More Pics from Thursday

Hi Everyone. Yesterday was my personal favorite day! The snorkel sights were so beautiful - huge sections of corals that seemed to go on forever along the barrier reef. It is hard to describe the Blue Hole snorkel - a unique experience. Then we went to Saddleback Key and walked on a sandbar for about a half mile surrounded by the most incredible blues and greens of the water. It amazed me the number of sanddollars that we could easily find in that sand. Dinner at Helen's (a local woman who caters for groups) was the perfect end to a wonderful day. Early to bed and up at 4:30 am today to get on the boat and in the water by 5:30. Swimming in the dark until the sun began to rise - Wow!! The students are off on a botany walk with the other chaparones and guides so I am chilling before we take off for our final day of exploring Andros. See you all tomorrow night. We will call from Ft. Lauderdale before we board the plane for home.
Love, JP

Another Amazing Day!

Hola familia!! We started out with a bang this morning, a.k.a. breakfast. This was a scrumptious plate of French toast, eggs, and sausages. After we rounded up and boated to “Turtle Reef” for the first snorkel of the day. Then we headed to the Blue Hole on a very wet ride. We saw many things including sting rays!! By that time it was ready for lunch which we ate at Saddle Back beach and had our hermit crab race, which Kelsey’s crabs won!! On this very beach is where we searched for sand dollars and starfish. We were allowed to take some and many of us took them as souvenirs. When we were finished there we snorkeled at “Dave’s Patch Reef” for about 20 minutes, and where we will visit again at 5:30 in the morning (that’s right!!) for our late night/early morning snorkel. Next we visited Henry Wallace, the famous island wood carver, and watched him work. It was quite interesting and he had some very exquisite work. When all was done in the day we all showered and headed to Helen’s place for our delectable homemade dinner which included fried grouper, beans & rice and yummy conch fritters. Now we are all headed for bed and ready for the long day ahead!!

Love,
Stephanie, Kelsey, Tara, Madde, Lacey

A DAY ON THE BOAT

Today we woke up and went right to breakfast from a late wake up notice. After breakfast, we got things ready to go out on the boat with Rob, Red & Ryan. Our first snorkel was at Staniard Rock where we saw lots of rainbow parrotfish, and Ryan, the first in the water, saw a 4 foot reef shark…(totally harmless…don’t worry…) Next we went to Staniard Wreck where only some people went in the water…others were slackers and didn’t go in. Then we went to Club Colors on Jimmy’s Beach for a picnic lunch, where we soaked up some rays and played beach volleyball. After lunch we went to Pigeon Cay to do a biodiversity lab and to gather algae for the algae pressing lab. We came back “home” and did the actual lab. We postponed our night snorkel and plan do it before dawn on Fri instead. We had lots of study time, had dinner, and had a coral reef health and threats lecture from Rob (the greatest boat captain ever) soon after.
Love, Lee, Val, Rach, and Mal.

Pictures

Hi The students have been awesome. We are all having a great time enjoying so many new sights. I've added pictures to some of the previous blog posts below. Enjoy!
Love, JP

Windy Tuesday

Hey Everyone Back Home….. Today we woke up to a windy cloudy day on the island. We battled against the weather and went on a nature hike through the forest and passed by some poison wood (caught by some of us.) cough cough JP….. Then we went exploring to find invertebrates where we found an awesome sea hair. (JP’s slimy friend) Against the powerful wind we trekked up Morgan’s Bluff(the highest point on the island, which is 60 feet) and Brock told us the history of pirate Captain Morgan. We explored the caves where Morgan hid his booty and ate lunch nearby. We went snorkeling after and got to explore a sunken boat. To end the day Annie came and helped us finish our baskets which turned out great and we can’t wait to show ya’ll how well we did. As you can see we are having a great time here and are making many memories.

Love Scott, Johnny, Brandon, Zach, and Corey

Road Trip Monday

Hey… from Paradise!! Today was a very eventful and fun-filled day!! We woke up promptly at 7:30 a.m. and ate a delicious breakfast of pancakes and snausages… Mmmm!! We then saddled up at 9:00 for our trip into town for the 2 snorkels and to get to know the locals. We got to meet some interesting people including Alberto at the Conch shack, Miss Marshall – she has lived for 90 Christmases and is a master basket weaver , and Otis a woodcarver, who even sang to us. But they blessed us with their presence. For lunchtime we all tried some Conch, a local delicacy, and “Grouper fingers,” which really did taste like chicken. All during lunch break we got to rock out and jam with a karaoke machine and Bob Marley impersonations. After all that we now call the Travel Van “home”. We ate a good spaghetti dinner. When din din was done, we all learned the art of weaving baskets from a woman named Annie. It’s harder than it seems!! A few people gave up but most of the group is still weaving along. We are having a terrific time but still miss everyone!!

Love you,
Stephanie, Lacey, Madde, Tara, and Kelsey

Action Packed Sunday

Last night after our bonfire with Daddy cool, we went to our cabin to get ready for bed only to find cockroaches falling from the ceiling in Alicia and Val’s room. Rhonda came to our rescue and killed all four of them as we ran out screaming. In the morning after our wake up call from JP, we had breakfast. A very cool Fish ID lecture followed. Then, we went to church in our Sunday dress. The service was very lively and unpredictable not like at home. We got to make our own ham sandwiches and nachos for lunch. We ventured to Pigeon Cay by boat where we had our first big snorkel in the water. It was kinda difficult because we were fighting the waves. We saw a variety of fish and coral like Squirrelfish, Angelfish, Grunts, and Brain Coral. We swam through a lot of thimble jellies that could sting you and seaweed. We snorkeled around the whole island and when we got back to our surprise we found a lizard in JP’s mesh bag. We trapped it and brought it back to the island where we named it Sylvio. We spent a few hours doing what we wanted like showering, tanning, and swimming. We ate chicken BBQ for dinner. Then, we had a lecture about the history and culture of the Bahamas.
Love~ Lee, Val, Rach, Mal

P.S.~ Patrick we wish you were here and we miss you.

PPS Uploading pictures is still a problem - JP

Our First Impressions!!!

Greetings from Andros! The flight to the island was smooth like Daddy Cool... But we'll get to that later. We arrived and were checked for illegal items (which none of us had), then taken by local taxi vans to our destination at Forfar Field Station. The beach was sandy and we all want to go home due to the weather being perfect!!! Yes this is a joke.. The cabins offer the luxuries of, not allowing any paper products into the toilet (Yes that includes used toilet paper...), following the "if its brown rule," and sailor showers. The practice snorkel was relaxing and cool like our new friend Daddy Cool. Okay now its later... Daddy cool is a local preacher and also the secruity guard here at Forfar. P.S. He is also the coolest man on earth!!!!! He enlightens the mind, soothes the soul, puts a smile on your face, and help Scott crack his coconuts. All in all it was a good f irst day and we look forward to the rest of the trip.
Zach, Brandon, Johnny, Corey, and Scott.
P.S. Have fun in the snow!!!!!!

Arrival on Andros Sat

Florida Bound

Technical Difficulties

Everyone is having a great time - It was a relaxing day of orientation and a practice snorkel.  Can't seem to be able to post any pictures on blogspot tonight.   We will keep trying.

      Miss Palmer

Departure

Suitcase check will start at 7:30 am in the high school library on Friday, April 11 conducted by Miss Palmer, Trooper Jensen, and Mrs. Metcalf.
Following that, all luggage will be weighed in the nurse's office and then loaded on the bus.
Our flight to Ft. Lauderdale departs at 11:30 am.