Hi everyone. My name is Megs and I am going to be writing student updates for the next week. I’ll begin by catching you up on the last few days: Last Saturday night, we had our last community-bonding event before kayak rotations. I want to give a shout-out to the Caciques for coming up with such a creative idea! All 48 of us stuffed onto the Cobia (the large dive-boat) and headed to the sand bar (a completely sand island off of the Cape) We had to wade through the water in the moonlight to get to shore. Once there, we built a fire, ate cookies, played music and danced, simply spend time together as a whole community.  It was probably one of my favorite evenings. After, Ashley, Anya, and I watched 17 Again and fell asleep.

This past Sunday was the most relaxing one yet. I woke up at 8:00(for some reason, I can’t seem to sleep-in anymore, probably because I am used to getting up at 6:15 every day!) After breakfast, a group of us went exploring around the High Rock area. I really love the independence that having bikes gives us at IS. While we were swimming, we saw tons of fish (that we can now identify thanks to Marine Ecology class) and a ray! I have seen more rays in the month and a half here at IS than I have in my entire life! In the afternoon, Dana and I went snorkeling outside of No Name harbor, which was one of the most beautiful areas on the island. The visibility was absolutely perfect and we saw another ray, a huge queen triggerfish, and best of all: a black tip reef shark! Though it was only 3-4 feet, it was still such an exhilarating experience. While I feel like The Island School has been incredibly challenging and stressful on so many levels, the tight supportive community and unique experiences make it more than worth it.

The 5-week academic rotations have come to an end and our community is splitting apart into Kayak rotations. Today, half our class I leaving: K1 is leaving on their 8 day kayak trip to Lighthouse point, and K2 is heading north on the 3-day down-island trip. They are going to have so many amazing experiences and face so many demanding challenges. K3 and K4 are staying here for one more week and a half of academic rotations. It’s weird to have half of the group leave when we’ve all become so close, I am definitely going to miss everyone and the unique things that they bring to the community. My friend Ashley and I were just reflecting on how much The Island School and its community feels like home already. But of course, the Island School’s goal is to push you out of your comfort zone so things are once again, changing.