by Meaghan & Marianne
High winds and a strong current did not stop our patch reef research group from collecting data this past Friday. A shift in plans from going out on Kenny T resulted in a group bike ride to Fourth Hole beach. There, the eight of us geared up with our masks, snorkels and dive slates. As soon as we made it to the reef, we began to record the species we had just learned in class. Only three weeks into the program, we are able to identify over Continue reading
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“Lionfish!”
The mixture of emotions that this one word evoked was evident: anticipation, excitement, respect.
This exotic-looking fish was unintentionally introduced to The Bahamas as a result of hurricane Andrew in 1992. Apparently, a few red lionfish escaped from a home aquarium into the ocean during the destruction caused. Without any natural predators in the local area, the lionfish population has exploded. Part of our research is to better understand how this invasive species is interacting and possibly influencing our local environment.
Today, after careful preparation, our task is to live-capture a lionfish. We hope to dissect Continue reading
“Ecology Class Adventures”
September 29, 2010
By Caciques Scott Endzel and Catharine Pirie
As half of us met in the boathouse nervously waiting for what our scuba instructors Ian and Kristen were going to teach us, we set up our equipment. As we sat awaiting instruction, they began teaching us how to maneuver with our compasses. They laid out lesson plans for the class, so that we could achieve our Advanced Open Water certificates, which consist of many underwater adventures. We headed out on the Red Rising and Kenny T to triangle cut. As we back rolled into the murky water we were swarmed by jellyfish. The stings in the face and through our rash gaurds did not stop us as we slowly descended with our buddies and began our underwater navigation. The small harmless jellyfish, though shocking, barely made a mark as we navigated through the water. We split up into buddy pairs and had to navigate ourselves in a 50 by 50 square. Continue reading
“The Island Community”
September 28, 2010
A Poem Update by Caciques George Giannos and Meagan Kachadoorian
Community meeting brought us all together
To discuss leadership and escape the rainy weather
We were all ecstatic to enjoy each other’s thoughts
And listened while we gave appreciations for the good deeds they had brought
As homework built up, so did a tad bit of stress
Our “Older Leaders” were there to help us through the mess
With our community growing stronger and though it was sappy
We ended dinner circle with our quote, “don’t worry, be happy.”
Originally from Port-de-Paix, Haiti, Joseph is a skilled stone mason, farmer, and landscaper. Joseph was introduced to the school as a stone mason contracted to build artisan walls from limestone rocks at the school’s entrance. His work was so beautiful and strong, we had to ask Joseph to stay and find other ways to utilize his skills. Joseph now manages our farm, maintaining the nursery and orchard on campus, tends to the pigs, goats and ducks, and continues to beautify the campus with his stonework and landscaping expertise. Joseph is also an avid crabber, known across the island for his uncanny ability to navigate the bush at night and catch more crabs than anyone else. He is always willing to share his interests with others, often taking students out crabbing at night, helping them with their human ecology projects, teaching creole to community members, or simply sharing stories of his life and journey from Haiti.
by: Team Acult Research: Lea Luniewicz, Nate Smith-Ide, Gian Paul Graziosi, Catharine Pirie and Augi Cummings
This was serious. This was by no means meant to be a fun dive. Dropping underneath ol’ blue, we were there for a purpose. We had one goal and one goal only…to catch some Gobies. Diving down like navy seals, we hunted around Cathedral Rock for our prize. For thirty minutes we searched high and low for those pesky fish. Hiding within the brainy coral, we scavenged like dogs the underwater realm. Spotlight gobies, commonly confused for Continue reading
“Wait…How Much Time Is Left?”
September 27, 2010
By Caciques Nate Smith-Ide and Hunter Foote
Mondays at the Island School mean we made it through yet another week; we added another notch onto our belt. Entering week five here feels unreal. Our first phone times with parents feels like only two days ago, but at the same time, orientation feels like ages ago. Time is tricky here; it never seems to make sense. What we want to draw out and enjoy, like our favorite classes or Saturday nights, feels like milliseconds. The belt of time is tightening down on us. We don’t have that much time left. It is constantly said in the girls’ dorm, “Don’t count down the days. Make the days count.” Five weeks down, nine short weeks to go. Continue reading
Written by Aubrey, Taylor, Dorothy, Ally, Clay, Liam
Not many are aware that little to no information is known on 90% of the ocean. Our goal as the Deep Water Shark research team is to collect data on deep-water shark species, and maybe even discover new species. Through use of 1100 meters of line and extensive deep water surveying, we are catching and tagging deep-water elasmobranchs. After in depth analysis, we hope that this new data will provide a basis for future Island School semesters, but more importantly it will provide knowledge and data for fisheries of the Bahamas, and other researchers.
With little knowledge on what we were doing, we spent our first day out on the water with Dr. Dean Grubbs, an experienced shark researcher and professor from FSU, hauling up the line from the depths of the ocean. Our first day was very successful, as we caught two Big-eyed sixgill sharks, and two Continue reading
“A Relaxing Day on the Cape”
by Caciques Clay Bales and Allegra Rumbough
Today we had the entire day to explore the Cape. Many of us took advantage of our sleep in, and then were off on adventure. Some of us found ourselves exploring the old abandoned clubhouse in the innerloop, but many of us headed down to the coffee shop. The coffee shop is only open to the Island School students on Sundays, so everyone is always looking forward to the weekend. The coffee shop has the same buzz as any other coffee shop in the States. There is always a nice waft of coffee beans and cinnamon in the air. Not to mention the air conditioning! Some people enjoy quality time for themselves while others chat and Continue reading
“A Little ‘Me Time’”
September 25, 2010
by Caciques Gian Paul Graziosi and Perry Leavitt
As the sun rose over the warm land of Eleuthera, the run track team was stretching before the big run. While run track was preparing for our challenge, the swim track had already started swimming their long swim to triangle-cut. Soon after 6:30, we set off on a 5 mile run, pacing ourselves through the humid rain forests. As we completed the run, many smiled in knowing that they had run more in that one day then they had in their lives. The practice was a great experience for everyone.
Saturday was filled with new experiences. For the first time each student had Querencia time. This is an allotted period of time where students are encouraged to go off campus and have “me time.” As each student took out their bike and peddled away, Continue reading