One of our (and virtually all other cruisers’) favorite pastimes is to go exploring the islands. Many cruisers bring machetes with them to bushwhack a trail through the scrub or to enlarge a trail that someone made previously. The trails meander through sand, a variety of vegetation, over rock outcroppings – including the nasty, rough, and jagged iron-stone – past ponds, up and down hills, until the other shore is reached. Part of the quest is to see the ocean – and how rough it is therefore how pleased we are to be tucked in somewhere safe and sound. Also, there are many treasures to be found on the ocean side – old fishnet floats (unfortunately, the blown glass balls are very few and far between), fishing line and nets, dolls, and more plastic than you can shake a stick at. There is so much plastic that it would be impossible to clean up every beach, and even if you could, more trash would float ashore just as the job was completed.
That does not mean that the trash is left there or not put to good use. To the greatest degree, the beachcombers collect what they can and place the trash in piles (often including an old boat or tub or barrel to contain as much as possible) in the hope that someone in authority will pick up and remove the piles. We all know that will not happen, but we all still hope for it and vainly collect trash for that eventuality.
Interesting items are retrieved for placement as trail markers so that the trail heads, and unexpected turns, are marked for the next venturesome soul. The markers often are buoys or floats, buckets or pots, cups, dolls, shoes – and there is a plethora of shoes on the ocean beaches – or pieces of colorful line (usually turquoise). During our walk, we gathered a plastic up (whose handle enabled it to be hung on a tree branch), a stencil for a chemistry lab course, a dolls arm (whose thumb would mark the way), and some line. En route we happened upon the marker in the photo adjoining this blog, which only goes to show that dinosaurs truly did wander the earth down here.