Island Times Blog

“Rain, Rain….DON’T Go Away!” Today I realized that our FATHOMS crew has what it takes. Rather than let the rain spoil our fun, we decided to stick to the schedule and hike the Ram’s Head Trail at Salt Pond Bay, St. John, USVI (continued…)

Although we looked like we all went for a swim in our clothes afterwards, we thoroughly enjoyed the cooler temperatures and lack of other hikers that accompanied the steady rain. It was as if we were exploring this beautiful oasis for the very first time. And, in true FATHOMS form, we observed and learned a ton along the way. After our hike, we returned to camp to tour the VIERS facility and Tektite (underwater habitat) Museum. It was really informative and a great way to see green technologies and sustainable development put into practice. We also completed an invertebrate identification and classification lab to help us with the coral monitoring that we’ll be doing later this week. After dinner we learned more about coral reef ecology and the threats to coral reefs on both global and local scales. A couple of VIERS graduate students even took some time to talk to us about their research in the area. The students also enjoyed some down time and began preparing for our departure. Tomorrow we’ll head to Tortola and settle into our new and permanent home on Outta Space, our SeaTrek catamaran that will transport us all over the BVIs.