Tropical Skills Class
and
Survival Quest
and
Survival Quest
This two week experience is for those who want to push their limits, and experience survival living with the guidance of experienced survivalists. The first half will be spent learning many of the native skills we have picked up during our journeys in the Caribbean, Central America, and Hawai’i. Then, in a quest to better understand the experience of the ancient cultures of the island, we will spend the second half of the class in a survival immersion. This part of the class will take place in a remote and spectacularly beautiful corner of the island, where we will live off of the land , in a handmade shelter. This is truly a life changing experience for people, and upon re-integrating with the modern world, most people find that this class enhances their lives on a daily level. These classes can be taken separately as one-week classes, but priority is given to students enrolling in both.
Tropical Skills Class
In this week-long class, you can learn a variety of ancient skills geared towards a tropical environment. We are going for a total immersion in all things tropical, from the materials we work with our hands, to the water we swim in, to the food we eat.
There once was a time (and for some people on the earth today, this is still the case) where everything humans used for their daily living was made by hand from the plants, animals, and earth around them. Making things from the land around us to sustain ourselves and make daily life more comfortable and enjoyable is a skill that all of our ancestors had, no matter where on earth your ancestors were from. These skills tie us all together as human beings. Students in classes such as this one find they gain not only a deeper connection with the land but also with themselves. We are working the things of the land through ourselves. And so, as we all are unique, everything that each student makes is unique. Each skill that you create is a reflection of yourself.
Aside from all that philosophical stuff, these skills are just great to know if you like to travel in the tropics. Wherever you go, you can find materials that you can make things with during your travels. On vacation and forgot your hat? No problem! Just find a coconut tree and weave a new one. The clip that attaches your snorkel to your mask broke? No worries! Just find a good cordage plant and tie it together. Snorkeling session saved! Forgot your lighter to start that fire for your beach cook-out? You got it covered! Break off some dead pieces of sea hibiscus and make a hand-drill fire!
Let's not forget, these skills would be great to know if you were ever in a survival situation, especially in the tropics. Yet this class goes beyond the basic survival skills and teaches skills that would turn a bare-bones survival situation into a more comfortable living situation.
The skills we will be working on include:
fire-making from tropical woods (bow-drill, hand-drill, fire-saw, fire plough)
bone fish hooks
cordage from tropical plants
wild edible and medicinal plants of the tropics
coconut palm weaving
pottery
calabash containers
bamboo containers/utensils
primitive cooking
stone tools
primitive spear guns
fish spears
pack baskets
History is also interwoven into the class as we can't help but explore the richness of that aspect of these skills. It is not just the skill you may be working presently with your hands....that skill has a history, a life of it's own. Living, breathing people of the past helped to develop that skill. By working a skill yourself, it helps you to experience what life was like for people long ago, and for some people still to this day.
All meals are included in the cost of the class. Meals will also serve as a way to learn more about the tropical environment, as we incorporate both locally cultivated and wild foods into the menu. One of the evenings, we will also enjoy a cookout where everything is cooked over the fire without any modern cooking equipment.
Tent camping is also included in the cost of the class. If you wish to upgrade to a cabin, there is an additional fee. You can contact us to arrange a cabin rental if desired.
As this class comes the week before the Survival Quest, it is also a chance for you to work on some survival equipment that you could take out to the wilderness with you, such as primitive fishing gear, mongoose traps, a bamboo bow, etc.
Cost $900 ($800 if also taking the survival quest)(includes meals starting with dinner on the first day of the class and ending with breakfast on the last day)
(includes tent camping. If you wish to stay in a cabin, there is an extra $60/night fee, which can be split between multiple students sharing a cabin).
There once was a time (and for some people on the earth today, this is still the case) where everything humans used for their daily living was made by hand from the plants, animals, and earth around them. Making things from the land around us to sustain ourselves and make daily life more comfortable and enjoyable is a skill that all of our ancestors had, no matter where on earth your ancestors were from. These skills tie us all together as human beings. Students in classes such as this one find they gain not only a deeper connection with the land but also with themselves. We are working the things of the land through ourselves. And so, as we all are unique, everything that each student makes is unique. Each skill that you create is a reflection of yourself.
Aside from all that philosophical stuff, these skills are just great to know if you like to travel in the tropics. Wherever you go, you can find materials that you can make things with during your travels. On vacation and forgot your hat? No problem! Just find a coconut tree and weave a new one. The clip that attaches your snorkel to your mask broke? No worries! Just find a good cordage plant and tie it together. Snorkeling session saved! Forgot your lighter to start that fire for your beach cook-out? You got it covered! Break off some dead pieces of sea hibiscus and make a hand-drill fire!
Let's not forget, these skills would be great to know if you were ever in a survival situation, especially in the tropics. Yet this class goes beyond the basic survival skills and teaches skills that would turn a bare-bones survival situation into a more comfortable living situation.
The skills we will be working on include:
fire-making from tropical woods (bow-drill, hand-drill, fire-saw, fire plough)
bone fish hooks
cordage from tropical plants
wild edible and medicinal plants of the tropics
coconut palm weaving
pottery
calabash containers
bamboo containers/utensils
primitive cooking
stone tools
primitive spear guns
fish spears
pack baskets
History is also interwoven into the class as we can't help but explore the richness of that aspect of these skills. It is not just the skill you may be working presently with your hands....that skill has a history, a life of it's own. Living, breathing people of the past helped to develop that skill. By working a skill yourself, it helps you to experience what life was like for people long ago, and for some people still to this day.
All meals are included in the cost of the class. Meals will also serve as a way to learn more about the tropical environment, as we incorporate both locally cultivated and wild foods into the menu. One of the evenings, we will also enjoy a cookout where everything is cooked over the fire without any modern cooking equipment.
Tent camping is also included in the cost of the class. If you wish to upgrade to a cabin, there is an additional fee. You can contact us to arrange a cabin rental if desired.
As this class comes the week before the Survival Quest, it is also a chance for you to work on some survival equipment that you could take out to the wilderness with you, such as primitive fishing gear, mongoose traps, a bamboo bow, etc.
Cost $900 ($800 if also taking the survival quest)(includes meals starting with dinner on the first day of the class and ending with breakfast on the last day)
(includes tent camping. If you wish to stay in a cabin, there is an extra $60/night fee, which can be split between multiple students sharing a cabin).
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Survival Quest
We encourage students to take the Tropical Skills and Survival Quest back-to-back so that they can reach maximum immersion in the environment and these skills. We give priority to those students who are taking both classes simply because it helps add to the group cohesion when we go out on survival together (you will have already spent a week getting to know each other and getting to know the land).
Going out into survival is not always an easy thing for many people to commit to because you know that it is going to involve some measure of challenge. Then there are the rare few who get excited about that kind of challenge. This experience is for all types on that spectrum. We welcome the apprehensive beginners and the experienced go-getters alike. No matter where you are in your skill level, this experience is sure to help you improve your skills and learn a lot.
Testing oneself in a survival situation is something that many people may think about doing, but don't know where to start. By taking this class, it gives you a way to go into that type of experience with more confidence, since you will be going along with trained professionals.
One thing is for sure, if you are wanting to gain a closer relationship to the land and to yourself, going out into the wilderness with as little as possible is a great way to do that. Stripping away all the distractions of your normal everyday life, it gives you the opportunity to expand your perspective by taking a step away from what is normally in your face all the time. This type of experience helps you gain a greater appreciation for all the "little things" that we tend to take for granted, and realize how big those things really are. Those "little things" turn out to be the most important things in life.
The class begins at Mt. Victory Camp, which will serve as our base camp. We will begin the class with dinner on the first day, and then have that evening as well as the whole next day to introduce skills that will be helpful while out in survival, as well as time to work on some things you might want to have out there, such as cordage for fishing line, bone hooks, bamboo bow, etc. On the morning of the third day, we serve a hearty breakfast and then head out into the wilderness on the rugged and uninhabited northern coast of the island.
We spend 4 days and three nights living with the land as a tribe. While we are out there, the instructors enter into a more shared tribal role to achieve a feeling of "we are all in this together" while still teaching skills when helpful and also serving as a safety net. However there may be certain times when we hold back (for example, we are not going to start the fire for you because that would defeat the purpose of the class, but we will offer helpful hints if needed for you to have success on your own). We will all build our shelter together out of materials we gather from the land. We will hunt and fish and forage and share food around the fire.
"Surviving in a Tribe with other people adds another dynamic to the situation. Finding ways to connect with people and develop relationships based on trust and mutual respect for the path we were on together"
- Survival Quester '23
Each person is allowed to bring for the survival portion of the class:
-Knife
-Sheet
-Toothbrush
-Snorkel gear
-Water bottle
-Any hand-made gear that we make before heading out, such as natural cordage, bows and arrows, etc.
-We will also bring 3-4 machetes between the group.
We encourage people to leave their watches back at camp to give themselves the rare opportunity of not looking at the time for 4 days. We do allow people to bring cameras/phones to take pictures. There is no cell reception there, so if people bring their phones it should just be as use for a camera (again we are aiming to get rid of all those modern-day distractions).
We will return to Mt. Victory Camp in the afternoon of the 4th day in survival, after doing a bit of caretaking on the land as a way to give back. Upon our return we will share a meal together and have some time for rest, relaxation, journaling, and showering!
There will be one final night at camp as a way to focus on reintegration and processing of lessons that were learned out there. Taking time to process all those lessons is a nice gift to give yourself and essential for taking what you learned "out there" and thinking about how you will incorporate it into your "normal" life, making it perhaps not as normal as it once was.
If you are ready for a physical, emotional, and mental challenge and really want to test yourself and learn a lot all while being in a beautiful place, this is for you!
Cost: $900 ($800 if also taking the tropical skills class)(includes meals and tent camping while we are in camp the first couple days)
Going out into survival is not always an easy thing for many people to commit to because you know that it is going to involve some measure of challenge. Then there are the rare few who get excited about that kind of challenge. This experience is for all types on that spectrum. We welcome the apprehensive beginners and the experienced go-getters alike. No matter where you are in your skill level, this experience is sure to help you improve your skills and learn a lot.
Testing oneself in a survival situation is something that many people may think about doing, but don't know where to start. By taking this class, it gives you a way to go into that type of experience with more confidence, since you will be going along with trained professionals.
One thing is for sure, if you are wanting to gain a closer relationship to the land and to yourself, going out into the wilderness with as little as possible is a great way to do that. Stripping away all the distractions of your normal everyday life, it gives you the opportunity to expand your perspective by taking a step away from what is normally in your face all the time. This type of experience helps you gain a greater appreciation for all the "little things" that we tend to take for granted, and realize how big those things really are. Those "little things" turn out to be the most important things in life.
The class begins at Mt. Victory Camp, which will serve as our base camp. We will begin the class with dinner on the first day, and then have that evening as well as the whole next day to introduce skills that will be helpful while out in survival, as well as time to work on some things you might want to have out there, such as cordage for fishing line, bone hooks, bamboo bow, etc. On the morning of the third day, we serve a hearty breakfast and then head out into the wilderness on the rugged and uninhabited northern coast of the island.
We spend 4 days and three nights living with the land as a tribe. While we are out there, the instructors enter into a more shared tribal role to achieve a feeling of "we are all in this together" while still teaching skills when helpful and also serving as a safety net. However there may be certain times when we hold back (for example, we are not going to start the fire for you because that would defeat the purpose of the class, but we will offer helpful hints if needed for you to have success on your own). We will all build our shelter together out of materials we gather from the land. We will hunt and fish and forage and share food around the fire.
"Surviving in a Tribe with other people adds another dynamic to the situation. Finding ways to connect with people and develop relationships based on trust and mutual respect for the path we were on together"
- Survival Quester '23
Each person is allowed to bring for the survival portion of the class:
-Knife
-Sheet
-Toothbrush
-Snorkel gear
-Water bottle
-Any hand-made gear that we make before heading out, such as natural cordage, bows and arrows, etc.
-We will also bring 3-4 machetes between the group.
We encourage people to leave their watches back at camp to give themselves the rare opportunity of not looking at the time for 4 days. We do allow people to bring cameras/phones to take pictures. There is no cell reception there, so if people bring their phones it should just be as use for a camera (again we are aiming to get rid of all those modern-day distractions).
We will return to Mt. Victory Camp in the afternoon of the 4th day in survival, after doing a bit of caretaking on the land as a way to give back. Upon our return we will share a meal together and have some time for rest, relaxation, journaling, and showering!
There will be one final night at camp as a way to focus on reintegration and processing of lessons that were learned out there. Taking time to process all those lessons is a nice gift to give yourself and essential for taking what you learned "out there" and thinking about how you will incorporate it into your "normal" life, making it perhaps not as normal as it once was.
If you are ready for a physical, emotional, and mental challenge and really want to test yourself and learn a lot all while being in a beautiful place, this is for you!
Cost: $900 ($800 if also taking the tropical skills class)(includes meals and tent camping while we are in camp the first couple days)
