[slideshow]

“Lionfish!”

The mixture of emotions that this one word evoked was evident: anticipation, excitement, respect.

This exotic-looking fish was unintentionally introduced to The Bahamas as a result of hurricane Andrew in 1992.  Apparently, a few red lionfish escaped from a home aquarium into the ocean during the destruction caused.  Without any natural predators in the local area, the lionfish population has exploded.  Part of our research is to better understand how this invasive species is interacting and possibly influencing our local environment.

Today, after careful preparation, our task is to live-capture a lionfish.  We hope to dissect Continue reading →

“Ecology Class Adventures”

September 29, 2010

By Caciques Scott Endzel and Catharine Pirie

As half of us met in the boathouse nervously waiting for what our scuba instructors Ian and Kristen were going to teach us, we set up our equipment. As we sat awaiting instruction, they began teaching us how to maneuver with our compasses. They laid out lesson plans for the class, so that we could achieve our Advanced Open Water certificates, which consist of many underwater adventures. We headed out on the Red Rising and Kenny T to triangle cut. As we back rolled into the murky water we were swarmed by jellyfish. The stings in the face and through our rash gaurds did not stop us as we slowly descended with our buddies and began our underwater navigation. The small harmless jellyfish, though shocking, barely made a mark as we navigated through the water. We split up into buddy pairs and had to navigate ourselves in a 50 by 50 square. Continue reading →

“The Island Community”

September 28, 2010

A Poem Update by Caciques George Giannos and Meagan Kachadoorian

Community meeting brought us all together
To discuss leadership and escape the rainy weather
We were all ecstatic to enjoy each other’s thoughts
And listened while we gave appreciations for the good deeds they had brought

As homework built up, so did a tad bit of stress
Our “Older Leaders” were there to help us through the mess
With our community growing stronger and though it was sappy
We ended dinner circle with our quote, “don’t worry, be happy.”

Originally from Port-de-Paix, Haiti, Joseph is a skilled stone mason, farmer, and landscaper. Joseph was introduced to the school as a stone mason contracted to build artisan walls from limestone rocks at the school’s entrance. His work was so beautiful and strong, we had to ask Joseph to stay and find other ways to utilize his skills. Joseph now manages our farm, maintaining the nursery and orchard on campus, tends to the pigs, goats and ducks, and continues to beautify the campus with his stonework and landscaping expertise. Joseph is also an avid crabber, known across the island for his uncanny ability to navigate the bush at night and catch more crabs than anyone else. He is always willing to share his interests with others, often taking students out crabbing at night, helping them with their human ecology projects, teaching creole to community members, or simply sharing stories of his life and journey from Haiti.

by: Team Acult Research: Lea Luniewicz, Nate Smith-Ide, Gian Paul Graziosi, Catharine Pirie and Augi Cummings

This was serious. This was by no means meant to be a fun dive. Dropping underneath ol’ blue, we were there for a purpose. We had one goal and one goal only…to catch some Gobies. Diving down like navy seals, we hunted around Cathedral Rock for our prize. For thirty minutes we searched high and low for those pesky fish. Hiding within the brainy coral, we scavenged like dogs the underwater realm. Spotlight gobies, commonly confused for Continue reading →

“A Relaxing Day on the Cape”

by Caciques Clay Bales and Allegra Rumbough

Today we had the entire day to explore the Cape. Many of us took advantage of our sleep in, and then were off on adventure. Some of us found ourselves exploring the old abandoned clubhouse in the innerloop, but many of us headed down to the coffee shop. The coffee shop is only open to the Island School students on Sundays, so everyone is always looking forward to the weekend. The coffee shop has the same buzz as any other coffee shop in the States. There is always a nice waft of coffee beans and cinnamon in the air. Not to mention the air conditioning! Some people enjoy quality time for themselves while others chat and Continue reading →

“The Portal”

September 23, 2010

By Caciques Augie Cummings and Marianne Foss-Skiftesvik

As we scrambled to get our scuba gear together we were both optimistic and pessimistic about our journey into the abyss. We were hoping for a good time and a new understanding of aquaculture. As the french toast and granola settled in our stomachs we secured our life within our BCD’s. The hissing of tanks and the clanging of metal echoed throughout the boat house. Like a machine, we transport the equipment from the boat house on to the boats in a smooth and precise manner. The scuba gear seemed more anxious to get in the water than we were. As the Kenny T and the Red Rising destroyed the waves with their massive hulls, we peered on like Continue reading →

By Ellen, Heather, Chris D., Noah, Hannah, CJ

This semester the Flats Ecology research team will be exploring the impacts of climate change on the tropical flats near by our campus. More specifically, we are studying the metabolic rates of fish and their reaction to changes in temperature and pH. Bonefish, schoolmaster snappers and checkered puffer fish are among the major species we are examining. To identify the amount of stress put on fish due to changes in water temperature, we are using device called a respirometer. This highly specialized tool has Continue reading →

Read all about CEI’s Shark Research and Conservation team and their new study on deep-water sharks here!