Laura & Victoria help create the living roof

This past weekend, the school shared one last wonderful, yet spooky, Saturday evening together before our eight-day kayak trips began. We began the night with a snorkel along the cut that was planned by a small group of students. Many of us carried our flashlights and explored the nocturnal world underneath the surface of the water. We saw a large variety of animals including rays and small sharks. Together we sang songs and told stories as we walked back to campus after the snorkel. We then cleaned ourselves up and changed into our Halloween costumes. Each costume was extremely exotic and unique. People came to the party dressed as computer dorks, or fairies, or even as other Island School students! Everyone had fun dancing to the thumping beat of the music.

An extra stuffed Ryan and his fan club

As the dancing energy slowly died down, we discovered that we were all very tired from the activities and returned to our dorms to get changed. We then returned to the dining hall once again for a "nice" Halloween movie. Inspired by Molly's English class, we chose to watch the scariest of all movies, The Silence of the Lambs. With occasional screams, we watched the frightening movie tucked tightly into our sleeping bags and quilts. As the movie ended at 12:20, everyone participated in a quick clean up and left the dining hall holding hands, still frightened from the film. Everyone barely made it to bed, with yawns coming constantly from our mouths.

Alie, Sara, Kathryn and Nina

On Tuesday morning we all woke up fifteen minutes early to meet for morning circle at 6:15. We decided we needed this extra time to complete the eight-mile run to the abandoned airport in Deep Creek. By 6:30, we were on our way down the driveway and out to the road that would lead us past Palm Island and all our other familiar landmarks. Since our longest run thus far has been six miles, the eight-mile distance was a challenge for most of us. For many in the community, this was our longest run ever. Matt, Kathryn, Chris Maxey, and our athletic dog, Lucky, set the pace, completing the run in an hour. Most of us took a little longer but still finished in great time. Although the run proved to be difficult, we all enjoyed the challenge. How could we not in such beautiful surroundings? We are all proud to say we accomplished such a feat.

As part of our kayak rotation, students also took three days to explore Eleuthera. The first "Down Island Trip" set out on Monday under the direction of Taja and Dennis. Although our van broke down in Tarpum Bay and we had to rent a new one quickly, the trip was a blast! We visited sights all over the island, including Preacher's Cave, where the first permanent European settlers to the Bahamas made their home, Gregory Town and the huge Banion trees at Rock Sound Farm. We camped on the beach and did a morning run at the old Club Med Resort. Dennis told ghost story after ghost story at night and had us all laughing and scared at the same time. For many of us, Down Island was the highlight of the semester so far!

We also had a lot of diving time this week. Diving for many people is a very big fear as the water is a place that causes great trepidation. This school is all about confronting fears at your own pace, but indeed confronting them as we overcome our various fears. The scuba program is great example of this because, despite our worries, we all are now divers!

Trust us, it's safe!

Allie: Mom, Daddy, & Neeni- Love you. Can't wait to see you!~Billy & Kristen- Love you! Hope LI is fun without me.~Library Girls- Dec.2002: Who's ready to party? <3 U!

James: Mom, Dad, Eddie, Grandma, love and miss you all! Can't wait to see you again! Everyone at l'ville, hey! Write me lots of letters and hope you're all doing well!