasn't kicked me out yet so I feel like I'm doing pretty good.
The LCS team visited us from Atlanta for a week: Josh, Beth, Cynthia, David and Bethany. We kicked off their departure with margaritas the size of our heads at Margarita Phils before dancing the night away Larry's Landing. They deserved it after what we put them through in the field.

Last, but not least, is Ken, Park archaeologist, captain of the Haulover, UNESCO petroglyph expert, leader of the whole gang. Ken defies words, he's more of an experience.

All eleven us (except for Eric, who no one knew was arriving later that night) spent what Vibe and I call "that one perfect day" on and off the boat. First of all, I find it hard to believe that the poor Haulover can hold eleven people, plus our equipment, but she did, chugging across water between Cruz Bay and the harbor in Charlotte Amalie. The week had been long and difficult- we often were split into three or four groups, each surveying for our own projects. I had spent most of the week with Bethany, Cynthia and Josh doing LCS survey on historic structures, )which was really fun since I hadn't ever done it), while Mandy continued working on her leproscarium, Andreas, Vibe, and her trusty machete Arthur hacked through razor-wire sharp pinguin and christmas bush, making trails all over that damn island, and Casper mapped and recorded his coal barge wreck. Beth and David were doing their own survey on St. John and on Hassel. By the time Thursday rolled around, we were exhausted, crispy from the sun and scarred from viscous insect bites and catch-n-keep. I think Vibe and I were ready to mutiny, and I'm pretty sure that we could have mustered the rest of the crew to follow suit. But when Ken walked into the office that morning, he looked just as haggard as the rest of us. There would be no going to Hassel that day. Instead, the LCS Team needed to see various sites around St. John before they left, and we needed to do the boat version of a "windshield survey" of Turner point, where a 1719 map claimed there was once a fort. We spent the day on and off the boat- snorkeling at Reef Bay above the happy, fat star fish; climbing through the maze of mangrove roots at Coral Bay; climbing on the beach at Browns Bay. We even saw Jessica and Devon, maintaining buoys on the Leatherback. It was happy and lovely, playing in the warm, salty water while it rained softly above us, and unusually calm. We spent that evening at the Beach Bar, seeing off Bethany who was leaving early, and feeling ready for the entire crew to take one final stab at Hassel. The next day we pushed across the ridge top to the Officer's Quarters, and ended at Phils.