Guess
what we saw today….a shark!!! (But
we’ll save that for later)
This
morning we had the option of yoga in the boathouse, another RunSwimTM,
or sleeping in. All of the boys opted for the latter, probably because they
were afraid of being shown up by Grace and Emma who beasted the RunSwimTM
course yet again.
Remember
that shark we mentioned? We’re getting close to that.
Morning
yoga was a blast. Breakfast was soup-osed to be soup-er good, and it was. It
was soup. We finished our chores before either climbing into a van or a boat. We’ll
leave it up to you to figure out which one took the road and which one met us
at the marina.
This
is where we start talking about the shark.
At
the marina we used a fish head to attract nurse sharks to the area where
fishermen clean their catch. We were guided by our fearless leader Brendan who
was researching whether nurse sharks in the Pacific and the Atlantic were the
same species. Our job was to attract sharks to the boat and we were, for the
most part, unsuccessful. We did have one circling the fish head but it had
already been tagged previously so it was basically useless. It was great to see
that it was still doing swimmingly after being caught and released a few days
before, and we got some really sick pictures, so that probably makes up for the
whole “we totally did not accomplish what we were supposed to” aspect of it. We
also got to see lots of our Spirit Animals in the marina and it was really cool
to see them in their natural habitat. There was a lot of pride that came from
being able to identify the fish we were seeing there. Sometimes it’s not just
about what you achieve but about the memories you make and experiences you have
along the way!! Maybe that’s just us fishing for validation. Oh whale.
I
(Abby) took the boat back. It was really cool to see rain on the horizon right
before it absolutely drenched us. I (Becky) was glad that I took the van back.
It was really funny to see all the people on the boat get rained on, right
before all of us got drenched anyways on our walk back to the dorm.
Possibly
even more exciting than seeing a shark was lunch. It was not a shark; it was
freshly baked bread topped with crushed tomatoes, melted mozzarella, garlic,
and thinly sliced meats (except for the vegetarian option). Have you ever heard
of pizza? We’d almost forgotten about it. It had been in the back of our minds
for days, resurfacing in our deepest dreams and making us salivate when we
thought we’d caught a whiff of it but known in our hearts that we hadn’t. Today
was the day. It wasn’t a cruel trick of our imagination, but the genuine
article. The infamous Island School Pizza Day. It was almost comical to see how
quickly the line formed for seconds, but we couldn’t be critical when we too
felt the need for frenzy that came from this delicacy. Once we had all
eventually had our fill (which took a while, especially for Spencer) we made
our way to the library to put the finishing touches – the garnishes, if you
will – on our presentations.
After
two hours of final preparations, we made our way to the Octagon to tell our
Island School teachers exactly what they told us, but in our own words. All the
groups demonstrated a firm grasp on their topics from sea turtle decline, to
coral bleaching, to marine garbage, to invasive species, to really specific cruise
line regulations enforced in the 1980s (I’m looking at you Gabe). We may have
been a little nervous about them at first but it was clear that everyone knew
their stuff. We were very grateful to receive feedback from our lovely Island
School mentors, and are now very excited to spread our knowledge when we give
these presentations back at school.
Our
dinner was followed by a documentary about endangered species and what people
can do to save them. Tyler made us brownies (full of love) and warned us that
it might get a little depressing. Her preface was very warranted as I (Becky)
almost cried multiple times. I (Abby) have seriously considered eating less beef
tacos in the future because it’s better for the environment. I (Becky, a pescatarian)
wholeheartedly support this decision.
Here
is where we go off on a quick tangent about how important it is to take care of
this beautiful world that we live in. Everybody thinks that somebody else is
going to do the saving, but guess what? If everybody is thinking it then nobody
is doing it. Every little teeny tiny baby step can make a difference so DO YOUR
PART. Better to light one candle than curse the darkness. Cool. Thanks. Anyways.
We
will be heading out early tomorrow for a southern island road trip adventure.
Seeing as tomorrow is our last scheduled day in the Bahamas, we have a very
small window to (allegedly) steal our passports and (allegedly) turn them into
fish food.
Good
night <3,
Abby and Becky
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