Students jump from High Rock  during morning exercise. 

The island of Eluthera is full of wonders. Yesterday, we were given the opportunity to explore this adventurous place. Many people got up early to meditate at seven in the morning, while most enjoyed the rare opportunity to sleep in. The hundreds of beaches around the island attracted many of the Island School students during their time off. Going to the beach, finishing laundry and completing an essay were some of the many things juggled on the day off.  In our free day we relaxed, discovered new things and prepared for the upcoming academic schedule.

Students visit Fourth Hole Beach to snorkel and relax on the sand.

Owen’s Day (cacique number 1):

Like many others, I tried to take advantage of the opportunity to sleep in, but of course that did not go as planned. The students who either woke up to say goodbye to Nathan (a student who had to leave early in the morning), or woke up to go to meditation made enough noise to prevent me from sleeping, which worked out in the end considering how quickly the day went by. After relaxing with some friends outside the dorm, we made our way to the marina store to enjoy some air conditioning and to do some laundry. After returning to school for lunch, I hung out with new friends and listened to some good music while writing a personal essay about our newfound connection to the land here on Eleuthera. After dinner it was off to night classes and then into our dorms until bedtime. I look forward to exploring the island more with the free days that we will be given in the weeks to come.

The Island School provides bikes to students to facilitate in our discovery of the island.

Mary Margaret’s Day (cacique number 2):

The girl’s dorm was up and about at around 6:50. Many girls ran to meditation in the morning while others took advantage of the sleep-in day. Later on, many students biked off to the various beaches while others stayed on campus to complete the essay that was assigned. Because everyone’s day was different, I will take this time to explain mine. First order of the day was the essay. Once completed, I went to Sunset Beach (a beach near the Marina). After swimming for a while, we decided to move on to a more adventurous destination. We went to Fourth Hole Beach. It is a secluded beach that looks incredibly close to a dream-like vacation destination. It was amazing. Despite my sunburned face, this day was easily one of my favorite Island School memories yet. Yesterday Island School students biked around the island of Eleuthera creating only one of the many amazing memories yet to come.

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Only 12 days left! As we start to near the end of our 6-week experience here at the Island School, we are beginning to realize that sadly this will mean leaving each other and the memories we have made here. Yesterday we said goodbye to half of our group as they embarked on their second kayak trip, though slightly longer—a three day journey instead of two. Unfortunately it rained and thundered nearly all day, pausing only for a couple hours, so the 12 of us who stayed back are hoping our fellow kayakers are alive and well. Yesterday, after bidding farewell to the group, the rest of us stayed back and began work on our Legacy project—a tradition of The Island School; essentially a project that we do towards the end of our experience that incorporates the work and creativity of each of us. Aaron, from CEI, has been working on creating a channel that carries the waste from the fish being researched in CEI to the ocean. This waterway, joining the mangroves and ocean together, is crucial for filtering out the excrement of the fish while simultaneously carrying in fresh salt water to hydrate the mangrove trees. The channel, however, is not in ideal condition, with nearly all of its wall buried in the sand. Together, we uncovered the rock-encrusted wall, and took turns loading conch shells from the midden pile on Girls Dorm Beach onto the sides, so as to prevent the sand from caving in. Although it was pouring rain, it actually turned out to be a lot of fun, and we felt really accomplished with what we had done. However because we did not want to steal all of the fun away from the rest of the group, half of the wall is still awaiting the toils of the other 12 who will be returning tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, we have a sleep in yay (and no morning exercise)!! Well got to go but that’s it for now!!

From Caciques Isaac and Tristan

With the conclusion of the final academic week we have begun preparing for the Monster Run-Swim that will take place in a little over a week. Two days ago we were driven out to High Rock where we jumped into the ocean and swam a half mile to a beach where we climbed out and ran to No-Name harbor. We continued running and swimming all the way back to The Island School for a total of about five miles. On Friday night everyone was invited to a party at the Maxeys’ house. We were fed incredible food and had a chance to hang out and given a break from work. When we returned to The Island School we had a dance party in the boathouse for at least an hour and a half. It was so much fun but also exhausting. Today the first of two groups of kayakers will leave campus for a two night trip. The second night of the trip they will have their 24 hour solo to get to know themselves a little better. When they return on Tuesday the second trip will head out the next day.

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From your local Caciques Tristan and Bethlehem

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“Today the first Foodies team, visited Edrin’s farm in Rock Sound. After Alicia’s introduction of Edrin, I was really excited to see the person behind the vast “One man farm”. When we got there Edrin was in his work cloth waiting for our arrival. He first took us to see his greenhouse garden where we got to see how he develops his plants. I had later on asked Edrin where he got the soil that he uses in his garden, and he explained that he got it from a settlement that was cleared in Rock Sound. The type of soil that we saw piled in front of the nursery was different from the one on the ground. This was the beginning of the string of questions that I had asked Edrin, each question leading me on to the next. Edrin had been in the farming business for 23 years, and he knew the ins and outs of the Bahamian soil. ‘I do what I do because I love it..’ he said, when I asked him about the number of years he had spent farming, ‘…my father did it, my grandfather, and great grandfather were all farmers…this runs in my blood’ I could sense Edrin’s passion, and commitment to his profession, as he answered each question expertly. I felt like I learned so much from interviewing Edrin, than I would have being in a closed classroom, I felt the information flowing in. It was interesting to catch myself saying ‘…ahhh’, and reaching ‘light bulb’ moments every 15 minutes…

…It was interesting to see that Edrin imported some of his grass from Nassau, and he used small patches of it to repopulate the grass around his farm. This really made me wonder if the grass patches I see around the Marina were also planted there artificially. I also wondered how hard it is for farmers to produce vegetables, and fruit locally with conditions such as Edrin’s. Does the Bahamian government promote agricultural practices to empower the local population? Edrin also mentioned that not many people have the patience to do what he does, I also wonder if that is an issue with the local Bahamians participating in agriculture. Most of them might not be skilled workers, or others are interested in pursuing ventures that give off instant results. This could be the reason why most Bahamians depend on fishing as one of their primary methods to acquire food. Under such conditions, the need for importing arises as the demand for foods like vegetables, mutton, and fruits cannot all be fulfilled locally.

Our dinning principles speak for themselves. In our dining hall there is a huge sign carved in wood that says ‘Eat Locally’. I believe that the Island school is trying to minimize its consumption of imported products by choosing the service of local producers instead of exporters. These actions can be testified by the School’s efforts to support local farmers like Edrin, hydroponics, and the aquaculture cage in CEI. The many awareness programs the Island School promotes among its students, the local population, and beyond, is also another way the Island School addresses these issues.

From what Edrin mentioned today, I could see the connection of why Agriculture is not a common practice in the Bahamas. Ethiopia, unlike the Bahamas has 85% of the rural population engaged in agriculture. This may be because Ethiopia is around the tropics, and gets about 5 months of intense rainfall, almost no dry seasons, and 12 months of sunshine. Such conditions are very suitable for vegetation to grow quickly. While in the Bahamas, we have a population that is engaged in either fishing or tourism because the soil (being sandy) requires much more work than the one in Ethiopia. The weather conditions in the Bahamas are not most suitable for growing most vegetation. Edrin also mentioned that the Bahamas has major rainy seasons only three months a year. This might have highly impacted the culture, and lifestyle of the Bahamians, as they are not accustomed into having agricultural practices passed down from generation to generation. A few farmers like Edrin will be only the small handful of farmers that will try to produce local meat and other products while the rest of the local population is (and have been) accustomed to consuming food products that others harvested. This might have started the need to import into the Bahamas, as the local demand outweighed the supply available in the Islands.

Today I kept asking myself, what is the way forward? How can we ensure that the future food system in the Bahamas is self-sustainable? Honestly I couldn’t find the answer to this question, I only had the many problems (that I mentioned in this journal) and it really troubled me. It almost seems like there is an un-shakable system that is in place. I recalled the time during my SERT trip when Avian was mentioning that he grows vegetables seasonally (whenever he could), and other times he would import from Nassau (since he couldn’t produce enough vegetables to sustain his restaurant business). Is tourism a blessing and a curse for Bahamians? The food import—export business does not look like it is going to sustain the Bahamian population, or the growing tourism industry, but what does this mean to the new generation of Bahamians? Locally produced food seems like it’s a viable option for many reasons, but I wonder if there are structures in place to gather enough resources, and manpower to make it a reality.”

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Claire Miles

“…Along with the general negative economic trend in the world, Eleuthera is facing a problem with a declining tourism industry, an industry that much of the Bahamas depends on. This makes me wonder, what are people on these islands doing to make up for the revenue that is lost in the declining tourism industry? Are they relying more on fishing and exportation of tropical seafood such as conch? Or are they even able to close the gap that the weakening economy has opened? There is also the future to consider; the Bahamas’ reliance on importation to supply all of its inhabitants and tourists might prove to be too ambitious if the worldwide economy continues to worsen. If businesses can no longer afford to buy goods from other countries, they can close down, contributing to an economic downward spiral.

During another part of the SERT, we visited Avian’s, a place that specializes in conch dishes. While we watched the process of creating a conch salad, we also learned a lot about how the business receives the food that they use in their recipes. Out of all the ingredients, including onion, green pepper, tomato, conch, orange, and lime, only the conch and some of the peppers weren’t imported products. The restaurant also makes about thirty to fifty conch salads a day, in addition to all of their other menu items. I assume then, that even with efforts to grow their own ingredients, there’s just not enough land available to service the large demand on the island. In order to keep the economy going, importing goods is necessary. It is a step in the right direction to use the local conch and local-grown vegetables, but it would be absurd to think that everyone could survive off of just seafood and sparse fruit and vegetables. Importing foods is also necessary to prevent over fishing or over harvesting of local goods, and to maintain the balance of the ecosystem. I’m interested to know how many people on Eleuthera practice things like composting, which could help them grow crops, and the effect that island-wide composting could have on the community. If businesses, restaurants, and most residences made efforts to create their own soil, would it offset the need to import produce? Would product prices go down, or would they stay the same, as in the case of the local pineapples in the supermarket? Would switching to compost have any downsides to a business? Is it a plan that would even have enough of an impact on the community? It’s not easy to supply a whole community of islands with hundreds of necessities that can’t be found locally, and I know that importing goods is necessary, but hopefully in the future the islands can make efforts to reduce the amount of food that they need to import. This could ideally lead to lower prices in the markets, and easier lives for the people.”

Tommy Robertshaw

Tourism today is defined by the pursuit of luxury. Eco-tourism ventures are on the increase, but they certainly don’t constitute the majority of the industry. In our Harkness discussion of Lopez’s Rediscovery of North America, my group grappled with a difficult scenario. We imagined a workingman or woman, one struggling through seventy-hour weeks. One who wants, after working hard, to be pampered on a luxurious vacation. We asked ourselves, “Are we in the right to deny that person his or her pampering (even in the name of conservation)?”

Our kayak trip was one far removed from any semblance of luxury, but throughout the journey I felt more closely connected to my environment than I ever have. We were “roughing it,” no doubt. Semi-erect tents, pernicious no-see-ums, and hesitant trips to “Dookey Point” connected us to our surroundings in a uniquely intimate way. That’s the idea, in the end, isn’t it? To live “intimately with the land, knowing it as you would a person.” It’s what Lopez tells us, at any rate. Resident EMR, Nick Lanza, seconds the notion, repeating periodically throughout the trip: “We are creatures of the earth!”

Following from that idea of connection, we explored the theme of “Leave No Trace.” It’s a philosophy with the mission to leave a place better than you found it. Hence, when gorp fell on the sand, it was quickly eaten; when we left our fire, we dispersed the extra wood; when trash from previous visitors was found, it was carried back to be disposed of. We left no trace of our having camped where we did. The beach was surely better for it.

Along our journey, we saw traces of human interaction with the land and ecosystem (not all so harmless). We honed our paddling skills in a man-made cut. How much have that and other man-made harbors around the school interrupted natural eco-systems? Might they threaten mangroves, and thus diminish transition habitat for juvenile marine life and hasten beach erosion?

Even conservation can leave traces. As we worked with CEI to tag juvenile lemon sharks, we observed as the sharks were caught and processed, leaving yellow-fin mojarra casualties, tags, clipped dorsal fins, and microchips in our paths.

Seeing the spectrum of human interaction with a place, from “Leave no Trace,” to potentially harmful man-made harbors, to the necessary traces left by conservation, I kept returning to the question: “How does one live well in a place?” I’m not sure of the answer. Maybe one, clear answer doesn’t even exist. But I think it lies (especially as far as tourism goes) in finding a middle-ground between the pampered workman on vacation and a dedicated “Leave no trace philosophy.” A system of loving the environment, being intimate with it, but enjoying it at the same time.

During our first day of SCUBA diving, Weston and I, Lizzie, were the two Caciques. Having opposite amounts of experience, I was extremely nervous, whereas Weston was eager to jump in. The first dive did not sit well with me. I hopped out of the water and went to lunch, but could not stop thinking about my second dive in only forty-five minutes. When I reached the bottom of my second dive, my fears suddenly melted away as I explored the beautiful, Bahamian scenery. Although my SCUBA diving experience got off to a rocky start, I couldn’t help but love the beautiful scenery 25 feet below the surface.

My name is Weston Albury and I was one of the Caciques yesterday and Wednesday night. I was chosen by Tommy and Larissa for my amazing energy and uplifting attitude. As part of the SCUBA program for the first week we had a really fun couple of days. I was part of team barracuda and we had a really fun time. On the first day we did a confined water dive off the dock. After lunch we went on our first open water dive to a place called the saddle. This is the name of the dive site because the bottom is in the shape of a saddle. I loved diving in the saddle because there were these really cool walls that went up the sides of the saddle that had some juvenile fairy basslets. Today I will be SCUBA certified and can go diving with anyone!

Kayak Caciques Silas and Aiko!

While on the K1 trip we stopped and learned about mangrove trees. We learned that mangroves are lot different than other trees in the way that they can grow in salt water. Our favorite thing that we did on the trip was when we stopped and helped the CEI researchers catch, tag, and measure a bunch of little lemon and black tipped sharks. We helped rush the sharks into a seine net. This really made us think that it would be awesome to intern here one day. We are also very much looking forward to the road trip that we are going to take to explore the southern part of the island. It should be an awesome experience!