Rainy Adventures and STEMM, Bahamas-style!

Happy Friday!!

Our day started off with a 20 minute late start (we were really excited!). We made our way to the presentation room and met Ron who taught us all of the scuba diving techniques and started preparing us for the dive we were supposed to have this morning. We learned the proper ways to dive safely and how to interact with others while underwater during a dive, including the three skills we would need to complete. After this short introduction, we made our way to the boathouse to check out the equipment we would be using. 

So many scuba tanks!

After that we made our way to the dining hall and as soon as we got our steaming bowls of oatmeal and cinnamon buns, lightning struck. The staff informed us that we were going to observe a lightning lock down, waiting in the dining hall until it was safe to walk about outside. The rain started to pour and after a while we were told the scuba dive would be postponed until next Monday. Plans changed, the storm calmed, and we gathered in classroom to watch this cool video about yesterday's sting ray adventure. Check it out below this paragraph! We also learned more about the challenges in pleasing various stakeholders when deciding where to set boundaries for marine protected areas. Then we headed to the boathouse to prepare for our camping trip!!! 

Sting Ray Research!

The girls practice setting up their tents! We have a few first-time campers-- exciting!

Next we ate lunch and walked over to CEI for the intern’s proposal and research presentations. Topics varied from stingrays to sea turtles, conchs, and designing MPAs (marine protected areas). It was cool to see researchers not much older than us contributing to all of the science we have been learning about here. After listening and paying close attention to the presentations, we were blessed with chocolate chip cookies for a snack!

Afterwards, we headed back to the dorm and out of nowhere, Ms. Post shouted that we had three minutes to put on tennis shoes and grab a dollar. We weren’t allowed any more information which made all of us really nervous but excited. We made our way over to the parking lot, split up into two vans, and we were off! The whole ride over everyone was trying to guess what we were about to do- “we’re going to donate the money” “we’re going to buy candy”- evidently, our guesses were a tad off. We finally stopped in the nearest settlement, named Deep Creek, and our teachers collected our money and ran into a little house. When the teachers returned, they were holding plastic cups with frozen passion fruit juice. At first everyone was very skeptical, but they turned out to be amazing. With cups in hand, we took a short drive over to a tree house overlooking a beautiful mangrove landscape. The sun emerged from the clouds and it was a great ending to what started off as a rainy day.

All of us eating our cups on the balcony!

This is Deep Creek, the creek for which the settlement is named

The sun setting over the mangroves in the creek

Week one is over! Many of us really enjoyed calling home tonight; we can't believe we'll see you in a week!

Bar and Vicky

**Editor's note: We are going camping tomorrow morning and will not return until Sunday night. Thus there will be no blog tomorrow night; I will post both Saturday's and Sunday's blogs late Sunday evening when we return. Thanks for reading! 

Day 2 of Conching and Sting Rays- Conch Details!

Hey! 

This morning, on a beautiful Bahamian day, we started our morning with exercise, which consisted of a feisty match of water polo. The group was divided into two teams. We all gathered by the flagpole – as we usually do – and headed towards a hidden cove not far from our dorms. The air was filled with energy as both teams fought for victory. Some of the players, like Alfonso and Donny, even gained battle wounds from playing aggressively in the shallow, rocky waters. Don’t worry! They’re okay (and proud of their wounds).

Stan the Man shows us all a thing or two about water polo!

Alfonso and Donny battled it out in the shallows defending the water polo goal

After morning exercise, we finished up our chores and gathered at the mess hall for a bountiful breakfast of eggs, English muffins, and sausage. Breakfast was a nice break for our group, preparing us for the long day ahead.

After breakfast we split into two groups, the same groups as the previous day. The blog post before this presented a day in the life of the sting ray research team, while both of us will use this post to talk about the adventures of the conch research team.

The conch research team visited 3 different location sites: Boys Dorm Beach, Sunset Beach, and Plum Creek. At each site we set up transect lines consisting of a plot of shore 100 meters long by 18 meters wide. We dispersed ourselves evenly throughout this area, looked for queen conchs – both dead and alive – and tallied the numbers. We did this in order to understand the changes in Eleuthera’s Queen Conch population over the past years.

Liz leads the boys on the transect line

Isaac and Dal record the data from shore

It wasn't a live conch, but there was a cool brittle star inside!

At the end of a successful conching day on a secluded beach in the Bahamas!

This study has been a tradition of the Hawken Marine Science trip for 2 years previous. Due to overfishing of the Queen Conchs, the population of them in the Bahamas – and subsequently in the rest of the Caribbean – has been dwindling significantly. Although attempts to set up Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in regions such as the Florida Keys have been made, little increase in the population has been observed. This is mainly due to the fact the majority of Queen Conchs found in the rest of the Caribbean originate from the Bahamas, an area in which Queen Conchs are being heavily overfished. One of the main reasons for overfishing is due to the popularity in consumption of Queen Conchs, a staple in Bahamian culture.

The results of the Day 1 conch research team were representative of the popular belief that the conch population has been reaching a steep decline in recent years. Areas that were previously abundant in Queen Conchs were found to be devoid of living conch. This is not, however, a foreshadowing of conch extinction because the consequent research group (from today) was able to find 25 live conchs at one of their research sites. Therefore, our cumulative research proves our hypothesis that the Queen Conch population could reach extinction in a decade or so. This would not only prove to be extremely detrimental to the health of the ocean’s reef ecosystem, but it would also cause a drop in revenue produced by local Bahamian fisheries.

In addition to researching the Queen Conch populations, we also learned about the anatomy and physiology of these amazing creatures. With this acquired knowledge, each one of us should be able to identify a queen conch in each stage of its life – veliger, juvenile, sub-adult, and adult.

On another note, the Day 1 conch research team switched their focus to sting ray research for today, while the Day 1 sting ray research team switched to conch research. Both teams set records in their own respects; the Day 2 sting ray research team breaking the all-time record of sting ray catches in one day, and the Day 2 conch research team catching many more live conch than the day before. The Cape Eleuthera Institute (CEI) sting ray research team is one of the largest sting ray research programs in the country, so it was an honor to work alongside this highly advanced group of scientists. Today’s group caught 10 sting rays, 5 of which were new and we got to tag!

The students worked with the researchers using nets to surround the ray

Once caught, we brought the rays to shore to collect measurements and tag them

Here's a ray we set free after capturing!

To conclude the evening, we gathered in the Island School’s presentation room to watch a PBS Nova documentary on blue-hole diving. Not only did it prove to us the potential dangers of diving in general, but it also illuminated a new way to discover the secrets of our world’s past.

We’re having a great time down here and are looking forward to the week ahead.

Thinking of ya!

Eidan, Harrison, and the rest of the Marine Science crew

Day 1 of Conching and Sting Rays-- Sting Ray Details!

Hello,

Today, in typical Hawken fashion, we began our day with a “late start,” which allowed us to wake up at 7:30 rather than 6. We were all in agreement that this was much needed after all of the activity that we had done the day before during kayaking and night snorkeling! After getting out of bed, we met at the flagpole and were told which groups we would be split into; stingray catching or conching. One group would catch stingrays today then conch the next day and vice versa. We were both put into the group that would catch stingrays today. After singing the nation anthem, we headed to breakfast for blueberry muffins and cereal.

At 9:15, we met in the boathouse dressed in swimsuits ready to gather the necessary materials for the day. We met the crew who would be guiding us for the day, and it is safe to say that they were awesome. Max, Chris, and the legendary Dr. Owen O’Shea were the researchers that would guide us in our expedition to catch, tag, and measure stingrays. In doing this, we would be helping them with a small part of an ongoing project surrounding stingrays in the Eleuthera area. Dr. O’Shea drove our boat out to a distant sandbar, and after about ten minutes of driving, we anchored in order to catch a stingray that Chris spotted. The shouts from the crew to “Hurry up! Get off the boat!” caught us off guard, but before we knew it, we were plunging into the water chasing after a Southern Stingray.

Max, Chris, and Dr. O’Shea instructed us on how to effectively catch the stingray. We formed a circle around the ray in order to herd her into the net, and after just a few minutes, were able to bring her to shore to examine her. We learned how to measure the different lengths of the stingray, such as disc width, quarter width, body length and total length. We also learned about some of interesting bodily functions and characteristics of stingrays. As we were carrying out the measurements on this ray, we began to notice lightning and dark clouds closing in. We got back into the boat and attempted to head towards the next location where we would be stingray catching, where it looked clear.

The team catches their first ray!

Despite Dr. O’Shea’s efforts to completely avoid the storm, it quickly caught up to us, and as he put it, “Alright, we’re about to be pounded by this storm.” Moments later, a torrential downpour was upon us. We could see the concern in our instructor’s eyes as well as the crew as rain surrounded us, but fortunately Dr. O'Shea navigated skillfully through the weather and we made it safely back to shore (it was a little scary!). We hurried inside the boathouse and dried off until the storm passed before heading back out.

After drying off and a quick lunch, the sun had finally emerged from the clouds. We got back into the boat with the crew and headed back to sea. We docked near the sandbar where we had caught the first stingray. Once again, we followed the crew’s instructions and caught another stingray. This time, it was one that the crew instantly could recognize, and her name is Stumpy Jane. Let’s just say Stumpy Jane is an unlucky girl, having been caught 8 times, bitten by a shark, and missing her part of her tail (hence, “Stumpy”). Following the measurements of this unfortunate stingray, we got back on the boat and headed seaward to a small island where we caught, measured, and tagged two more stingrays.

Dr. O'Shea (far right) and Chris (center) help Hannah measure a shark bite mark on the ray

Our stingray hunt was now over but the time with the crew was not over yet. We headed to the marina where nurse and bull sharks are known to feed. The goal was for Dr. O’Shea and his crew to catch a bull shark, one of the most aggressive species of shark, by hand. Unfortunately, after chumming the water for two hours, they were unable to spot a bull shark and we left the marina empty handed. Despite this disappointment, we still had an adventure filled day and loved every minute of it.

We rested up, ate dinner, and gathered once again at the flagpole to walk over to the Cape Eleuthera Institute for a presentation on Bahamian Creole English. During the presentation, we learned and practiced the Bahamian dialect. We finished off the day with a daily quiz. Despite the rain (we learned a new Bahamian term for lighter rain, which is spry!), it ended up being another beautiful and exciting day in the Bahamas.

Goodnight!
Hannah & Bar 

Kayaking on the Open Waters...

Hello, 

We were woken up a little earlier this morning by some rough tropical weather. The weather remained cool and wet all day long. Going out to the boat house, we started prepping for the kayak trip that would make up most of the day. We sorted out lifejackets, paddles, spray skirts, and kayaks from in and under the boat house in preparation for the paddle. Once we got everything organized on the beach, we enjoyed a breakfast of eggs, toast, and sausage. Next, we went back to the boathouse and tested out our skills in escaping a flipped kayak. We rolled ourselves over in the water, tapped the bottom three times to let everyone know we were okay, and then tugged on the spray skirt to release ourselves from the kayak.

Vicky helps Logan get into his kayak

Once we had tested, we all started to paddle out from the boathouse. Some members of our group had some trouble getting used to navigating in a kayak, flipping several times. Every time someone struggled, we rafted up together and waited in the rain. A few possessions and articles of clothing were lost to depths of the ocean, but our spirits remained hopeful. After a short time, we spotted an osprey in the sky and beached the boats to watch it roost. After a quick WAM (Water Appreciation Moment) session, we were on our way again to our spot for lunch, about two miles from The Island School. While paddling, we spotted three large eagle rays just between our kayaks. Then, we beached the boats at Kemp's Beach and pulled out supplies for lunch. Lunch was turkey sandwiches with vegetable chips and oranges. We practiced sustainability by collecting the orange peels in the chip bag to be used as compost. 

The group 'rafting up' together 

We then packed everything up and began heading back. The return trip was much more difficult because we were paddling into the current and were already tired from the first leg of the journey. The 4-mile round trip took about 3 hours to complete, and completely wore all of us out. Once we got back to the boathouse, it was time to clean and put away all the gear we used on the trip. We brought all the kayaks in and rinsed them out, 'seesawing' them up and down to remove all the water. Other parts of our group cleaned gear by dipping them in fresh water, and then sorting them into their proper containers. After the two groups came together to debrief, it was time for everyone to have a two hour exploration time. Most of the group went to the regular destination of the marina shop on their bikes, while many got in a nice, long nap (Isaac's was in his hammock!). It wasn’t long before we all ate a hearty dinner, which even had spice cake as dessert.

After dinner it was time for a special night of snorkeling. We drove out in the vans to Fourth Hole, a shallow coral reef on a former golf course that we visited on the first day. We used special diving flashlights that pierced the dark ocean at night. It gave us a chance to see various marine creatures that we would not see snorkeling during the day, like the diadema, a long-spined sea urchin that cannot be seen very easily in the daytime. It showed us special traits of some creatures, such as bioluminescence, stalked eyes, or reflecting eyes. Some of us saw sleeping parrotfish, live sea biscuits, and a little barracuda. After two exciting encounters with cockroaches (in the boys' van on the way home and in the girls' bathroom when we got back), we were ready for sleep!

We are excited to begin real science research tomorrow after a chance to sleep in until 8!

Eager to learn more,

Isaac and Logan

Duck dives and lionfish and sharks, oh my!

 Hi everyone,

Today we woke up excited to bike back out through the loop to jump off high rock! Many of us were very nervous for this jump seeing as it was quite a high cliff. However, we all were able to push aside our fears as we pushed ourselves off the rock. We learned that the rock at high rock had been eroded by the acid rain and we could actually see the indentations that the drops made as they fell. Certain parts were so eroded that you could see the sand and other sediments that were turned into the rock through lithification. 

Des jumping off of 'high rock'!

The scene at 'high rock!'

After several jumps, we headed back to the dorms to do our daily chores and set up for breakfast. We filled our stomachs with both stuffed quiche and potatoes as we prepared ourselves for a boat ride to “Something to See” – a reef full of a variety of fish that we had just seen and learned about in the classroom. While in the classroom, we talked about the different fins and characteristics that set the unique families of fish apart from one another.

Once at the reef, we found we would finally be snorkeling in some deeper water – 20 feet! We all slipped on our fins and snorkels and plunged into the crystal blue waters to discover some of the fish we had identified in the classroom. Some popular fish we saw included the Sergeant Major, Nassau Grouper, as well as the Squirrel Fish. The current was strong, but that did not keep us from duck diving down to see the fish and corals up close. Some of us even saw a huge sea cucumber and were given the choice to kiss it for two years of good luck! Finally, after an hour of snorkeling, we headed back to the boat house and washed up for lunch.

The boys practicing their duck diving

A scene from the reef!

We were pleasantly surprised to find that burgers were on the menu for lunch today. However, we wanted to finish quickly as we were extremely eager to dissect and learn about lionfish! We were first given an in-depth presentation informing us all about an invasive species – the lionfish. We learned a variety of things spanning from what the colors of the Bahamian flag represent to the few predators that the lionfish have, such as the frog fish.

Frog Fish Eating a Lionfish Video

As soon as we learned all the terminology and facts, we jumped right into the dissection of the lionfish that had just been killed earlier today. One was so fresh that its heart was beating when we took it out of its body! While some of us found the dissection a bit gross and smelly, we all learned many cool facts about this unique fish. For example, lionfish have a body part called an otolith, which is located on the inside of the fish up the spine in between where the eyes are. The otolith can be used to determine the approximate age of the specific lionfish, a little bit like rings on a tree trunk. Directly after we finished our dissection, we biked over to the marina to throw our lionfish parts into the water for the nurse and bull sharks! At one point there were almost 20 sharks!

Stan helping the team dissect their specimen

Two nurse sharks and a bull shark at the marina!

After we enjoyed our delicious chicken fajitas, we made our way over to the presentation room to learn about N.A.M.O – nocturnal adaptations of marine organisms. This lesson was our preview into our night activity for tomorrow, which is the night snorkel! We learned many things such as why certain fish have bigger eyes, reflective lenses (tapetum locidum), or counter-shading. We also learned about bioluminescence and were able to tie this into a scene from Finding Nemo. We then ended the night by heading over to the boat house to test out our night vision like pirates. We walked inside the storage room of the boat house and covered one eye while the other stared at the ceiling light. After a few minutes, we shut off the lights and had night vision in the one eye that was covered!

Clearly, today was a very jam-packed day with lots to learn and see. We are anxious to go out tomorrow on a kayak adventure and experience night snorkeling for the first time!

Dana & Rachel 

P.S. We love and miss you all xoxox

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

Our first SNORKEL!

Hello, 

Today we started snorkeling earlier than planned, due to a flood that occurred in our dorm from a toilet malfunction. After attempting to clean it we rushed to the flagpole, and sang the national anthem. We sounded good after so much practice at home! After that, we were led to the boathouse. At the boathouse, we received our snorkeling equipment and proceeded to a swim test to make sure that everyone was able to swim. Once we all proved that, we continued with our snorkeling lesson. After snorkeling for a little bit we went back to the dorm room, where we continued cleaning the water from the boys dorm and the girls did their first round of morning chores. After that we were off to breakfast which was really good. We had bagels and scrambled eggs, and they had some homemade peanut butter that was fantastic. 

We just got our snorkel gear and made 'snorkel sandwiches!'

The gang's all here! First OCEAN swim! We made it!

After breakfast we started our first activity, a trip to the mangrove creek (Stan’s favorite ecosystem). To get there we all had to get our bikes. We tested the bikes to make sure they were working and we could all safely ride, and then we rode for about a mile to the beach. Once at the beach, we had a short minute walk to the creek. When we were at the creek we immediately saw a variety of fish, and some juvenile lemon sharks! We followed Stan and sat down in the water to learn about mangroves and their importance to the land. We specifically looked at a red mangrove and how it is helpful to fishermen when hurricanes come. We learned about its roots, leaves, and why they are able to resist a storm’s strong wind while other plants can’t.

Check out this juvenile lemon shark!

After the session, we snorkeled down the creek where we were able to see the fish up close and more clearly. At times the water was very shallow and at times it was fairly deep so it was a mix of walking and snorkeling. The tide was going out so it was like a lazy river ride! Once we got to the end of the creek, we discussed the mangroves and their offspring even more. At the end of the creek we could see black, red and white mangroves and we learned about their differences and similarities. When we finished talking, we headed back to the bikes and back to the Island School.

The group learning about red mangrove trees

Ladies in the 'lazy river' that is Page Creek!

When we got back, we had lunch. Lunch was sandwiches and leftovers from the day before. We sat on the roof and enjoyed the beautiful view of the light blue ocean. Once we finished we were given a campus tour where we learned about the significance of each building and what makes the Island School sustainable. After this two-hour tour, we had a Jeopardy game about the things we had just learned about in our tour. Turns out everyone is a winner.

After that we had free time where we snorkeled in the ocean just outside of our dorms—our new backyard! We were able to find a sea star, several sea cucumbers, a massive crab, and couple of fish. We really enjoyed this because we were able to go out by ourselves and find these things on our own that we had learned about back in Cleveland.

When free time was over we had dinner, which consisted of macaroni and cheese, Bahamian pork chops, and some other homemade salads. We saw the other group from Canada that we will be interacting with for the next couple of days who had just arrived. When dinner was over, we went to the press room where we were able to construct our own Turks’ head knots, which took a while to make. At least for tomorrow, we all have new matching bracelets! Outside, we could see how beautiful the stars were and it was nice to see how many there were. As always, before we called it a night we had our daily quiz about the various things that we did today.

Overall today was a very exciting day because we were able to spend a lot of time interacting with nature and snorkeling. It was a very tiring day, but it was a very good day. We think that tomorrow will be even better.

Des & Alfonso