Youngsters trek for silver and gold
The Captain Moxy which transported the trekkers to
the remote Bahaman islands.
Youngsters trek across the beach on one of their
journeys.
Preparation is everything when trekking in the
wilderness.
Friday, November 18, 2005
Participants from the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award attended
the annual Caribbean Award Scheme Council (CASC) Expedition/Adventurous
Journey in the Bahamas earlier this year and brought home a number of awards.
Scouts Roje Williams, Rashan Halstead, Christopher
Clarke, Ryan Whittaker, Davado McField, Jamie Avila and Paul Palmer all
completed the Adventurous Journey for their Silver Award while Girls’
Brigaders Stephanie Watler and Krishan Welcome completed the qualifying
journey for their Gold Award. The young people were accompanied by staff
member Fritz McPherson, and Janet Dixon, Contingent Leader.
This year the camp, which is in its 26th year, included
hiking by day and sailing by night. Upon arrival at the camp, the
participants, leaders and staff went straight into Water Safety Training, due
to the nature of this expedition.
Water Safety entailed training in how to abandon a ship
in an emergency, how to rescue and also assist into a lifeboat at sea.
Participants undertook a week of physical training, map
reading, first aid and water safety at Base Camp in Nassau, after which they
were ready to undertake the five-day and six-night Adventurous Journey.
This year’s journey began on 5 August when the
participants boarded a mail boat, the “Captain Moxy”, with sleeping bags,
rations and Gravol, in tow. The participants traveled from Nassau to five of
the more remote Islands of the Bahamas, namely: Eleuthera, Cat Island, San
Salvador, Long Island and Exuma.
Each night the Captain Moxy sailed the participants to
the designated island. Each morning the participants fortified themselves
with rations, water, compasses and maps and trekked through various terrains
for up to 14 miles a day.
The Adventurous Journey took the participants across
stretches of ocean, rugged iron shore, beautiful white beaches, a ‘mountain’
rivaling the Bluff, and dense woodland. During the expedition the delegates
learnt to appreciate water and claimed it as their best friend, because there
were many times in the hike when this became scarce.
In addition, each delegate was expected to cook and
produced “exquisite” dishes ranging from soup to macaroni, cheese and tuna.
All delegates were also required to navigate at some
stage in the expedition and in so doing, heightened their map reading skills.
After successfully completing the Adventurous Journey,
the participants returned to Base Camp in Nassau to tend to their blisters,
cuts and bruises, and to catch up on some well-deserved rest!
For the participants, the 2005 Adventurous Journey was
above all a cultural experience, and also caused a greater appreciation and
respect for Mother Nature, they all said.
The experiences and the lessons learnt are something that
the delegates will never forget and will take with them through life.
After the expedition one of the boys said “I never knew
we could have fun without certain material things like TV or radio. These
lessons will be taught to the younger boys in our Scouting Network and assist
with preparing them mentally and physically not only for the next CASC, but
for the road in life.”
Countries which participated in the camp along with the
Cayman Islands were Antigua & Barbuda, Bermuda, Canada, Grenada, Guyana,
Jamaica, Scotland, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago
and the Bahamas.
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