FTV January 29

Looks like its official...Barbados, here we come.

Directly from Admiral Gurnon:

After the Honorable Larry Palmer, the American Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, heard of our issues with the reduced dock time in Barbados, he intervened on our behalf with the local authorities. As luck would have it, another ship was recently delayed en route to the island and the Barbados harbormaster will now allow Kennedy to dock there from Saturday 1 February through Tuesday 4 February (the original schedule).
We are indebted to Ambassador Palmer and to all of our friends in San Juan who immediately found room for us at their dock when they heard of our plight.  The Kennedy will now turn towards Barbados and resume her original sea term schedule.  These things do occasionally happen in this maritime business.


And from Captain Bushy:

Barbados is the next port, on Saturday. Three days on one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean (actually it is not in the Caribbean, but in the Atlantic Ocean) – the teardrop shaped island has been recognized for the some of the best beaches in the world.  I know the cadets are happy to be getting a chance at that!

I have to do a shout out to our agent in Puerto Rico, Mr. Eddie Braffett of Perez y Cia.  He politely helps out whenever we have problems – last year he helped out when Nassau was unavailable. He is truly a great friend of MMA, and we hope that we can visit his beautiful island again soon.

From our Cruise Commander Taylor Inkley:

In yesterday’s blog I mentioned how we were no longer going to Barbados of diplomatic reasons. However, the roadblocks preventing our visit have been resolved and we are now going to Barbados once again.








Science Wednesday:

Barbados is the eastern most Island of the West Indies. Even though it is considered a Caribbean island it is actually located in the Atlantic Ocean, to the east of the Caribbean Sea, This Island lays at the edge of the Caribbean tectonic plate where it intersects with the North

and South American Plates. Unlike the other islands around it were formed by volcanoes, Barbados lies on an ocean shelf east of the volcanic arc and does not have its own volcano. Barbados lies directly over the intersection of the Caribbean plate and the South American plate in a region known as a subduction zone. Beneath the ocean floor, the South American plate slowly slides below the Caribbean plate. In the case of Barbados, coral grew over this the subduction sediment, and the coral was pushed closer and closer to the ocean surface as more sediment piled up. Barbados is known as a coral island because its base is made from coral, not volcanic lava flow.

The geology of Barbados explains the presence of several caves in the Island. Harrison’s Caves is an amazing underground cave system. The caves are enhanced by continuous rainfall and found water movement which constantly erodes the surface and subsurface of the coral beds beneath the island. This unusual geology makes Barbados a truly unique island.

Learn more about the geologic processes that shape our planet:

Try this activity Brush, Bump and Pull Experiment to show how Plate Tectonics can create an island.
This Shape it Up interactive will demonstrate that the earth’s landscape changes through forces of nature such as wind, water, glaciation, and volcanism.
This interactive tutorial will show you how earth’s changes are caused by the slipping, sliding, and colliding of tectonic plates. Then test your skills.
This click on map will show you all the plate boundaries.