by Caciques Margaux Burnham and CJ Easton

This week at The Island School most of the students are participating in a night dive as a part the advanced open water portion of PADI scuba training.  So, Tuesday night I, and the rest of the Limpets scuba group, participated in a beautiful night dive.  Every person jumped into the water at night to see the fluorescent coral reefs of Tunnel Rock.  Our group has visited Tunnel Rock before in the daytime but it was hardly recognizable while wearing this cloak of darkness. After one gets over the fear that some hidden predator is lurking in the darkness you can really enjoy the underwater world’s nightlife.  Continue reading →

by Caciques Charlie Fichtner and Taylor Schendel

Today provided us a chance to go explore a new part of Eleuthera. We got to go to Princess Cays, an island right off Eleuthra dedicated to entertaining cruise ship passengers, a day at a time. We arrived to the sight and were given a tour of the area by the manager. He showed us how the cruise liner transports all the food and workers to the island before the passengers get there. We then had lunch at the buffet then had a chance to explore. It was amazing to me to see how much this island varied from the rest of Eleuthera. Continue reading →

by Caciques Brandon Gell and Sarah Francisco

*Morning exercise

            Freediving in a tunnel

It changed my life*

*Went to Schooner Cays

            Celestial navigation

Looked at the sun* Continue reading →

“Ghost Town”

by Caciques Chris Pibl and Catharine Pirie

Campus has been a ghost town for the past few days. While some groups left for 8 day kayak, others were leaving for Down Island Trip, leaving the teachers alone on campus. K2 returned from their kayak trip yesterday so they were the only ones on campus until they were joined later on in the day with the arrival of K1 and K4 from their Down Island Trip. Last night, we almost had a full community, with the exception of K3, and we are sad to see K4 leave again for their kayak trip. K1 and K2 have been busy preparing for their academic week.

Having just returned from their kayak, k2 has many stories to tell about kayak. Continue reading →

“K1 Returns!”

By Caciques Clay Bales and Aly Boyce

Today started off with much anticipation for our K1 kayak group returning.  We had classes all morning and a two-hour block for our human ecology presentations. We all enjoyed learning about bio-diesel, compost, bees and conscious consumerism, as the presentations were very interesting and informative. We had art all afternoon to finish our Unit 3 projects, which we will put in the parents weekend art gallery.  Those who finished early had an optional Querencia time, to prepare us for the 48-hours of solo ahead. At circle Clay Bales, Will Overman and Augie Cummings performed the song “I and Love and You” by the Avett Brothers. Continue reading →

By Caciques Sarah Sasek and George Giannos

This morning’s exercise was a salsa class on top of the dining hall deck. Do not be mistaken—it was exercise.  The rising sun’s rays illuminated the clouds lining them with a soft pink, as twenty-four awkward students, plus faculty, shook their hips and stumbled upon their feet. Perhaps a few exceptions were the dance instructors Aubrey and Matt, along with some other students and faculty who are blessed with rhythm, unlike me.

Shortly afterwards, we departed on the bus for Princess Cays. Our objective for today: to observe tourism and to determine whether or not we consider ourselves tourists. As we drove up a hill we could see over the trees and caught a glimpse of the ocean with a massive ship sitting on its horizon. It seemed out of place. Here, the tourists relax for a day before returning to sea. Abruptly, I realized just how removed from American society I have been for nearly two months, but what shocked me more was realizing just how removed from Bahamian society the tourists were, despite being in The Bahamas. Continue reading →

“The Last Tamarind Cups”

By Caciques Daisy Spencer and Tucker Beckett

Well, If you’re going to wake up and go someplace right away, it might as well be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world: lighthouse Beach. After an abbreviated circle, we both ate very quick breakfasts and ran to the van with all of our archaeology gear. Since we were both Caciques and dish crew, we had to find people to sub for us on both while we were gone, which was not easy, especially in that short time. It was a weird coincidence that we both happened to be on the archaeology team. Anyway, after an hour long van ride over backroads, which shouldn’t even be considered roads at all, we went to work and started digging holes for the day. Digging for 2 hours wiped us out, so on the way back, Justin S.  picked us up some jerk chicken and ribs… it woke us right up. Continue reading →

“A Full Day”

by Caciques Sasha Whittle and Chris Lorient       

This morning we prepared for a long morning run or swim. The runners did a timed run where we ran for a certain amount of time out towards Deep Creek and then ran back. It’s called an “out and back” run.  Everyone ran between 6-10 miles! We were all being supported by one another and we pushed ourselves as hard as we could. Swim track also did a long swim. Everyone swam 1.5 miles against a strong current. Then we had a full day of classes ahead of us. Continue reading →