STORMY PETREL Claimed

Our large group had a good snorkel and lovely evening cruise. Sally was super informative a real pro. Good tunes. Great time. BUT, the co-captain, who was otherwise very nice, spouted off an endless stream of lies, which included: * That you get more sunburned at 4:40 PM than noon. EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS FALSE. * That Columbus didn’t discover the New World and the native inhabitants were used to trading with white men when he showed up un the Virgin Islands. LUDICROUS. THE ONLY NATIVES IN ALL THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE THAT HAD ANY CONTACT WITH EUROPEANS PRE-COLUMBUS WERE THE NATIVE AMERICANS THAT ENCOUNTERED A FEW VIKINGS IN NOVA SCOTIA. *. That Columbus came to the New World only to find gold. FALSE. HE WAS SEEKING A WESTERN TRADE ROUTE TO INDIA. *. That Columbus murdered all the natives of the Virgin Islands because they wouldn’t give him the gold he demanded, of which they had none. FALSE. SOME OF THE NATIVES OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS WERE ENSLAVED, SOME DIED OF WESTERN DISEASES, AND MOST FLED TO OTHER ISLANDS TO ESCAPE SPANISH SETTLEMENT IN THE REGION. THEY WERE NOT MURDERED WHOLESALE BY COLUMBUS, BUT WERE LARGELY GONE BY 100 YRS POST-COLUMBUS. ALSO, PRE-CONTACT GOLD HAS BEEN FOUND IN ONLY A FEW CARIBBEAN ISLANDS, OF WHICH ST JOHN IS ONE. SO, THEY DID HAVE GOLD. These and an other ahistorical falsehoods were met with skepticism by the children in our group, and their parents were none to pleased with these lies. How many tourists has this guide misinformed? Great boat though.