by Cacique Tessa Tracy

Today was a busy day of Island School life! On Sunday we had a routine school day, so today was our free day for the week, but with more Kayak andDownIslandgroups leaving tomorrow, the day was packed. Last night, when I was on my night dive, the first kayak group to finish their 8-day came home. I was excited to hear that they all had an amazing time, and a bunch felt it was the best part ofIslandSchoolthus far. But still, they were reluctant to tell us too much, especially in terms of our 48-hour solo. After a long day of packing and logistics I am at the edge of my seat in anticipation. Part of me is nervous, because I know it will be long and hard, but most of me is excited for bonfires and beautiful sights. My group, K3, is changing it up by having some students hiking along shore while other students are kayaking. Between kayaking through the windy weather we have been getting, and snorkeling stunning reefs, this will be an action packed trip. Every challenge I have faced here so far has proven to be for the best, so I have no doubt that I will gain something from this adventure. I can already tell these will be eight days that I will remember forever.

by Cacique Grace

Skimming over clear blue water in the setting sun, we raced towards Tunnel Rock before dark set in. After several attempts thwarted by bad weather, several students finally got the chance to go night diving. Excited chatter and worries about man-eating sharks filled the boat ride to the reef. Before we knew it, we had plopped backwards off the boat into darkness. Slowly, we made our way to the seafloor forty feet below. Swimming around the base of the reef, we watched coral polyps filter the water with tiny fingers, fish hide in crevices for the night, and stingrays dodge our bright lights. The reef at night is a completely different world than in the daytime. The purple and yellow fairy basslets and colorful parrotfish were replaced by small, translucent fish, crabs and squirrelfish that darted in front of our lights. Through the water, glowing lights from other divers pierced the darkness, illuminating tiny circles of sea fans and coral.

Following each other’s lights through a tunnel in the reef, we felt like aquanauts exploring a new world as we swam through the tight pass. Continue reading →

by Caciques Helen and Harry

With K3 and K4’s academic weeks coming to a close, we are also passing off our Human Ecology Projects to our friends in K1 andK2, who will be picking it up when they’re done with their Kayak and Down Island expeditions. For the last few days, we have been hard at work, studying osprey, agriculture, mangroves, and bees. My group, the remaining half of Coconut Palm, was hard at work trying to get bees back to The Island School campus, both for the pollination of our orchard and so we can get fresh honey into our kitchens. After doing some research, the team, including Claire, Brian, Frankie, Erik and I, realized that in order to successfully start a hive we’d need to a get a queen honeybee to make The Island School its home. And as simple as that sounds, its really not. Groups had done it in the past, but the hive never stayed for more than a few months. We decided that we would be the group to change the future of The Island School bee issue. Continue reading →

by Caciques Tori Suslovitch and Brendan McDonnell

Today was the first full day that all of us were split up into two groups; half of us are out on 8-day kayak trips and trips “DownIsland.” In the next few days, kayakers will be camping out and the students going down island will get the chance to see the North side of Eleuthera. The other half of us are staying on campus for an academic week: classes today included a Research Statistics class, Marine Ecology, and Math.

During exploration time today, we rode our bikes to theMarina, enjoyed candy bars and cold sodas at the Marina Store, and floated down the current cut – a place where the tidal currents create a “lazy river” through the narrow channel. Swimming in the current cut is a little bit like life at The Island School: similar to the variety of marine life that coexists in the cut – butterflyfish, angelfish, grouper, stingrays, and countless others -  the Island Schools brings students from a variety of different places and backgrounds together. Continue reading →

by Caciques Tori O and Erik

Due to the crazy schedule of kayak rotations, this Sunday was not our day off but rather a regular day filled with academic classes.  After sleep in till 8:00and breakfast, the morning began with Literature Class in which we discussed the importance of a hero’s journey both within the text of Omeros, as well as in our own lives.  We talked about famous heros we have read about and watched in movies and compared those to the personal heroes that play important roles in shaping who we are as individuals.  After Literature we had a long block of art which focused on the special objects we collected during our beach sweep the previous day.  We explored why these objects became personal as well as began water colors which displayed our objects in a unique way.

Following lunch we split into our Human Ecology classes and continued working on our projectitos.  The four groups, Mangroves, Osprays, Bees, and Agriculture continued to work in the field as well as on their presentations for the following day.  Our hard work went up till dinner which was then followed by regular study hours.

by Cacique Claire

We worked under the hot Bahamian sun shoveling seaweed to build our little mound of nutrients. All the while we talked about what it meant to be at The Island School and how after everyone has gone home, every student here leaves a legacy. Which is exactly what we did today! Today was legacy day here at The Island School which meant we all split up into groups and worked on certain projects to beautify and improve the campus. The mission of our group was to help to give shade and protection to the aquaponics wet lab, by planting trees and bushes in front of it. To do this we laid out logs then put down tree branches and on top of that we layered seaweed and sand to give our plants nutrients to grow. While we were hauling the logs and shoveling the seaweed we all began to talk about what we were doing. I imagined returning to The Island School years from now, and looking over to the wet lab and seeing the tall trees, that were the babies we planted today. We all began talking about what it’s like here at The Island School, and what our wanted our own personal legacies to look like. Continue reading →

by Caciques Ihna and James

Yesterday, we visited a cruise ship port inSouth Eleutheracalled Princess Cays. Through our interactions with tourists, local Bahamians and cruise ship employees, we were able to get different perspectives on how the industry affects the individual lives of local Bahamians, and their economy as a whole. For most, this trip was an eye-opener. We started to realize how muchIslandSchoolis really changing us, how it has affected the way we act and think.

Ihna:  During our tour of the facilities, we often asked questions that related to how sustainable the area is. They were atypical questions, like “How do you get rid of your waste (both human and garbage)?” and “Do you use chemicals to get rid of the mosquitoes?”

All in all, it was a very interesting experience. It was really our first time being around non-locals and in fact, for me, I felt more comfortable approaching the Bahamian workers than the tourists. Continue reading →

by Caciques Hallie and John

Today started out like so many before, gusting wind and a drizzle of rain. Not the kind of whether you’d expect from The Bahamas, but then again this whole experience has been a rollercoaster, fun but a little strange at points.  We had our run/swim tracks, with the runners sprinting around the Marina, and the swimmers swimming sprints through triangle cut. We then went to breakfast and prepared for the art field trip planned for the morning. We met at the vans at9:15for the drive to a beach in Rock Sound where we started off our time there with a 20-minute individual sketch session on the beach. The ocean was filled with white caps and the wind was whipping as we drew in our sketchbooks. Continue reading →