Pageantry

Pageants seem to be ridiculously popular in the BVI, and perhaps even through the Caribbean. It seems like every few weeks, driving by the MultiPurpose Sports Complex will reveal a new pageant, as well-dressed contestants with sashes gather out front.

All these pageants lead up to the big one -- Miss BVI, held Festival Sunday night, in time to have the new Miss BVI on the float for the parade on Festival Monday.

This year's winner will go on to represent the BVI in the Miss Caribbean World 2012 Pageant next May, as well as Miss Universe 2012.

The parade also celebrates the runners up and other award winners from the Miss BVI pageant, which was televised on the local access channels (1 and 52)

But Miss BVI is not the only pageant held throughout the year. Aspiring hopefuls to the Miss BVI crown must first compete in a variety of other pageants. Here we see Miss Fifth Form (12-13 year olds) and below is Miss Caribbean Talented Teen.

These are only a small handful of the crowned and be-ribboned pageant winners that passed HB on the parade route. No shortage of pageants and winners in the BVI

Festival

It is Festival time in the British Virgin Islands. Festival is an annual event that lasts two weeks, and celebrates the reading of the Emancipation Act at the old well on Joe's Hill in 1834.

Vendors set up stands along the parade route

Emancipation is celebrated on the first Monday in August, and the festivities begin two Thursdays prior to that, with the opening of the festival grounds and concerts nightly. The Festival Village has an amusement park for children, along with vendor stands.

Even dogs get adorned for the occasion

The big celebration really gets going the Friday before Festival Monday. Concerts go all night, and end only with the 4am Rise and Shine Steel Drum Tramp. Sunday is a bit more solemn: there's a re-enactment of the reading of the Emancipation Act, and it stays pretty quiet through the evening.

Costumes are a big deal for the dance troops

Festival Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are all official holidays, meaning government and many businesses are closed. The culmination of Festival is on Festival Monday, when the parade happens.

Since I was working yesterday, HB went to the parade by himself, and was good enough to take pictures for me to share with you.

Two, double-decker trailers filled with steel drums and trash barrels -- the loudest thing at the parade

After Monday, the celebrations move from downtown Road Town to East End and Carrot Bay. The denouement is a three-day "Family Fiesta" in Carrot Bay, with more music, and lots of family and kid-friendly activities, like donkey races and fishing contests. Family Fiesta ends on Friday, finishing the two weeks of celebration. 

As thorough a kludge as I've ever seen

My favorite of HB's pictures. The woman is wearing a costume representing Virgin Gorda (the Baths). The donkey carries a tourist bus.

Private Beach

The hotel where I work has closed for maintenance, as it does every summer. While most of the staff is off on vacation, I'm hanging out in the office answering phones and responding to e-mail. I definitely had an end-of-school style bit of depression on Thursday when everyone said goodbye. I'm not looking forward to the difficulty of finding places to eat and hang out, as many hotels and restaurants close for August.

But I've come to realize it's not all bad.

I get time off in September.

And in the meantime, I have this lovely beach all to myself.

Strays

As with nearly every island in the Virgin Islands, Tortola has more than its fair share of stray dogs. While not as numerous as chickens, dogs are everywhere, and it's unusual to take a drive without seeing one.

Most island dogs are not really strays. They likely were procured by a family as a puppy, but not named or ever invited into the house. Left to run free, they can still usually rely on being fed by the family.

Still, I often see island dogs scavenging near dumpsters -- unsurprising, as there are probably good eats in there.

It's probably a good thing for me that they're so numerous. If there were only one or two that I saw all the time, they would probably be members of my family by now. But with so many, I've realized that I can't save them all.

HB might have a hard time convincing me not to adopt just one though, before we move back to the States.

Dining Room Lake

Woke up this morning to about 2 inches of water in our hallway and on our dining room floor. Water is leaking at a fairly rapid rate from the bottom of the toilet, where it meets the floor. The water's been off to our apartment for about an hour to try to control the situation, but it keeps leaking. The plumber thinks a pipe under the toilet might have burst

If we get this solved, I'll be on later to post again.

For now, back to sweeping water out of the house.

Current

Perhaps it's because I didn't grow up around the ocean, but I find the entire idea of currents quite confusing. I've been thinking about ocean currents lately because of seaweed. Unlike the Florida Keys, where the beaches and coastline are often lined with dead, dried seaweed, Tortola's shores remain primarily seaweed-free. Why are the Keys inundated with seaweed while the BVI is left barren?

Except that over the last three days, I've noticed this accumulation of seaweed along the coastal highway just past Pockwood Pond. For a stretch of maybe a mile, the coastline is clogged with seaweed. What changed in the ocean current to cause this sudden buildup? And why is it only in this particular spot, not all over Tortola?

It also seems that maybe this is a regular occurrence, as on Saturday, I noticed a passel of locals pulled over and harvesting the dried seaweed that had washed up on shore. I suppose that they too had just seen it while driving by, but it seemed as though many folks on Saturday were driving specifically to that spot for the seaweed harvest. Granted, I haven't seen anyone collecting since then.

I realize that there are many things that could contribute to this unusual seaweed event other than ocean currents. Maybe the ocean temperature is higher which is causing the seaweed to die and float to the surface. Maybe a passing storm tore a bunch of kelp from its tenuous roots, or there's been an invasion of sea urchins with the same result. But for now, since I don't understand them, I'm blaming the currents. I'm pretty sure they're at least responsible for this accretion only occurring on a two-mile stretch of coastline.

Trash Disposal

A stinky subject for today, it occurred to me that while I've written about most of the utilities on island, one thing I've never addressed is what happens to trash in the BVI.

Shortly after moving to Tortola last August, it became apparent to me that I needed to find out the trash truck schedule. Moving always seems to involve a lot of trash -- boxes and packing materials and all the things you realize you didn't need after all. After a week, we had accumulated enough trash that I set it outside, and vowed to be vigilant to find out when trash pick-up was. A week later, with stinking trash accumulating on our porch and no garbage truck in sight, I went to my best source for information of this sort, the neighbor girl.

I asked Michelle, "what day is trash day?". She stared at me blankly. I rephrased, "which day does the truck come to pick up the trash?" She took a beat, and then explained that the trash truck came on Sunday, but only to the dumpsters. It took me a minute to cotton on, but I finally realized that there was no residential trash pick-up in the BVI. To dispose of all the trash sitting on the porch, I would have to load it into my car and drive it to the closest dumpster. I'm glad I talked to Michelle -- the idea of having to carry my own trash would never have occurred to me otherwise, having never lived anywhere before that didn't offer curbside pick-up.

I'm accustomed to this aspect of BVIsland life now. What I'm still having trouble getting used to is that there is no recycling offered on the island. Tortola is small, only about 22 square miles. There is no space for a landfill, and as a result, all the trash gets incinerated. While the incineration does prevent the island from being overtaken with trash, it also affects the air quality in this otherwise fairly-pristine part of the world. I can't help but think that recycling would help reduce the amount of trash going to the incinerator, and therefore improve the quality of air on island.