Team Plastics and Team Stingray, Part 2!

Hi everyone,

We started this morning off with a bang; the dreaded Run Swim! We met at the flagpole at 6:30, sang the anthem, and then headed off to the boathouse to begin the two-mile-long ordeal. Leading the group was Island School co-founder Chris Maxey, a former navy seal. As one might expect, he ran the Run Swim much like a former navy seal would, making everyone perform different types of exercises while waiting for the rest of the group to catch up. Before starting the swim, Maxey pointed out the horizon-less view over the ocean (because the ocean was so calm and the air so clear!), saying that it represented that there was no limit for what we could do. The Run Swim began with a jump into the brisk ocean water from the boat house docks. The course consisted of switching between land and water every several hundred feet. At one point, we all lined up together and leaped off a ledge as a group. On the other side of that specific channel we needed to work together to scale a seven-foot-high cement wall. Later, every individual jumped off a much higher cliff while everyone screamed encouragements. Although most of us were very hesitant about the Run Swim in the beginning, almost everyone said that it was an excellent experience and offered a feeling of exhilaration and accomplishment at the end.

WE DID IT!!!

After a filling breakfast of eggs, sausage, and potatoes the group once again split off into their two teams. One group headed out to do some raying, while the other stayed back on campus to check out the Center for Sustainable Development and aquaponics.

The rayers headed out in vans for a quick twenty-minute drive to Deep Creek to try their luck in finding some Caribbean Whiptails (a type of ray). The group lined up in the ray catching formation (a giant line with about 10 feet between each of us), and headed into the creek with their eyes peeled for dark shadows right under the water. After several false alarms that turned out to be just rocks or sea turtles (JUST sea turtles!!), it seemed like all hope was lost for the ray squad. After almost two hours and as they were about to head onto land for some lunch, they spotted a Southern Stingray. Working together to encircle the creature, they forced it into the safety nets and caught it. This ray had been already caught several times by the researchers, and had been lovingly named “BARBara Streisand.” Since this ray had already been caught several times and they had already completed their quota for Southern Stingrays, the researchers didn’t feel the need to take any samples.

The researchers showed us how to measure the ray and flip her over too!

Back on campus during this time, the other half of the group was checking out the CSD. After getting a quick tour of the facility including the recycling center, the woodshop, the biodiesel center, and the bio-compost program, they worked on turning coconut husks and Casuarina logs into carbon to be used as fertilizer in the compost. The process involved filling a closed barrel with the material, and then heating it to 500 degrees Celsius. Next they took a couple samples of plastic from the recycling center and helped their guide Alex work on his current process of returning plastic to its original form: petroleum. The Island School tries to practice a completely no-waste lifestyle and eliminating plastic is one of the last steps. The way they did is was pretty rudimentary but the school hopes to have a large scale system eventually. After seeing the CSD, the group went over to the aquaponics facility. They learned about how the system worked and also got to fillet their own tilapia. 

The biodiesel fuel tank at CSD!

Once finishing their lunch, the rayers headed to Page Creek in search of more stingrays. Much to their excitement, they spotted two Caribbean Whiptails simultaneously after only three minutes of searching, just after they stepped foot on the beach. They captured both rays and were happy to see that neither one had been previously captured. They took blood, tissue, and barb samples and then performed gastric lavage (pumping water into the rays stomach to force them to vomit) to see the recent contents of the rays’ bellies. The combined three Caribbean Whiptail captures between the two groups now means that Ethan and Molly (the researchers) only need four more rays to complete their Masters degree research. Needless to say, they were very grateful for the help from Hawken.

The two groups met back up around 4:30, with everyone feeling a massive sweet-tooth. We all hopped on bikes and headed down the island to the marina where there was a convenient store and other attractions. After filling up on candy and soda, we gathered around a group of native Bahamians feeding a group of large sharks the remains of their fishing catch as they were cleaning it. There were a few nurse sharks and even some massive bull sharks. It was a terrifying but exhilarating experience to be so close to the creatures, even from the dock above! Mr. Daly convinced us to head to Sunset Beach quickly to see a beautiful sunset over the pristine ocean waters. Then we came back to campus and ended the night by watching Racing Extinction, a documentary about the all the negative impacts that humans have on nature which is leading to many animal extinctions.
We get an extra hour of sleep tonight to prepare for our camping trip tomorrow. We all had a ton of fun today and are looking forward to another full day tomorrow.

The nurse sharks in the marina this evening! AH!

Both teams saw a Spotted Eagle Ray today... yesssss!

As always, Mrs. Becker found an aplysia during the day, so enjoy this pic.

Aplysias two days in a row! We named this one Minerva.

Love,
Zach and Kevin 

EDITOR'S NOTE #2: There will be NO BLOG tomorrow, 12/9. We are going camping! There will hopefully be two blogs posted 12/10, unless we get back late in which case they will be posted the morning of 12/11. See ya then!