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Island Schoolers amid plantation |
A happy May to everyone back home from all of us on Cow Point! We can’t believe it is May already! Once again, this week was hectic, yet fun and rewarding for everyone! We were divided again this week with Kayak One returning to campus for one evening before leaving the next morning for their Down Island Trip with Kayak Four while Kayaks Two and Three hit the water for eights days.
Although midterms are over, the week was just as intense as ever for those of us on academics. We had a different activity or project in every class to keep us quite busy! We continued to review Omeros in English class although with a twist. Most of us groaned when we heard that we would be having a special night class, but we should not have been so afraid as this was no ordinary class! We first hit kitchen, where we made up a big batch of cookie dough to eat as we poured over our books! English class has never been so… yummy!
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Meredith, Tomy and Brittney work on |
Our work in history this week mainly centered on a four-page research paper on the Loyalist period in Bahamian history. There was a lot of frantic researching and typing going on over the weekend, but we all finished the job! History was not all work this week, however. We also ran, biked and hiked to Diehl’s Point to see the remains of an old Loyalist plantation and had breakfast on the beach there. In addition to our work in humanities, we worked on our Open art assignments and science project on Marine Protected Areas. Research groups had a lot of work, but we all handled it really well. The Coastal group visited Princess Cays, the only remaining major tourist site on this part of the island. Several times per week, cruise ships unload thousand of passengers who snorkel, sit on the beach, and eat a huge buffet lunch. The contrast between Princess Cays and the Eleuthera we know was unbelievable and presented an incredible learning experience.
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Keenan enjoys omeros |
The week was not all work, however. We completed a nine-mile run to the airport on Friday!! Although it was a hot morning, all of us finished the journey to the old airport and back. Half marathon, here we come!! Saturday night we went to Sunset Beach and had a “mini-solo,” where we all sat and watched the sunset in silence – for math class! We worked on our Junkanoo costumes on Sunday, finished our history papers and snuck in some rest. Monday night we enjoyed a special surprise, which was followed by a night dive at Tunnel Rock, where we saw some awesome phosphorescence and another loggerhead turtle. For many of us, the night dive was the coolest thing we have done here!
Kayak One returned Monday full of excitement and stories. We survived eight days in the wilderness and paddled over 30 miles all over Eleuthera! The first four days were spent paddling and camping in various spots on the beach; a major highlight came on Day Four when we saw a hammerhead shark (a rare sight) attacking an eagle ray mere feet from our boat! The hammerhead actually swam under some of our boats—talk about intense! But we all made it to Lighthouse Beach safe and sound, where we had two day solos: 48 hours completely alone. On the second night of the solo we had a pretty bad lightning storm, which was scary, but we all made it through okay. We were sad to finish.
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The Coastal group visits Princess Cays |
Sarah works on a history paper |
