A Triple Snorkel Day!

Hello, 

This morning we woke up at 6 am excited to explore more of the island on our bike tour around the loop. We saw the old abandoned resort and learned about the marina and surrounding wildlife. We biked a total of about 6 miles before returning back to the Island School for chores and then breakfast.

After breakfast we went on our first snorkel of a coral reef at 4th Hole Beach, part of the golf course which was part of the abandoned resort. While there we saw the most diverse group of fish yet. We saw stingrays, helmet conch, and angelfish just to name a few. 

A Gray Angelfish out on the reef

A group shot after our first coral reef snorkel!

After our first coral reef snorkel we came back to campus for lunch (mac and cheese and pulled pork lasagna). Next, we learned about near-shore ecology and headed to another coral reef to snorkel. This time we climbed aboard two boats and headed out to sea. The boats were named Mac Daddy and Red Rising. Each boat was captained by one of our leaders from the Island School and the students assisted as crew (some even got to drive!). For our first stop we found a shallow reef and explored for a while. We saw many new organisms including fish and coral. We hopped back on the boats and set out looking for another coral reef. This time we had no specific destination, we were just in search of a dark patch in the ocean to show that we had found a reef. On our journey, we found a nurse shark and stopped and watched it swim. Continuing on our journey, we found what we were looking for. We stopped and hopped back in the water to explore. This time the water was the deepest water we have gone free diving in which gave us a chance to practice diving under and taking a closer look (duck diving). At this reef we saw live lionfish in their natural habitat for the first time. These fish are invasive to the Bahamas and are venomous. They are harming the Bahamas ecosystems. Luckily, we only saw a few of these harmful fish.

A cushion star in the near-shore environment

A balloonfish with crazy blue eyes!

Can you see that brown blob in the water out in front of us? It's a nurse shark!

An invasive lionfish out on the patch reef

After taking the boats back to the docks we heard that there was a rocket launch happening in one minute. Almost our entire class followed our leader Stan on a run through campus to get to the deck on top of the dining hall in time. Unfortunately, we did not see anything and found out that the rocket had made it to space without any of us spotting it. After this we had some free time to go exploring. Most of us took this opportunity to relax and revisit the marina. Next was dinner: fried chicken. 

Standing on the roof trying to see the rocket all the way over in Florida!

After dinner we participated in team building activities with ten other students from Trinity College High School located in Toronto, Canada. We played multiple games in order to break barriers and make new friends. We think we all learned a little more about each other and how to work together as a team.

After team building exercises we returned to the dorm for our nightly quiz and a celebration for the first night of Hanukkah. Today was a very exciting day for all of us because we all saw something we had never seen before. We cannot wait for the adventures that await us!

- Abby & Dal