Today was an amazing day on Eluthera. We woke up nice and early
for our daily recreational games. Today we played water polo, must of us had
never played before. It was a crazy competitive game between the ‘Even Stevens’
and the ‘Odd Balls’. In the beginning the ‘Even Stevens’ took an early lead,
but with resilience the ‘Odd Ball’s’ were able to come back and win the
championship with a game winning tackle of our favorite Ms. Samson by none
other than Quinn Orloff.
After the hard work of a 6:30 morning game, we showered up and got
ready for our intense day. We packed our snorkel, fin, mask, towel, and headed
to breakfast. We then met at the boat house where we set sail to discover the beautiful
world of coral. But before we left, our mentor Casey gave us a quick lesson on
coral ecology.
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| Sara listening to a peer ask a question about coral! |
Learning
about coral was very intuitive, but nothing is more fun than seeing it with our
own eyes. The amazing part about learning marine science in the Bahamas is
being able to study it in the building, then observe it on excursions.
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| Getting ready to hit the open ocean |
When swimming in the open ocean there are many types of swimmers.
Some who can rock the waves with only a snorkel and a mask, Ander can even do it
with just a mask; but Selena and others needed all of their gear. Although, no
matter what type of swimmer you are, you always need to prepare for motion
sickness. Patrick Nestor describes motion sickness as “the feeling of pure
sadness and there’s nothing you can do about it”. He was one of three victims
who suffered today. But despite his negative connotations with boats and
sea-sickness he among all of the others were still able to enjoy their time.
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| Julia rockin' the waves |
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| "say barracuda!" |
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| wave hello to our fish friend |
After submerging ourselves in the coral life, we headed back to the
island school for lunch. Taking our same supplies we headed to the beach to
study Black, White, and Red Mangroves. Mangroves are the only type of trees in
the world that can grow in salt water. They provide shelter for juvenile aquatic
life. The craziest part was what we learned about the Red Mangroves. These
plants are viviparous meaning they are able to have live births!! That’s insane!!!!
Along with the technical side of Mangroves, we also learned funny rhymes to
help us identify each species. The best part about visiting the mangrove filled
beach, was floating effortlessly in the lazy river like current. It allowed us
to focus on the marine life in the water as opposed to our swimming abilities. Aside
from the excruciating pain from sand in our swimming shoes, the life filled mangroves
provided an amazing experience for us all.
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| our CEI instructor Galen leading a conversation about Mangroves |
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| swimming through the mangrove roots! |
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| exploring the life that lives within the roots of mangroves |
Our day wasn’t over after this adventure. After a long 6 days of living without junk food (good food),
the gang hopped on some old bikes (with helmets of course) and headed down to
the local convenience store. On the way we experienced some difficulties.
Apparently one must ride on the left side of the road, who would have known?
Down here in the Bahamas steering wheels are on the right side of the car, because
the Bahamas used to be a British Colony. Along with getting used to these new
road rules, some of our bikes broke down. We were able to overcome all of these
difficulties and finally make it to the grand prize. Cheetos and Snapple. Along
with some tasty treats we saw our first huge sharks at the marina.
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| off to marina! |
We ended our day with a fun activity called “Roses and Thorns” and
a “Dope Doc” night. Today was great and tomorrow will be just as great.
We love and miss you all back at home, but for now we WAVE goodbye,
Selena and Ander
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