Son of a Beach

Hey everyone at home,

We’ve heard along the grapevine that you have been experiencing some rough weather.  Don’t you fret because we have too! Today, it was a chilly 76 degrees Fahrenheit and slightly cloudy. Despite this weather, we pushed through the hardships and took a quick van ride to High Rock, the local cliff jumping spot which stands 15 feet tall with deep blue water below it. As we arrived, we soon realized that because of the wind, the ocean was far too choppy for jumping.

choppy waters indeed

It was barely 6:45 and the day was still young, so we ventured back to the local beach (situated only meters behind our dorms) to play the Hawken Marine Science Class’s favorite game: Nuke’em. While the competition was fierce, the series ended in a 3-1 win as the Cleveland Cavaliers bested the Chicago Bulls. It is safe to say that Dwayne Wade will join LeBron in The Land soon enough.  

this team really packed a punch

After the Nuke’em match and a quick yet hearty breakfast, we returned back to the Octagon to reorganize our schedule. After a short talk, we decided to switch our schedule with the next day and spend our second-to-last day at the beautiful Lighthouse Beach.  We quickly packed our backpacks, filled with snorkels, fins, water and food and ventured down Eleuthera in the vans. Before long, we arrived at the beginning of an hour long walk ahead of us. We trekked onward feeling like the expeditioner Sir Ernest Shackleton as we made our way forward. After a few falls into the mud, we arrived to a gorgeous and secluded beach. It was here where we spent the afternoon doing a variety of activities. As a group, we began snorkeling into the massive coral reef situated no more than a dozen meters of shore. In these coral reefs, we saw a variety of colorful surgeonfish, a barracuda, some parrotfish, and some smaller snapper. We dived down and got a great view of the beautiful green, blue, and red corals.

gotta be careful not to scratch up the belly!

After a while in the water, we came back ashore and took a break from the work. We all sat down on our towels and ate the sandwiches which were made for us back in the kitchen at the Island School. After a short tanning sessions groups broke out to do a bunch of different activities. Some of our classmates decided to play Ultimate Frisbee, some played soccer and some decided to take an adventurous walk to the end of the beach. 

blue skys

After a few hours of exploration and fun, we reconvened for our final activities which was a hike up to the top of the cliffs. These cliffs (pictured below) were covered on the top with fauna and what the locals like to call “Death Rock.” As intimidating as that sounds, nobody was injured in this process. At the top, we had a great view where we snapped a few pictures as a group and tried not to look down the ledge. Finally but unfortunately, we headed back towards the vans, playing music along the way just to add to the cheer. 

making our way to the top

we are family

Before we knew it, we were back at campus where we scrambled to find our wallets. We were soon back on the road at headed toward the marina where a convenience store with shelves filled with some junk food. We grabbed our snacks and enthusiastically ran toward the harbor to look for sharks. After the excitement from last time at the marina, where we saw a two meter bull shark, we were all eager to see it again. Sadly, nobody was able to spot it this time, but that was soon made up for by the fact that the sun was setting over the western facing beach. We quickly pulled the vans around and waited together, watching the sun set of the water. We soon rode back to campus where a shower and a dinner was waiting for us.  After some great bread, grits, some salad and fruit, we were back at the octagon prepping for our (hopefully) final nightly quiz. We prepped for a half hour, reviewing the major concepts of the trip including the spots we’ve been, our everyday marine science lessons and the fun activities which ended up being educational like working on the permaculture farm and aquaponics lab. We swallowed the giant horse pill of a quiz and ended the night with working on our holiday gift exchange presents for one another. 

Somewhat sun burnt,

Josh and Matt