Plastic is Drastic - Day 03

After “sleeping in” until 7:30, we raised the Bahamian flag, and sang the National Anthem.

Soon after enjoying some delicious French toast, we drove 30 minutes to the other side of the Island to pick up plastic. After an hour of picking up everything from fishing nets, to bottle caps, we headed into the water for a brief swim.

After lunch we headed to the boat house at 1:30 to learn about coral reefs. From there, we had a great opportunity to head out on a couple of boats and see the reefs for ourselves using our snorkel gear. We saw Marine animals like the Sergeant Major, a shark, and a Queen Angelfish.

After seeing the reefs, we headed back to our dorms to dry off and play Nuke'em. We then had a relaxing evening where we worked on our research projects. We also had some free time to further explore the campus and bond as a group. Overall it was a great day and we are looking forward to being in the water more tomorrow.

With Pruney Fingers,

Nate and Spencer

Fishful Thinking - Day 02

What a better way to start off the day than to see a frog in the mirror! The boys started off our day by discovering a frog in the bathroom, which we promptly set free.

After releasing the frog we went meet at the flag pole and sang the Bahamian National Anthem, now with a flag. With our energized group, we headed out towards the beach for a game of Nuke’Em. For several rounds one team fought valiantly but they just weren’t meant to win. Awoken by an overly competitive game of Nuke’Em we showered and headed to breakfast.

Instead of the traditional American breakfast we had yesterday, today we had a Bahamian breakfast. For breakfast today, we had a delicious Bahamian bread with a very tasty turkey soup (Tofu for the vegetarians). After our breakfast, we split into two groups, one working in the farm and the other working in the aquaponics.  

The group that went to the farm helped them move the chicken pen, which they rotate every couple weeks to not wear out the ground. That meant we chased chicken around the pen and put them in coups. Several students found new creative uses for chickens, such as a hat!

We even found a newly laid egg as we moved the chickens.

After helping move the pen and clear some of the weeds around the fence we were told about 4 elusive chickens. They escaped the pen and were somewhere around the farm. Of course we had to catch them. The hunt was on! A group of 7 students followed a chicken into some dense bushes, where she had the upper hand. Despite our best efforts and some scratches we were unable to catch the chicken as she was way faster than us in the bushes.

The group that went to the aquaponics started off transporting the tilapia over to a new cell. This is important because as the fish produces waste, it essentially becomes nitrate for the plants in the farm. We then began to fillet some fish. It’s not the McDonald’s fillet-o-fish, but a live tilapia used in the farm. Today was a harvest day and our group collected over 70 tilapia to feed everyone on the island. Everyone was disgusted by cutting the fish and taking its meat out.

After lunch the groups switched, so everyone had an opportunity to try everything. The first group tried their hand at filleting fish, it wasn’t easy. Taking the skin off is really hard, but eventually we all got the hang of it. The second group got to try some coconuts straight off the tree. 

During our free time the whole group decided to go snorkeling. We heard about a shipwreck 100m off the coast from our dorms, so we had to go see for ourselves. 

It was during low tide so the water wasn’t very deep, but we got to see a lot of different fish and coral. The most impressive specimen was a huge starfish.

After dinner we saw a fascinating presentation about the restoration of coral reefs by a professor staying at the Cape Eleuthera Institute. She spoke to us about her efforts to restore reefs while also teaching us about how humans are impacting them.

Hopefully the fish smell will wear off tomorrow, and we will see that fish during lunch.

Ready for Bed,

Tyler and Zain

Our First Full Day in the Bahamas! - Day 01

This morning we woke up at 6am. To start the day off, we all came together at the flagpole at the center of campus, and sang the Bahamian National Anthem. Shortly their after, it was time for our test. Fortunately this was just a short swimming test, and everyone was able to pass with ease. Hungry and ready for breakfast, we walked into the dining hall to the wonderful smell of fresh Pancakes and Bacon. Our stomach’s stuffed, we soon headed back to our dorm to get ready for our scavenger hunt.

At 9:15 we met in the Octagon, which is what the central meeting building is called and divided into two groups for our scavenger hunt. This was the first time we really had an opportunity to see the whole campus. We saw everything from Pigs to toilets with sinks on top of them (yes, actually). Throughout the course of the scavenger hunt, the sustainability on campus is even more extraordinary. Seeing fruits being planted on roof top gardens was fascinating and something you don’t see too often. 

After lunch, we listened to Colin speak about sustainability. The Island School basically has a purpose for all waste, so it was interesting to learn about the different ways is could be used. We also had nice talk with Nyhamiha, a conch fisherman. He told us many stories about his time at sea. He also told us about his childhood and what drives his passion for fishing. We learned so much about the waters surrounding Eleuthera and the other places that he likes to fish.

We then went snorkeling as a group. There was not much in the water, but we did see a Baracuda and couple of Stingray! When we came back from snorkeling, we were allowed to have a bit of exploration time. During this time, we are allowed to explore campus and find cool things to do with our friends. Today, instead of seeing what else the campus has to offer, we decided to play Nuke'em as a class. This was extremely fun and we got to meet Brian from the Center for Sustainable Development who saw us playing and decided to join in.

After our exploration time, we went out dinner. The restaurant we went to is called Sharil’s Inn, and we were served fried lionfish, an invasive species in the waters surrounding the Bahamas. We also got eat ribs, chicken, mac & cheese, and French fries!

After dinner, we went straight to the octagon for our evening activity. Tonight, we did fish identification and had a competition to see who could name the most fish.

But, that's it for tonight, family and friends! 

From Eleuthera,
Nate and Taylor

Through the Treacherous Shoal - The Travel Day

We woke up a little sleepy today but most of us made it to the bus before 5 AM.

Some of us were bright, cheery, and excited for the trip,

While others were ready to go back to sleep

We somehow made it through checking our bags and security, where we thoroughly enjoyed being patted down. Then, finally, we made to the terminal, where we could finally relax. First we flew to Charlotte, where we saw the great sites of the path between the two terminals, including a coffee shop and other terminals.  Wow!  On the second flight to Nassau, we celebrated Tyler’s birthday, with one picture and no cake.  Happy birthday Tyler!!!

With many food options for lunch, including Wendy’s, Wendy’s, and a certain redhead’s fast food chain, most of us chose Wendy’s instead of fasting.  Our favorite part of the meal was having to gulp frosties to get through security in time.

Then we took our final flight to Rock Sound, Eleuthera, on the smallest, but cutest of the planes.

Once we landed, we met another Tyler and piled in the vans to head to the Cape Eleuthera Institute

After a quick introduction to our dorms and our schedule, we went to dinner.  Shout out to the dish crew (DC) for cleaning the dishes. 

Finally we called our parents to let them know that we made it, and we will be having too much fun to miss

Time to go to sleep, big day ahead.  Goodnight.

From the Bahamas, 
Kelsey and Gabe

Gates Mills Day 06: This is It

Today is the last day before we leave for the Bahamas! We started the day with the Bahamian National Anthem, this time without our lyric sheets. We were introduced to our Cape Eleuthera Institute hosts, Tyler Maxey and Tatum Nugent, with some personal letters they wrote to us. 

We then proceeded to reflect on the week spent at Gates Mills. Patience is an important trait to have while at the Island School because we will have to trust the process and the group in order to succeed. In order to practice patience, every student had to close their eyes and count off 1-20. Every student had to speak and could not say a number more than once or a number at the same time as another student. This was a fun exercise as it taught us teamwork and brought us closer together as a class. We later learned this would serve as a practical exercise for our class during our eleven days away from Cleveland. When going from activity to activity we are often asked to count off using our numbers from this activity to serve as a system to ensure all students are safe and present. We broke off for lunch and returned to watch 2 documentaries. One was on the infamous invertebrates and their connection to the overall development of the ocean. The other was on a famous navigator, Shackleton and the hardships him and his shipmates had to overcome to explore the Antarctic. His sheer determination and relentless optimism are lessons we can bring with us to the Bahamas to a lesser degree. When it is hard to get through the day because of a list of factors, we can think to ourselves, what would Shackleton do? 

A sweet surprise to end our last day at Gates Mills was being able to get let out early, giving us some more time to spend with our family and friends. To the Bahamas we go!

Best,
Becca and Spencer

Gates Mills Day 05: Whale, Whale, Whale, Would You Look At That?

This morning we all woke up to rainy weather in the mid thirties, and were thrilled when we realized that in just a couple days we would be waking up to the glorious Bahamian sun. Wednesday cannot come soon enough! Almost all of us made it to class on time, almost, but because we are a team and a unit we were all faced with thirty pushups when the last person came in three and a half minutes late. Despite the strenuous exercise and the icky forecast we stood up and proudly sang our hearts out as we watched the super extra video that accompanies the Bahamian national anthem. Our first activity was a review game.

We came up with team names and team mottos and then fought to the death over identifications of different birds and aquatic organisms. Not actually to the death, but it came pretty close, especially when a dispute broke out about whether “Yellow Mustard Hill” was close enough to “Mustard Hill Coral” to count for a point. There were some concerning illustrations that accompanied the Killdeer bird, but the good news is that now we’ll never be able to forget what it’s called. We did our best to remember how to do the sheet bend knot, which attaches ropes of different sizes; the clove hitch knot, which ties to a cylindrical object; and the bowline knot, which creates a non-adjustable loop and is objectively the best knot. When there was a four way tie of 29 points we raced through a cleat hitch (which ties a boat to a dock) as our tiebreaker, even though it wasn’t really breaking a tie because we were tying a knot… I digress.

Each table group was assigned a country and provided with the country’s flag (not to scale) and the country’s view on commercial whaling. Once we had taken a minute to look over our material, and we understood where we stood on the issue, it was time to have a conference. Japan and Norway wanted commercial whaling because it was “important for their economy.” Zimbabwe and Botswana didn’t care much for whaling but wanted to change the laws surrounding elephant poaching. Smaller countries like St. Vincent and the Grenadines (the best country by far) just wanted aboriginal whaling rights and were willing to do almost anything to get them. Tensions were high. Greenpeace was there. It was exhilarating. After some group debates and some private discussions (which may or may not have involved some sketchy deals about whale meat at a below market price in exchange for support) the time came for each country to share their decision. The same number of groups wanted to allow commercial whaling as those who didn’t, but it takes three quarters of the representatives to agree on a law before it can be passed. This led to our closing remarks during which Japan’s representative took to the floor, announced that it didn’t matter whether or not the law was passed because Japanese business men were going to capture and domesticate whales anyways, and finished with a dab - which we all know is the most professional way to end a conference.

Once we had recovered from the closing remarks and put away our flags, we moved the tables from conference mode back to our normal seating arrangement and reflected on the economy and ethics surrounding whaling as we walked to lunch in the snow.

After our scrumptious lunch provided by Sage Dining, we adjourned back to the classroom to hear our head of admissions, Ms. Jackson, speak about her and her husbands experiences exploring the ocean floor. We learned about photographing the ocean and how lighting comes into play. When taking pictures deeper in the ocean it is imperative that you bring appropriate lighting or you will miss out on all of the colors present. In addition to talking about photographing the ocean, she also laid out several problems that are occuring on island-countries like the Bahamas and then provided us with potential solutions. One of the ideas she brought to us was educating the locals and tourists about problems such as plastics and it effects on sea turtles, how much pollution cruises cause, and that Lionfish are not poisonous, but just venomous. We were then interrupted by a fire drill.

Following the drill, we took a 20 minute long break to rest our brains and get prepared for the final block. Immediately following the break, we went right into our share outs. Each team worked hard to prepare a six minute long share out, which everyone went over on time, about their Bahamian problem. We all learned about what each other were working on and where we were at. The one thing most of us need to work on is specifying our goal. We had a lot of great ideas, but we can’t solve everything in 11 days. Over the next day, we hope to gain more information on our topics so that when we head to the Bahamas, we are ready to hit the floor running.

Signing off,

Becky and Nick

Weekend Post 02: We Can KNOT Wait

Three days left until sunshine and beach! 

As we anticipate our Wednesday morning (12/5) departure to Eluthera Island, we have all (hopefully) began to pack our suitcases. Including everything from clothes and suits, to sheets and shampoo. As there are many items of all shapes and sizes on the packing list, it is very important to go through it carefully and make sure you are not forgetting anything! ALSO! As Ms. Swain has reminded us several times, bring plastic bags of some sort for wet and dirty clothes! Doing so will be very helpful in terms of keeping our rooms tidy and odor free. In addition, it will help keep things from getting mold and mildew.

As we pack, we may start to realize that we do not have everything we need for the trip. In this case, it would have been and IS important to take a trip to Target or the mall to collect these items. For most of the class, this might entail going to get a waterproof watch, or flashlight and batteries, even simply plastic zip-lock baggies for clothes.

I literally can KNOT! In addition to packing, we have also been practicing our knot tying this weekend! :) What do you mean knot tying? Well, when we are down at the island school, we will need to know how to tie a variety of different knots. The knots that we will need are as follows: square knot, sheet bend, clove hitch, taught line hitch, bowline, slipknot, alpine butterfly loop, half hitch, timber hitch, cleat hitch, barrel hitch, and gasket coil. You can see pictures of some of these below. Thus, this past Friday in class, we were each given a rope, a partner, and links to step-by-step images to show us how to tie all of the knots listed above. The reason we practice this now, is so that by the time we get down to the island school, we will (hopefully) be able to tie them without assistance. At least that is the goal.

Another thing that we are doing this weekend is RESEARCH! We have each been assigned a team and a problem that faces the Bahamas, and our goal for this week is to come up with a stronger definition of the problem. However, before we can do this we must do lots of research. As once we have defined the problem, it will then be our mission to come up with a feasible solution by the end of the intensive. Pretty cool! Nevertheless, it will also require a lot of hard work, planning, and communicating with those who might know better than we might!

In Excitement,

Grace