Bee Man

Our guide for the hike to Nevis Peak was a British man named Quentin. He came to Nevis on the British equivalent of the Peace Corps in the 80s and never left. He's employed by the government as a bee keeper, so around the island he's know as The Bee Man.

On Saturday, my roommates and I went out with the Bee Man. He took us around the island to show us what he does, where some of the hives are, and other stuff like that. There was something about riding around in the back of a pick up truck on a beautiful day in the Caribbean that made me so incredibly happy. What a fantastic feeling.

The Bee Man took us to his house where he showed us a contraption to use solar panels to melt beeswax. Then we went to a place where he had 4 bee hives. They were in boxes, not naturally formed. But there were so many bees. We got really close to them and somehow no one got stung. But Bee Man was telling us that a good hive can have 60 to 70,000 bees in it. He was explaining how they swarm and why, and telling us about the diseases and problems in the bee keeping industry. It was really interesting stuff.

The Bees

After those hives, we went to this old, abandon house that has a natural bee hive in the ceiling of it. The hive was huge, it was really crazy.

More bees

After he showed us around the island, we grabbed food and sat around talking. I was in Nevis, talking to a man from England about problems with the two party system of the American government and health care and global issues. I felt so worldly.

Saturday afternoon we had an event at the museum here to show off the things we've found. It was fun; I'm glad I went to it. Dr. Fitzpatrick gave a presentation on our work and our finds. The turnout wasn't great, but oh well. But while standing outside the museum, Dr. Fitzpatrick, John (the illustrator) and I had a long, intense discussion about what to do in the event of a zombie apocalypse. It was a great conversation.

Saturday night was definitely one of the best nights I've had here. Without a doubt.

Sunday we walked to a nearby beach called Lovers Beach. It was a really pretty beach. We swam for a while; I'm pretty sure everyone got pummeled in the face by a wave at some point in time. We spent all afternoon swimming and laying out. I've been trying to even out my tan lines. Except for my Chaco tan. That's staying for life. It was a fantastic day though. Exactly how one should spend a free day on a Caribbean island!