Snorkeling, Plastics, and Sandbar!

Hello everyone!              

We began the day with a 4-mile bike (or run—for a few people) around "the loop," which consisted of a rocky path through the bush that used to be a resort. Some who chose to run did not realize how intense it would be, but felt a profound sense of achievement afterwards. Everyone ate a breakfast of oatmeal and hard-boiled eggs with gusto after this physical feat.

Next, we split into two groups: one group snorkeled at Fourth Hole, a gorgeous coral reef, and the other visited the CSD (Center for Sustainable Development). The snorkeling group was introduced to coral ecology and the amazing diversity in this environment. Only 1% of the ocean floor, they learned, is covered by coral reefs, but 25% of marine life resides here. After diving deeper into the science of coral reefs, they hopped into the “land boat” (aka the van) and drove off to the reef. As they snorkeled, they were blown away by parrotfish, beaugregories, barracudas, blue-head wrasses and yellow rays (to name a few). Some students snorkeled for the entire hour and a half, but others left the water to warm up on the beach. Everyone, however, had a great time; two students, Seysha and Aryeh, even described the experience as the coolest thing they had ever done in their lives.

Check out this close-up of some Brain Coral at 4th Hole!

The CSD group explored various sustainable projects around the Island School. First they learned about the process of making bio-char, which turns wood and coconut husks into charcoal that can be put back into the soil, burned, or even eaten (some of us tried it). Next they learned about turning plastic into a fuel by a process called pyrolysis. The CSD is beginning with small-scale experiments, but aims to expand this project in the future. Finally, they learned about the CSD’s bio-digester, which uses anaerobic decomposition to turn human waste into valuable fertilizer. Many of the students felt inspired by what they had seen and began wondering why these practices are not more widely used.

Nick and Matt build a fire to start the bio-char making process!

              

              

This is the pyrolysis set-up that converts plastic pieces into usable diesel-like fuel that you can see collecting in the little glass jar!

After a delicious burger lunch, we reconvened, went to the Island School Souvenir Store, and took a trip to an ooid sandbar. Not knowing what an ooid sandbar was, we were shocked to see a majestic, isolated sand island in the middle of the sea (it looked like a scene in Pirates of the Caribbean). We learned that ooids are calcium carbonate precipitation around fecal pellets and were surprised by their immense quantity. We snorkeled around the sandbar and found many live conchs, sand dollars, and other treasures. Many of us chose to play in the sand as well.

Walking along the sandbar!

              

Upon our return, we had our final exploration time, during which many of us put the finishing touches on our secret Santa gifts. Then we reconvened for a mouth-watering Indian dinner and set out on our next adventure: night wading! We snorkeled off the shore with diving torches to light up the water as we observed nocturnal marine life. We saw many shrimp, over 15 aplysias, and were fortunate enough to see an octopus!

A daytime aplysia! In case you forgot what they look like... 

              

The full moon was a perfect setting for our night wade!

Thus ended a long day of non-stop adventure. Off to an ETB (early to bed) to prepare for an action-packed last day.

Love,

Aryeh and Ellen 

SCUBA Diving Day!

Good evening everyone,

We woke up at 6:30 as usual, a little tired, but looking forward to an awesome day! Our morning exercise wasn’t as physical as it was mental; Anna, a certified (and epic) scuba instructor, taught us the basics of scuba diving. The majority of the lesson was in the form of an instructional video (featuring stellar music and fashion from an earlier decade) and then we headed out to the boathouse to get out gear together. Excited and a little nervous about what was to come, we prepared for the day by eating a wonderful meal consisting of poached eggs, corned beef, grits, cereal, and grapefruit.  

Learning all about scuba "gadgetry," as Anna calls scuba diving gear, like these handsome Buoyancy Control Devices (BCDs)!

After breakfast, we split into two groups in order to maximize the time we could spend diving. While one group headed out to The Saddle to dive, the other group had the incredible opportunity to investigate a deep sea creature that is believed to date back to prehistoric times. But before we talk about the creature, let’s introduce Mackeller ‘Mackey’ Violich. She is a graduate student at Florida State University who has already discovered two new deep sea species. Over the past two years, she has been studying deep sea life off of the coast of Eleuthera using high-tech cameras including the Medusa, an impressive instrument able to work under 2000 meters of water (which was also used on the Discovery Channel!). She gave each non-diving group a detailed presentation about deep sea life, her experience, and also explained to us how little we actually know about 98% of the oceans (the percentage that is considered "deep sea"). She then allowed us the chance to help her on her thesis. Now back to the creatures- isopods! We helped Mackey dissect a bunch of isopod specimens she collected this fall in traps. The goal was to determine their sex, measure them (width, tail length, carapace length, and total length), weigh them, and then remove their stomachs to analyze the contents searching for plastic consumption. It was a pretty sick (literally and metaphorically) experience.

An example of the isopods we analyzed today (Photo Credit: CEI). 

Editor's note: More photos coming soon when I figure out how to get them off my phone... The camera spent the day at the dive site!

While one group studied and dissected the deep sea creatures, the other group was out scuba diving! We practiced the basics we saw in the video, like specific hand signals, breathing through the regulator, clearing water from our masks, and reviewed the #1 important rule: NEVER STOP BREATHING! While small groups of 2-4 students were reviewing their skills, the other students got the chance to snorkel around the area and see cool sea life including seven Caribbean Reef Sharks, many types of fish, and a sea turtle! And the diving experience itself was SO cool. Many peers commented on how crazy it felt to be able to breathe under water. It was a pretty surreal experience that was described by Angelina as, “the best experience of my life.”

We all did it! Safe and sound and smiling!

A Caribbean Reef Shark that many of us saw! (Her name is Bellatrix...)

A Queen Triggerfish that many of us saw, too!

By the time everyone got back, we were all very tired from our long day. Instead of resting, many people chose to work on their gifts for our holiday gift exchange on Thursday night. We have decorated our 'invasive' Christmas tree with 'recycled' ornaments and have all been charged with making a homemade gift for a secret member of our group. People were all over the place hollowing out coconuts, scouring the beach for shells, and weaving leafs together. It really demonstrated how much our group has bonded throughout the trip because people were putting so much effort into their gifts and having so much fun doing so. Later, after dinner, we finished the day with a lesson on NAMO, or Nocturnal Adaptations of Marine Organisms. This was in prep for our night wade tomorrow so we can hopefully see some of these organisms in action! Woo hoo!

Goodnight,

Seysha and Evan 

TURTLE PARTY!

Hi everyone, 

The 6:30 wake-up call came early this morning. We all hopped on bikes and pedaled off to the notorious "High Rock." After an almost two-mile bike ride we came to the end of the road (much like the end of the sidewalk but less mysterious), and there it was. High Rock. We all rushed to the edge and were immediately concerned by the apparent boulders below. Our fears were quelled when we were shown the correct jumping form by Stan. The technique wasn’t too hard to master, but finding the courage to fling yourself into the ocean was a totally different story. Everyone faced the mighty jump with gusto and enthusiasm. After sapphire blue hole the other day this jump was a lot more manageable, for some.

Peering over the edge of High Rock, ready to take the plunge!

Devlin's cannonball off of High Rock!

After a quick breakfast, everyone hurried to the boathouse for what was sure to be one of our most exciting days yet – we were going "turtling," which means trying to catch sea turtles! The turtle team joined us on the boats, and soon we were off across the open sea. The ride to Starved Creek (which is much more lively than the name suggests) was long and rather rough, but our arrival was met with many smiles. After a quick explanation of the turtle capturing method, called “rodeo”, the first small boat was sent off. The little boat contained two turtle researchers and five students. The sea turtle would be run down by the boat, and when it began to tire and slow, a student would dive in and swim after it. The goal was to catch up to the turtle and lift it out of the water as it was coming up for a breath. Many chases and boat swaps later, we had five sea turtles on board. The researchers demonstrated how they take the measurements necessary for their studies, and everyone who wanted to got to hold a turtle!

 Olivia the turtle researcher showing us the first turtle we captured and how they tag turtles. 

This is how we kept (all 5!) turtles safely on the boat; upside down in a life jacket! 

This calmed them down and also made sure we didn't release and immediately recapture the same turtle. 

Green Sea Turtle close-up!

All 5 Green Sea Turtles resting on deck!

Check out those of us who wanted to hold the turtles! 

On our way back in, we had one of those incredible Island School moments. As we were pulling into the docks we had to be super careful because the local manatee was paying a visit. The manatee was putting on a special show for us; it kept coming up to breathe and splashed Mrs. Becker and Whitney in the face with its exhale. We spent some time just watching the manatee do its thing. After we had our fill of the manatee we had some free time. Most of us used our free time to get clean and shiny for our big night out on the town; some of us even put on a clean shirt! We made our way to intern presentations before we went out for dinner. The presentations were given by Cape Eleuthera Institute interns who have spent the last couple of months focusing on a specific project. They were all super impressive and it was exciting to see them share their work. After the presentations we went to Sharil’s. Sharil’s is an amazing little restaurant right off campus. We had everything from fried chicken and fried lionfish (what a fun and delicious way of taking care of a such an invasive species) to mac and cheese, sweet corn, and ribs. The feast was devoured in under 15 minutes interspersed with talk of the day, and what a legend Helen is for both catching a turtle and breaking an apple in half with her bare hands. The day lasted forever in the best way possible. We are starting to realize how little time we have left and are both savoring every sunset and counting down the dish crews until we are back in the 216.

The view of the manatee from the edge of the dock!

Dinner at Sharil's!

Don’t miss us too much!

~Annie and Angelina

Lionfish & Conchs & Sharks, Oh My!

Good night everyone!

Today we woke up at 6:00am and got pumped for an early morning soccer game. We biked our way down to the marina and set up the field with our helmets. We broke up in to two teams which would later be known as the Helen’s and the Angelina’s. It was a rough match with minor scrapes but tons of fun. The Helen’s won the match with a last minute goal by Devlin.

Go Hawks!

After soccer, we went to breakfast and enjoyed many bowls of cereal. With our stomachs full we settled into the Octagon and listened to a presentation on invasive species, specifically the Lionfish. We learned that they are venomous but not poisonous. This means that they are safe to eat but not safe to touch their fin spines. We then traveled to the Wet Lab and got the opportunity to dissect multiple Lionfish. We learned about their anatomy and physiology, touched their inflated swim bladders, and even got to cut open their stomachs! We found a variety of prey in their tummies, including many small (almost whole!) fish and a handful of crabs. After the dissection, we had a great lunch of eggs, potatoes, pizza, bacon, and bread. On Sundays, the kitchen staff gets time off so we had a variety of leftovers from the week. Yum!

Mr. Daly explains the evolution of a fish's gape!  

Team Gal Scientists show us their first major incision!

After lunch we broke up into the Helen’s and the Angelina’s and went out to continue a five-year Hawken Queen Conch survey. Eating Queen Conch is a staple in the Bahamian diet and culture and their populations have drastically declined over the years. We reviewed all of our knowledge about conchs that we learned back in Gates Mills, and then hit the vans to visit two sites to survey the conch populations to measure the effects of the Conch fishery here. We formed transect lines and walked down both Sunrise and Sunset beach (transect lines are a fancy way of combing the area with a large group of people). Each group did a site and then traded so we could have two sets of data for the same site. We only found three live Conch overall, which was very sad because most of them are dead. In addition, the ones we found were juveniles. 

The Helen's transect line!

However, we did also spot our first octopus of the trip, plus a giant hermit crab and an osprey flying overhead. After that we went back to the marina to get some snacks and to chum the waters for Bull Sharks/Nurse Sharks using the lionfish carcasses from the morning! We were lucky to attract multiple sharks, including two big Bull Sharks. Then the group split up and had an hour of free time. Some went to watch the sunset at Sunset beach and others went back to hang out at campus.

This Giant Hermit Crab was cool and also a little scary! Check out those claws!

This large female Bull Shark came up to the surface to eat one of our Lionfish...

Don't worry moms and dads, we were watching from the dock!

After dinner we came back to watch a presentation on sea turtles! We learned how we are going to help the sea turtle research team capture turtles tomorrow and we are very excited about it! We will be helping them remove flipper tags by catching as many as we can in the so-called "Turtle Rodeo." More on that tomorrow night! Tonight we are having our first ETB, or early-to-bed! Many of us are started to tire out so we are going to try and take advantage of some extra sleep. The days here are very long because as Stan puts it, we are not here for very long so we need to "milk the day for everything it's worth!" Many mornings after exercise we can't believe how much we've already accomplished before 8am. It makes a lot of us feel lazy compared to our lives at home, and we hope to bring some of this energy home with us! 

The sunset we watched from Sunset Beach!

Until next time,

Nick & Devlin

Down Island Trip, Day 2!

Good evening,

It was an early morning for us today. We woke up on Daddy Jo’s beach at 5:45, packed up our tents, and left the site in hopes of catching the sunrise. We drove to the Glass Window Bridge which is a piece of land between the Atlantic and Lucayan Oceans only as wide as one lane of traffic! After parking our vans on the side of the road, we climbed up death rocks, where we were hoping to see the beautiful sunrise. However, the clouds blocked the sunrise and we weren’t able to see it, though we were able to see the wavy deep blue Atlantic Ocean and the calm, shallow, greenish Lucayan Ocean. Kache, our educator-in-training, said that the drastic differences between the two waters resemble the two different ways you can deal with problems. You can either handle them with rage and destructiveness or peacefulness and calmness.

Check out the rough Atlantic on the left and the calm Lucayan on the right!

While admiring the split of the separate oceans, we ate cornflakes and Chex mix for breakfast. We dangled our feet from the edges of the road and watched the water while chowing down. After breakfast, we filled our water bottles and ventured to the historic sites of Preachers Cave and Devil's Backbone, where William Sale first encountered Eleuthera in 1648. William Sale was an Englishman living in Bermuda who was seeking religious freedom. He left Bermuda with his band of "Eleutheran Adventurers" and landed at the northern tip of the island. 

Scoping out Preacher's Cave, the site of the original settlement of the "Eleutheran Adventurers."

Following our visit there, we then were surprised with a fun-filled visit to Sapphire’s Blue Hole. A blue hole (or ocean hole) is an underwater cavern that forms in limestone rock that is exposed to the surface. There, we jumped off a 20-foot cliff into a pool filled with crystal clear, deep blue water. The best part about this was that many people conquered their fears and decided to jump even though they initially didn’t want to. 

Maggie takes the plunge into Sapphire Hole!

After countless jumps off the edge, we drove to Queen's Baths. There we witnessed the intensity of the Atlantic Ocean. We saw numerous waves’ crash into the 'death rocks' (what we call the jagged, eroded, exposed limestone that makes up much of the island) ahead of us. We were lucky enough to be there when it was low tide which allowed us to get a better view of the crashing waves and the small pools of water. The caverns here were formed from physical erosion caused by the rain and waves.

The aqua pools and bright blue Atlantic meet at the Queen's Baths!

The last place we had to visit before returning to The Island School was Gregory Town. There we got homemade ice cream from a local shop, owned by a friendly woman who gets her fruit from a local farm. The flavors included vanilla, cookies and cream, guava, and mango. Everyone enjoyed the ice cream in the heat of the afternoon. After finishing our snack, we walked down the road to a souvenir shop. We were able to buy shirts and little trinkets made by artisans on the island. From here, we walked down the road again to a local beach known as "Sea Glass Beach." We skipped rocks and looked for shells and sea glass. We stopped at the bakery AGAIN and also munched on tortillas filled with jelly along with chips and fruits for our lunch.

Sarah, Dalia, and Ellen enjoying their guava and mango ice cream!

We left Gregory Town and headed back to The Island School.  When we arrived, we unpacked and cleaned all of our camping gear and FINALLY took showers. We ended the day with a soupy dinner and our first taste of Bahamian Johnnybread, a call home, and a tutorial in homemade bracelet-making! This day marked the halfway-point of our trip and we can't believe we will be heading home to the snowy weather soon!

Signing out,

Maggie and Koron 

Down Island Trip, Day 1!

Hello everyone, 

Today was special—we got to sleep in! (Except for a few people, who headed into the trails for an early-morning run.) After meeting at the flagpole at 7:30 and enjoying a breakfast of meat, potatoes, grits, and cornflakes, we finished up any final packing for our long-awaited camping trip. Soon we’d be heading north to the very tip of the island of Eleuthera, stopping to see beautiful sights and eat local food along the way.

We just left the parking lot for our road trip! We are so excited!

Finally, after packing two vans, we embarked on the trip! About an hours drive later, we arrived at a small bakery in Governor’s Harbor and devoured cheese Danishes, doughnuts, and other sugary treats we’d been craving for days. We also stopped for a bathroom break at a gas station, where Michael was finally able to stock up on Altoids. 

Stan, showing us how to do it right. A cheese danish in one hand, and a coconut danish in the other. 

Our first major landmark was called Hatchet Bay, which we soon discovered included an intricate and dark cave. We experienced ‘spelunking’ (cave-exploring) as we wandered through the rocky passageways and painted ourselves with the red, iron-rich clay on the cave floor. We even turned off our flashlights for an eerie 24 seconds of pitch-black silence. 

A big group of us in the muddy cave!

After returning to natural daylight, we enjoyed a lunch of sandwiches, cassava chips, and fruit. Off to our next adventure! Stan and Whit led us to the other side of the Hatchet Bay site, where we saw Seahorse Pond. We were going to snorkel with seahorses! We explored the crystal-clear waters of the pond and successfully found crabs and various invertebrates (and seahorses, of course).

We dried off and climbed back into the vans for the last leg of today’s trip. Our final destination was Daddy Jo’s beach (we passed the house of Lenny Kravitz, Eleuthera native, on the way), where we arrived to watch a beautiful sunset along the white sand of the shore. We unpacked the vans, set up our tents, and starting cooking food. Within a few hours, we were all sitting around the campfire eating homemade veggie stir fry, complete with rice, broccoli, onions, carrots, and green peppers.

Check out the sun setting over our amazing campsite!

Our amazing fire-building team, with some OLers and some newbies!

As the sun went down, we played games, told ghost stories around the campfire, walked along the beach, and took pictures of our incredible campground. Tired from our long road trip yet excited for the second day of the journey, we went to sleep at 10. We were going to awake at the early hour of 5:45 to see the sunrise at the Glass Window Bridge—a sight we couldn’t wait to experience.

Playing the game "Mafia" around the campfire on Daddy Jo's Beach!

See you in a week! Hope you’re enjoying the snow :)

Laura and Sarah

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!