Team Coral Reef and Team Stingray!

Hello everyone,

While few members of the Marine class awoke at 5:20am to go for a morning run, the rest of us stayed fast asleep until 6:00am. As 6:00am struck, the alarms went off and the actual day began. We started off with a fun, united game of beach volleyball and newcomb until 8:00am. During the span of intense beach competition, Seysha even saw an actual “cat-dog thingy” rarely seen in The Bahamas (not actually; it was just a small dog). Afterwards, everyone pitched in to do chores and got ready for the first day the group would be split in half. One group would explore and capture sting rays, while the other group would snorkel and learn all about coral and aquaponics as well.

The boys in action on the volleyball court!

The cafeteria was quiet as the Island School semester students left for home this morning as their adventure here came to an end. We enjoyed buttered grits, fruit, cereal, and sloppy joes. This would fuel our bodies for the adventures to come.

While preparing for the day, Mr. Daly charged the dorm areas and shouted, “There’s a Manatee!”. We grabbed our snorkels and bathing suits early, so that we could all see and swim with the Manatee (this animal is a pretty rare sighting in The Bahamas). We were the first group from Hawken to see such an extraordinary animal in The Bahamas- and it was amazing! He (or she!) was just hanging out and eating grass by the docks. 

Isn't this amazing!?

After the Manatee sighting the Stingray group got a brief intro to the Southern Whip Tail Stingray by stingray specialist Ethan. They grabbed life vests and hopped onto a boat and went on a forty-minute boat ride to their first mangrove stop with the hopes of capturing their first ray. The last time the Cape Eleuthera Institute Ray team was out and about they caught five rays and saw ten in this location. The group jumped out of the boats and began to float into the mouth of the mangrove river armed with two giant nets and multiple other circular nets. They walked down the river to no avail. They ended up turning back around and returning back to the mouth of the river where they ate beautiful sandwiches on the beach. 

Although they were frustrated the group got back on the boat and traveled to another river. After walking back and forth in the second mangrove the group was disheartened and believed there was no stingray to be caught. The group began to leave when a giant stingray began moving around at the mouth of the river. They circled her strategically and after about ten minutes of prodding the ray was caught. This would be the largest Southern Whip Tail caught in this study! They took measurements as well as skin and blood samples. They tagged the ray and released her back into the wild. The group would travel to a third and final river but would not find another ray. They returned around 4:30pm.

Here she is! Our Caribbean Whiptail Stingray! (See our feet? This is when we released her!)

While the Stingray group went out exploring and catching stingrays, the coral group went out to an old, abandoned golf course that has a beautiful beach with a house reef just off shore. Instead of jumping straight into the ocean, we first learned about Coral even though our wonderful teachers Mrs. Becker and Mr. Daly had taught us the majority of facts that we needed to know. During the lecture, we stopped mid-sentence to watch a green sea turtle pop up to the surface to breathe! Afterwards, we were able snorkel and join the fish in the ocean. We saw many fish such as flounders, barracuda, squirrellfish, and many more. Overall, snorkeling in coral-filled water was a magical experience. 

 This peacock flounder has both eyes on the same side!

Dalia is holding a living sea biscuit, and it's tube feet are sticking to her hands!

After returning to the campus and eating a great rib and potato lunch we jumped into aquaponics and learned all about what it is and how the entire system works as a whole. We got to plant seeds, place plants into the grow beds, harvest mint, and even harvest tilapia! We each got to learn how to fillet a fresh fish after individually catching fish with a net.

 The boys harvesting mint!

Caroline filleting her first fish (this one's for you, dad!)

As aquaponics came to an end, we still had amazing explorations ahead of us. Some of us watched in awe (and a little terror) as a pig gave birth to piglets, other watched a snake slither across our paths, and Mrs. Becker saw the unbelievable, her most famous sea creature, an actual, living Aplysia! Aplysias are like sea slugs, or gastropods without shells. Many of us got to hold it's squishy body and it even spit out purple ink on Nick, which he thought was pretty cool. Today was an amazing day for both groups to embark on the extraordinary adventures that took place, with students seeing rare creatures and witnessing beautiful moments of new life.

Finally, after a delicious dinner of couscous, turkey, and broccoli, we came back to the Octagon room and began our one-match beach fire building contest. First we learned about some fire-building techniques, and then we set off in teams to attempt to successfully light a beach bonfire with only one match. Devlin’s team won as the only team out of 5 to get a fire going. We then got to enjoy the fruits of our labor, sitting around the fire and telling stories of the day and creepy ghost stories. We then returned to our quarters for shut eye. Wow, what a day!

Signing out

Koron & Devlin

Mangrove Party!

Hello, 

We were promptly awoken at 6:00am to be submerged in cold, morning water (it was a good way to wake up though!!). Really, we woke up at 6am, put on our suits, and then were handed a snorkel, mask, and fins. Then we made our way to the marina to take our swim test. The students got their ‘buddy pairs’ (always swim with a buddy!) and then swam out to Stan, Whit, and Kache to tell them a strange fact about ourselves. Afterwards, we learned the basics of snorkeling, and went on a short snorkeling trip to the end of the marina. 

Acing the swim test to our teachers out by the dive flag!

After a scrumptious breakfast of cereal, yogurt, and breakfast pizza (with eggs, cheese, and sausage), we split up into groups to get a tour of CEI and the Island School. We split into groups and learned about septic tanks, aquaponics, permaculture, and all the other ways the Island Schools works to preserve resources. After the tour we had a J-Party (…Jeopardy) between the two groups as a fun little way to review. 

Stan shows us how the lettuce grows in the aquaponics beds- with roots submerged in fish poop water!

As soon as lunch was over, we all grabbed our snorkeling gear to explore the mangroves. Two minutes down the road is an amazing, lazy-river style mangrove habitat. The tides going in and out make it seem like a lazy river; we can just put our faces in the water and watch as the water pulls us along! As we snorkeled and drifted, we saw sergeant majors, beaugregories, checkered puffers, and even a stingray!  

Gather round ye merry red mangrove!

We learned about the mangrove environment, and how they help fish, birds, the land, and much more. We saw the variety in mangroves, from red (pointy head!), to black (salty back!), and even white (hold on tight!). Once we had reached the end of our drift down, we marched on in hopes of seeing a baby shark. Juvenile lemon sharks are known to live in mangrove habitats. Instead, we faced treacherous quicksand (thick sediment) that consumed our shoes. Nevertheless, we prevailed and had a great journey through the strange, new habitat. The tide then changed, and we were able to drift back to our starting point. There we played a fun mangrove-based game, kind of like sharks and minnows. Michael was the ‘conservationist’ and the rest of us were propagules (baby mangroves) and we had to try to ‘drift’ past Michael, lest turning into adult mangroves. 

After returning, we had roughly an hour of exploration time for us to do whatever we wanted. Many of us took much-needed showers, while others took walks on the beach, or happily napped away. Around 6:00pm, our current Caciques, Maggie and Aryeh, nominated the next two: Michael and Ellen. We then headed off to a wonderful dinner of fried chicken, rice, tofu strips, and other assorted goodies. 

Then came the highlight of the day: bonding with our Canadian neighbors, the students from Trinity College School. After getting into a large circle of 35 students total, we silently arranged ourselves in a line alphabetically by first name. After that, each Hawken student paired up with a Trinity student, to find something strange they had in common. We ended the bonding session with an exhilarating game, called Birds and Perches. Evan and his Trinity partner won the game, beating all 17 other teams! Finally we sat down to take our nightly quiz, and ended the day with a nice game of Uno in the Octagon. 

Signing off - Caroline and Nihaal

WE MADE IT!!!

Good evening everyone,

It all started at 4 a.m. when our alarms harshly awoke us. Everyone met at the Lyndhurst campus at 5:15 a.m. in lovely 30° weather with brisk winds. The parents longingly drifted around their children, trying to squeeze final moments of time together before our two-week adventure. The bus left promptly at 5:30 a.m. and arrived at the airport in plenty of time. After going through the painstakingly slow process of checking bags and getting tickets, the group moved on through security to our gate. Some of us were even lucky enough to get TSA Pre-Check (although it didn’t help us in the long-run)! After some quick stops at Starbucks and a brief wait, we hopped on our first plane to Atlanta. 

The flight was only about two hours and we then landed with time to spare for lunch. We enjoyed fine cuisine from Panda Express, Qdoba, Villa Pizza, and Frëshen Smoothies. The next leg of our journey took us to Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. After changing into our shorts, flip flops, and Hawaiian shirts, we charmed our way through customs, answering questions like “Is this your first time in the Bahamas? What do you want to be when you grow up? What are you most excited for?” One of us answered this last question by saying “I want to swim with the sea animals!” with only a slight panic. 

We then chugged the rest of our water and passed through security again. Like a group of migrating whales, we made our way to our final gate to Eleuthera, which, in traditional Bahamasair fashion, had been switched around and slightly delayed. After descending the escalator and walking out on the tarmac in beautiful 80° weather to board our plane, we were pleasantly surprised by a new and updated propeller plane (quite the opposite of the rinky-dink plane that we were expecting). After a quick twenty-minute flight and breathtaking views of the water and island, we touched down in Rock Sound, Eleuthera, right in time to see the sun set. We were met with warm smiles and welcoming handshakes from our Island School team of Stan, Kache and Whit who then split us up into three vans for a forty-minute drive to Cape Eleuthera Institute and the Island School. On the way we saw numerous potcakes (stray dogs) and the vibrant colors of the setting sun. 

About to board the tiny plane to Rock Sound, Eleuthera! 

 The view out the window- almost there!

In the van on the last leg of our long journey- driving to the Island School! 

Can you tell how excited we are?!

Upon reaching the Island School, we quickly dropped our bags off in the dorms and headed to our very first dinner in the Bahamas. They served rice, pork, chickpeas, peas and salad. We commingled with a few of the current Island School students and they gave us sound advice for our stay here, including that we would never get used to the giant bat moths hovering all over campus (eek!!). When dinner ended, we headed to the common space called the Octagon to get an introductory presentation from Stan and Whit. We reviewed Island School rules and our daily schedule which includes a wonderful early morning exercise routine at 6:30 a.m. sharp. 

Before ending the meeting, we learned of our first Caciques (student leaders) for the next day. Congratulations Maggie and Aryeh for your excellent leadership skills throughout the tough travel day! After that, we were allowed to call our parents to tell them we had arrived safely in the Bahamas and that Stan says “Hi!” Finally, we sat down and took our first nightly quiz of the trip. Now, we’ll head to bed and look forward to a Mosquito-free sleep and the exciting activities to come!

Signing off – Caroline and Kevin

EDITOR'S NOTE: FOUND IT! PHOTOS ARE HERE! MORE TONIGHT!

Eve of Adventure!

Hello everyone!

As we prepare to leave, most are feeling a mixture of excitement and nerves. There is so much we’re looking forward to: incredible new experiences, like SCUBA diving, snorkeling, and boating; learning more about the ocean in a hands-on environment; seeing everything we’ve been learning about in action (we can’t wait to see stoplight parrotfish, spotted eagle rays, and great barracudas!); and strengthening our friendships and making new ones. Some of these experiences, however, will be so new that they’re a little scary. Swimming with sharks, for example, may be a challenging one. Or early morning workouts with a former Navy SEAL.

Before we conquer our fears, however, we all need to pack. Packing is proving difficult; there are more than 40 items on the list! Trying to fit enough clothes for two weeks without laundry and leave enough room for seashells and souvenirs, while keeping it under 50 lbs is a tall order! Surprisingly, though, packing is proving to be a learning experience as we are getting to know some new products (Rash guards? Adult baby powder? Itch cream?! Oh my!)

Almost done! Impressive, huh? And yes, each one of us has to bring all of that!

It’s finally time! Woohoo!!! Make sure to check the blog for nightly updates, and we’ll see you all when we return in two weeks time!! Yippee!!

Annie and Aryeh

Homo sapiens in the Bahamas!

Hello everyone! 

As we wrap up our week on the Gates Mills campus, I think it’s safe to say that everyone’s mind is spinning with the knowledge we’ve gained and the idea of taking off to the Bahamas so soon. I think the excitement for the trip may be unquantifiable, but to elaborate on the former, you can see by the other entries that we’ve focused a lot on biology, marine life, and nature – most of which we will get to experience firsthand in the Bahamas. We’ve studied species like squid, dog fish sharks, conchs, and sperm whales in great depth, even doing dissections on the first two. We even spent time learning about 52 species of birds and fish native to the Bahamas, so we can feel a sense of belonging and connection to the island when we get there.

        However, another important species to consider are the Homo sapiens, or humans of the island. Getting to know the nature of a place is fundamental to understanding it, but that includes the nature of its people, its culture, and its history. This weekend, we were asked to read, “The Bahamas” by Kenneth C. Buchan, “Some Basics about the Bahamas” (a compilation of information teachers of the Island School put together), and a video called the “Historic Cape Eleuthera Resort & Marina.” Pulling together the information found in these materials, and another article called “The Rediscovery of North America” by Barry Lopez we read before, we were asked to reflect on four essential questions. The goal was to gain a sense of understanding of the island in other perspectives outside of just its native animals, flora, and fauna. The articles and video explore the Bahamas past, painting a picture of when native Lucayans resided on the islands, explaining the time before Columbus and how his arrival altered the course of its history. They demonstrate the power shifts, expose the injustices and suppression of the native people, and narrate the story of how the Bahamas came to be how it is today, with its unique culture and a majority of deeply religious people. They also show us tides (no pun intended) of modern economic growth and collapse, explaining how tourism is so important to the Bahamian people (accounting for 2/3 of the gross domestic product). These materials give us the fundamental knowledge necessary to understanding the local population. The next step will be to meet them on Monday!

The questions we were asked to reflect on were the following:

• What impacts did you learn about from the materials that surprised you?
• What might life in the Bahamas be like today if Columbus had never arrived?
• What might be some reasons that explain why tourism in South Eleuthera collapsed?
• What effect do you think the collapse of the tourism has on the local population?

There was a lot of information in the readings that surprised us. Many of us already knew that Columbus’ arrival was not as worthy of celebration as the fact that we get a day off of school each year in its honor suggests. Yet, the Lopez article that we read communicated the savagery of Columbus and his men’s time in the Bahamas in such a way that in reflections on the readings we wrote for homework, some indicated their surprise at the Spaniards’ avarice and how it “set the tone” for similar behavior in the years afterward. A lot of us were also surprised about just how drastically Columbus’ arrival changed the course of Bahamian history. Helen summed this up well in her reflection, writing about her surprise that, “the animals, plants, and people that inhabit the Bahamas today are so different from the ones Christopher Columbus encountered” in 1492. As Zach pointed out, it’s striking that “85% of the Bahamas’ population are descendants of slaves.” 

Pondering what the Bahamas might be like today if Columbus had never arrived, we concluded that the plants, animals, and people would be very different. As Sarah pointed out in her response, today’s Bahamian population is composed of “slaves stranded there by the end of the slave trade, Loyalists from the U.S., [and] Haitian immigrants” that “combined after Columbus' initial arrival.” The Lucayan people that he and his men exterminated would have a more prominent presence, as would original flora and fauna. Also, the Bahamas would most likely not have the prominent Christian affiliation that it does (the Bahamas has one of the biggest churches per capita ratios in the world!).

On the topic of tourism, we inferred that its collapse can be attributed to the deterioration of the Bahamas’ land and ocean. We reasoned that this has had a very negative effect on the population economically and emotionally. This information has left us interested and excited to see the place for ourselves and to explore and see firsthand how this fascinating history has led to the modern day Bahamas. 

We're so close- we can't wait!

Seysha and Dalia

Cleveland Field Trip! Final Day in Gates Mills!

Hi everyone! 

Today was a big day! It was our last day of class at the Gates Mills campus. Pretty soon we will be boarding the plane and heading off to the Island School in the Bahamas! This morning we had our last test of the semester. It seems like just yesterday that we sat down and had our first test on the solar system and ocean discovery. We have come so far! Today our test was on shark and conch anatomy along with the crippling disease- the Bends (and using dive tables to prevent it).

After our test, we followed the treacherous yet adventurous journey of Ernest Shackleton. The emotions ran very high during this movie, Helen even shed a tear; it gently rolled off her cheek onto the table as the credits flashed on the wall. Turns out Shackleton decided it was a good idea to be the first person to trek across Antarctica. Turns out it is easier said than done. He and his team wound up stranded on the Antarctic ice. Their ship got crushed by the ice and spent 14 months camping on the ice and waiting for it to melt in the spring. After the ice started to melt and break, they used the safety boats to navigate with all 27 men through the icy water. By a stroke of luck they ended up on Elephant Island off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. However, the worst was yet to come. Help wasn’t available to them on the island so five of the men used a small life boat to cross almost 800 miles of the worst waters in the world to reach a larger island where they could get help. The five men reached the island safely after 17 days at sea. They survived a hurricane in a life boat; but when they made it ashore the island they were on the wrong side. The whaling colony was on the other side of the island. Three of the men in the party walked by foot across the Antarctic terrain to get help. Shackleton went back to Elephant Island and rescued the rest of his crew. The unbelievable story left us all in good spirits and excited to face our own adventures. How bad could they be?!

Ernest and his crew members (Photo Courtesy of coolantarctic.com)

We also learned about other another adventurer who broke a different glass ceiling: Sylvia Earle. We watched a NetFlix original movie called Mission Blue that is a biopic of her life. Sylvia is your classic ocean explorer who fell in love with the ocean and its creatures at a very young age. Living in both New Jersey and Florida, she experienced drastically different environments. However, she became more interested in the ocean and all it has to offer. This epiphany drove her to her first career as an explorer for National Geographic and then the NOAA. She is also known in the scientific world as the best oceanographer of her time.

Sylvia in her natural habitat (Photo courtesy of Por El Planeta)

We wrapped the day up with a field trip to an aquaculture fish farm near downtown Cleveland in the St.Claire-Superior neighborhood. Immediately walking into the warehouse, the smell of ammonia and fish filled our nostrils. The smell soon subsided after our noses adjusted. We met a former University School teacher who decided to pursue his interest in aquaculture. Seeing the large amount of bass in the round tanks was super unique. We learned that round tanks create an even feeding pattern for the bass. Which is highly important because it insures uniform size of the fish and makes it easier on the 'farmer.' We also learned about the fish market and the different facets of it such as foreign competitors and the difference between selling live and dead fish. These foreign competitors serve as threat because of how convenient they are for buyers; this small aquaculture business just can’t compete with them. Getting off the Gates Mills campus and seeing this business was a great way to end our time in Cleveland. Can’t wait to see the aquaponics system at the Island School next week! 

Mr. Mark Lyons showing us his set-up.

Our eager teachers are counting 1-fish-2-fish-red-fish-blue-fish!

Goodbye overcast skies, barren trees, and Stirn Hall and HELLO sunny skies, warm waters, cool animals!

MARCH ON, BAHAMALAND!!!!

Maggie and Angelina

The Bends, plus little known facts about Red Lobster!

Hello everyone!

The previous night's homework gave us a new perspective on the field of diving as we entered the classroom. For homework we had been assigned to read about decompression sickness and an article about the lucrative $25 million lobster business. The reading touched base on the fact that almost all the Miskito Indian divers of Nicaragua that supply lobster for big name companies, like Red Lobster, are seriously harming themselves in doing so (up to two thirds become paralyzed and many even die). Supplied with faulty equipment that lacks the proper gauges to measure depth and oxygen levels, these divers are subjecting themselves to decompression sickness, otherwise known as the “Bends.” 

A Miskito diver stricken with the Bends checks into a local clinic (Photo courtesy of DAN Magazine)

Decompression sickness occurs when a scuba diver resurfaces too quickly from a deep dive causing nitrogen bubbles to form in the bloodstream, which can paralyze victims and is often lethal. Other factors that lead to more unnecessary death include the lack of decompression chambers and the depth and frequency at which these poor men dive, going on 20 separate dives per day at over 130 feet. This is very problematic because it leaves young men paralyzed and burdensome to their families. We found that this was eye-opening because thousands of Americans will go to restaurants to eat lobster not knowing who died catching it for them. 

Red Lobster is where many of the Miskito-harvested lobsters end up.

After learning about the wrong way to dive, we spent time discussing how we would go about diving. We were handed out dive charts, and learned how to calculate pressure levels and figure out how much time we could spend underwater at certain depths and how long we would have to wait before diving again that day. Interestingly, it is actually unsafe to dive and then board a plane on the same day or the day after the dive because of the pressure differences. 

Aside from this, we started the morning off with a Bird/fish ID quiz where we had to recall 52 bird and fish names off the top of our heads. The winners were awarded scented pencils, which Mrs. Becker called 'smencils!' We also spent time learning about the Queen Conch of the Caribbean. Celebrated for their history of utility for humans, conchs are known for their beautiful shells, the sound they make when blown through like an instrument, and their great taste in dishes like conch chowder. The conch is so central to the culture of the region that residents of the Florida Keys refer to themselves as Conchs. Like other marine creatures we’ve learned about, conch populations have taken tolls from overfishing and overexploitation, but are under protection in many Caribbean countries. 

To end the day, we learned about the science of tides and how the Moon affects them. We watched a video about surfer dudes catching some sweet surf on rivers as the wave-like tidal bore came in. Finally, we used some software to learn about how tides affected different places on Earth. We tracked the high and low tides over the cycle of the Moon phases in certain locations including Eleuthera, where we will be flying to on Monday. 

Until next time, 

Michael and Matt