by Philip Beardsley

Back down to paradise…this time, not as an Island School student, rather as a Gap Year student! The first 10 days or so down here have far exceeded my expectations. As anticipated, there was a warm welcome for us all at the Rock Sound Airport – what better way to embark on such a journey? Being that there are only three Gap Year students, we have gotten to spend a lot of time with the other interns, which has been very enjoyable.

The week started off with a few days of orientation followed by a trip down island. The Down Island Trip was truly amazing – it was a great way to get a sense of the general vibe on Eleuthera and to get a broad picture of what the lifestyle is like down here. Needless to say, it is very different to that from which we are all coming! For me, the best part about being back here is how friendly everybody is, always beaming with smiles on their faces. Few things are more enjoyable than to witness
such happiness.

As for activity down at the Cape, we’ve been exposed to a little bit of everything. We were given an in depth tour of the campus and had the opportunity to do various things such as work on the farm with Joseph, harvest tilapia with the aquaponics team, explore the nearby sand bar to further understand the ecology of the place in which we find ourselves, go identify many different kinds of plants and understand their importance on Eleuthera and lastly, learn how to make bush tea and bush medicine. These past 10 days have really been the introductory phase of our time spent down here – with Tropical Isaac having passed, the research and SCUBA diving begins!