For morning exercise today we had our last SCUBA dive of the summer term :(. After loading the boats, splitting into groups and buddy checking our gear, Edd (the SCUBA instructor) took us to Tunnel Rock, a cool spot we had visited during SCUBA certification. We each lined up single-file to swim through the narrow reef tunnel, careful not to touch the delicate coral surrounding us. The dive started our day off well, putting us all in a good mood for the last day of classes. In the morning we had our last session with our research groups, in which we all put the finishing touches on our posters in preparation for the exposition in Rock Sound tomorrow. Later, we met with our Human Ecology final project groups and began planning our presentations for the expo as well. We spent our free time in the afternoon exploring our surroundings with our advisory groups for one of the last times!  After dinner we all enjoyed a relaxing night without research homework. Great day! Home in 3 days: be ready with chocolate and french fries.

– Julia and Liza

Kristin and Grace

Ariel and Kate

Today was a GOOD DAY!

It started out with a SCUBA dive at “Hole in the Wall” where the Term split up into 3 groups. One with Edd on the MacDaddy, one with Ian on the Kenny T, and one with Tyler on the RED Rising. The time of day is perfect for seeing all kinds of fish and underwater creatures, and we had a ton of fun! When we came back we rushed to breakfast, because we didn’t want to lose our food to the kids camp that is now sharing campus with us. The French toast was incredibly satisfying and there was plenty to go around.  After breakfast, the sharks and aquaponics research groups took off to the Rock Sound power plant, while the flats and aquaculture teams got down to work in research on their posters. By the time lunch rolled around, everyone was tired and hot. This didn’t stop us from having an amazing lunch, though! Yum, sandwiches! After this delicious time of day, the research groups switched and the flats/acult group went to the power plant, while the sharks/apon group first had siesta, then had research class.

Upon arrival home from the power plant, the flats and aquaculture teams got free time which they used wisely to work on their research posters. The sharks and aquaponics groups stayed in research until dinner circle.

Tonight was special. It was (drum roll please…) ADVISORY DINNERS!!!!!!!!!

Here’s where we went:

-Cam’s Group: Sheril’s for dinner and Victoria & Henry’s for dessert

-Lexie’s Group: Sheril’s for dinner and Victoria & Henry’s for dessert

-Charlie’s Group: Stayed on campus, baked brownies, made pizza, and ate A TON of exciting food

-Bradley’s Group: Stayed on campus in the Fish Bowl and watched movies, baked cookies, and got take out from Sheril’s

-Annie’s Group: A&T’s for dinner and Victoria & Henry’s for dessert

Doesn’t that sound like an amazing time? Well, it was!

When we all got home, we were full of sugar and fried food, which made for a surprisingly productive set of study hours.

When lights went at 10 pm, everyone was full, content, and tired.

Overall, our cacique duties were fulfilled and ready to be passed on to Ariel and Kate, tomorrow’s caciques.

Signing out,

Rosy DePaul and Molly Rose

Overall, it was a very informative day.  We really enjoyed being able to see what a fisherman actually does after watching the movie.

Signed,

Ashley and Lesley

Surprise!! Today the mentors gave us a sleep in after the intense kayak trip. Even though we had until twelve, we only slept until eight just in time for our favorite granola breakfast.  After a quick bite we were eager to sign out, grab our bikes, and pedal our way to Sunset Beach.  Lying in the sand, working on our tan, taking pictures, and visiting the marina store was just the way we wanted to spend our morning.  Following our relaxing morning, we ate lunch and met up for our Community Outreach project.  Loading up the ladder, painting materials, and students, we were off to the Waterford basketball court.  Just by looking at the court you could tell that it needed lines, a new backboard, and nets.  Therefore we split up into different groups to handle each individual task.  A fourth group of four students were taken off to repaint a bus stop pink and white.  Back at the courts, a light spray passed over washing away the chalk lines that had taken nearly an hour to measure out.  The entire student body of the Island School summer term came together with some of the local teens, and got the job done.  By six o’clock the lines were painted, the bus stop was done, and the hoops were ready for some action.  The basketball courts looked great and it was rewarding to see a group of twenty boys already playing.  We chose Lesley and Ashley as the new caciques for their hard work and dedication to get the job done.  After a barbeque chicken dinner, we gathered in the presentation room for a documentary on Bahamian fisheries to prepare us for our future outing tomorrow morning.  Although today had been relaxing, we were all ready for bed by the time 9:30 rolled around.  Only eight days until we come home, get ready parents!

XOXO

Casey and Paige

After breakfast and chores, we split up. Aquaponics and Aquaculture headed off to do research first, while Flats Ecology and Shark Team headed off to a Human Ecology class.  During today’s ecology class, we learned all about our campus’s food systems, basing our investigation off of our viewing of the documentary “Food Inc.” We all watched this video during night class, and afterwards the majority of us felt inspired to take a stand. Some of us harvested lettuce grown from Aquaponics while others replanted tamarind and cherry trees using a mixture of goat manure and soil as fertilizer. Later we explored the many wonders of compost, particularly Verna, which is the use of worm caseins to create rich soil. After this we hit the kitchen to trace all of the goods that have some sort of corn ingredients. The results were shockingly high.

That night we were pleased to find out that we were being treated to extra study hours and a movie night later in the evening. Almost everyone grabbed their sleeping bags and cushions and snuggled up on the floor of the projection room as they were given the time to enjoy a comedy in one another’s presence.

Love,

Tessa and Mia

I had the pleasure of helping get ready for the trip. Before, though, Remo taught us how to tie the long ropes on the tents before putting them away. Finally, after washing and packing the tents into bags, we checked up on the condition of the kayaks to make sure the rutters and foot pedals were working. So overall, the experience was both education and productive (we even got in the 6 minute ab work out to conclude the morning “exercise.”)

Next up was breakfast, then research. I’m not quite sure what the other groups had done for their specific groups, but Aquaculture dove down to the cage to continue with our fish surveys based on biodiversity and the abundance of each species in the taped-off area. Again it was very productive and after lunch, all of the the groups that had Human Ecology after Siesta time (instead of before) broke up into three different Kayak groups to learn a variety of subjects (either the Night Sky, Lucayan Archaeology, or Coastal Ecology) and to be able to teach their knowledge to the other groups throughout the trip.

I’m definitely looking forward to teaching and playing trivial games about Coastal Ecology with everyone else. Hopefully it goes as well as today went!

Love,

Siena and Kimal

On 7/13 the community woke up and one group went to play water polo while the other group went to kayak prep. Then we had chores and then headed off to breakfast. After breakfast we returned as a whole community at our circle and finished up kayak prep.  This led up to lunch time and after lunch time K1 left. About 45 minutes later K2 left to begin their voyage.

K1 paddle for about three hours to reach their camping ground, which was Red Bay. Then we set up camp and prepared for dinner. After learning about the stars and night sky from some of our fellow classmates, we all went straight to sleep.  We started the next day with a lesson on the Lucayan people, which was very appropriate considering we were camping on a Lucayan site!  Soon after, we were on the move again, paddling to Green Castle. We had lunch and then everyone fell asleep on the beach—a much needed rest!  We hung out on the beach for a while before going to a blue hole.  There, we learned about the science of blue holes and mangroves from another group of classmates.  After, we paddled back to Red Bay. As we head back we then notice that this was the last day before ‘solo’. We did a ‘solo’ prep that night after dinner and then we when to bed. Silent was the order of the day, as we got into a circle, which meant that we were ready for our solo. The 24 hours alone made some of us appreciate everything we hadn’t before. One by one we were picked up for our ‘solo’, returned to the circle and finally allowed to speak again. After a quick lesson on plastic and the environment, we paddled back to campus. We were welcome back into the community with smiles and cheers.  We made it back in time for a hot lunch! Continuing this long day, we cleaned up all the kayaks, group gear, and personal items.

About 45 minutes after K1 left K2 started to pack up their last belongings and left for Broad Bay. We paddled north for about two and a half hours before we finally reached Broad Bay. Once we landed our kayaks at the campsite we unpacked all of our things and started to put up our tents. Once our tents were up we started making our fire and cooked pasta. Food always tastes better when you have to work for it. After we ate our food and made some s’mores, we headed off to bed around ten o’ clock. We woke up the next day and did a little brief on how the day would go then we started morning exercise. Morning exercise was running down the beach a little ways, and then we snorkeled around a blue hole. Immediately when we arrived at the blue hole we saw a sea turtle that wasn’t as excited as we were to see it. Then after about five minutes of snorkeling we saw two nurse sharks, two beautiful lionfish, and a spotted eagle ray. These aren’t sites that you see everyday! When we arrived back at our campsite we ate a little breakfast of granola and soymilk. Then we packed up the things we would need for the day and headed about two miles north along the coast to eat lunch. Since the winds were strong it took us about two and a half hours to kayak this. When we landed at our lunch site we unpacked our lunch and had peanut butter and jelly. When everybody was finished eating we took a nice one hour nap. Then when everyone’s food coma was gone we searched the coast for plastic, and we found a lot of it, which saved many sea animals. After picking up plastic on the shore we left to head back to our campsite. When we got back to our campsite we started to make dinner which was pasta and tomato sauce. After dinner we had a little history lesson taught by some of the students on the Lucayans. After this lesson it was time for the night sky team to point out some constellations to the rest of the students. We also played a few games based on stars and planets. After all this fun we headed off to bed because the next day was our solo. When we woke up the next day we had a solo prep and then ate breakfast. After breakfast we made our vow of silence, and then we headed off to where we would be staying for the next 24 hours. When we arrived at our destinations we set up our individual campsites and then it immediately started raining. During our solos the students did various activities stretching from sleeping for 24 hours to writing poems and making sand castles. This was really a time for us all to set goals and get to know who we really are. Once our solos were finished the next day we rejoined as a group and we gave each other hugs and were finally able to talk to each other again. Just looking back three weeks ago we would barely talk to each other, but now we are sad if we are even away from each other for 24 hours. Then we talked about our individual experiences and ate breakfast. Once we packed everything up and were ready to leave the campsite we put our kayaks in the water. It took us about 2 hours to get back to the Island School and we met our other ten classmates at lunch. When we got back we had a lot of work breaking down all of our gear and cleaning up all the kayaks. This led us all the way up to dinner, and after dinner we had a night class. In the night class we watched Food Inc. and we learned how animals are being treated as food and not as actual animals. After Food inc. we went to bed.

-Tamanji (K1) and Taylor (K2)

The next morning we woke up with the sun at about 6:30 and quickly took down our tents while eating our favorite breakfast: granola! After an intense swim back and forth across the beach and a 6-minute ab workout, we headed over to Preacher’s Cave itself for a history lesson on The Bahamas. One thing that we’re going to take home with us is the benefits of the teaching methods here. We split into groups and each took turns standing on the historical preacher’s podium, teaching the rest of the students about an aspect of The Bahamas’ history. We crammed back into the vans to travel to our next destination, Current Cut, where we floated a lazy river and ate PB&J for lunch.

The next stop was Hatchet Bay, which consisted of climbing down an old wooden ladder to enter into an eerie looking cave. We carefully maneuvered deeper into the earth surrounded by bats, with only flashlights and headlamps to guide us. Those who were daring went down another ladder into icy waist high water. Please don’t try this at home! While down in the cave, we learned about the history of the Lucayans and about how they found shelter in the caves. After leaving the cave we cleaned off as best we could (we hadn’t showered in two days, and we were covered in mud and clay) and headed off to Rock Sound for the Bahamian Independence Day celebration. Decked out in black, blue, and yellow we watched the marching band and socialized with the locals as they celebrated their 37 years of independence. Sadly, all parties have to end, and we finally arrived home with just enough energy to crawl into bed and fall asleep. The beds in the dorm have never felt so good. After an exciting two days we had a sleep in the next morning and then experienced an upbeat and unique local church service. It was exciting to be welcomed into their church with open arms. The rest of the day was open to exploration and relaxation. We are excited to jump back into human ecology and research tomorrow!

-Molly and Casey