On a recent Wednesday morning, three safari buses packed with cruise ship tourists drove into the parking lot of the Centre for Applied Marine Studies at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College.
Curator Geoffrey Brooks met the visitors, then gave them a tour, explaining items on display in the museum: models and photographs of old boats; items recovered from shipwrecks; tools used in boat building; a “wall of fame” recognising major players in the territory’s marine history.
“The museum is dedicated to preserving the maritime heritage of the BVI and the knowledge of the traditional wooden boat of the BVI,” Mr. Brooks said. “It really is the essence of things in the BVI.”
Cruise ship tourists were first brought to the museum in October after college officials met with Elroy Fahie and Ishmael Scatliffe of Elroy’s Pleasure Tours, according Judith Vanterpool, HLSCC’s dean of workforce training.
The tours are to continue until April with passengers from cruise lines including Aurora, AIDA Luna and Oceana P&O.
See the Feb. 2, 2012 edition for full coverage.