Island Times Blog

By Claire M., Nandita G., Cat B., Keith C., Nico R.

With the  awakening of pouring rain outside, everyone ran to take cover. Once the rain stopped we had pink skies with birds chirping. Breakfast was eggs, or “wet eggs” as Darius called it (while cooking everyone discussed how runny they like their eggs, and though these ones were scrambled and fully cooked, the descriptor “wet eggs” stuck). Anyway, breakfast was enjoyable as always! Of course clean up came around the corner, but luckily my group had a break. Immediately, we set sail; with the company of dolphins! Finally arriving at the port we filled up with supplies, and had hotdogs and chips for lunch! After lunch while we sailed to Savannah Bay, Captain Andy taught us all how to sail. While half the group was learning, the rest of us took a nap or sat on the tarp, getting splashed by the waves.  Claire got drenched. Once we docked at the bay, we had a discussion about the food chain in the ocean and learned about the apex predators of the Carribean.

We took a break from learning to go snorkeling and do a coral transect to monitor reef health. We observed and recorded how much coral was alive and how much was dead. As we made our way back from the reef we saw a Southern Stingray. Then we met with Oliver, a twelve year old we kidnap periodically from the main program since he has no scuba classes to take, and our activities are more fun than sitting on a boat during scuba classes, and Aubrey, who is in a similar situation. We played Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza and painted all the boys’ fingernails, except for Jack and Captain Andy’s. Then we had stir fry with white rice and for dessert we had cake. As we cleaned the dishes, Louis became the first person to drop one of Ariel’s dinglehoppers into the ocean and had to go retrieve it, and Nico licked the cake pan and the spatula clean. Soon after, Kaitlin, the lead biologist at SeaTrek main program, came and gave a presentation on Sharks, Rays, and Skates. At the end of her presentation, we discussed ways to conserve Greenland Sharks. The locals think the Greenland Sharks are taking all their fish. We decided that we should tear down SeaWorld and build SharkPark. SharkPark would make the Greenland kids love sharks and educate the community on how beneficial sharks are. After Kaitlin left, we started getting ready for bed. We slept in the cockpit and dozed off to bed to be ready for a new adventure tomorrow.

Tropical Marine Ecosystems using our whiteboard table!

Dinner (stir fry and cake!) with our guests from Main program, Oliver and Aubrey).