Day 7 (4/2) -- by Bianca and Mads

We started off our day by jumping off of High Rock, which is a spot we had visited earlier on our night crabbing adventures. We learned that this is a very sentimental place on the island because students have been jumping off of it since the 90s. After everyone took turns jumping into the water, we used our snorkels to check out what was in the water below us, which included a stingray and a lionfish!

After our High Rock jump and breakfast, we spent some time in the Octagon (our meeting room) learning a brief overview of the history of the Bahamas, focusing on the native peoples who originally lived on Eleuthera. They were known as Lucayans, and their population was completely eradicated not long after Columbus’ arrival on the island. This is a difficult part of the island’s past to learn about, but necessary context for us to better understand the place we’ve been learning so much about.

Our main activity of the day was a beach cleanup.  We collected waste, mostly plastic, from a local beach to take to a nearby dump. During our time cleaning up the beach, we had the opportunity to speak with Eric, the founder of Clean Beaches Eleuthera. He explained to us his four-step plan for his non-profit organization. He began by regularly cleaning beaches around the island with his friends and family, then began to spread the word and engage with others in the community. He then secured funding for his project and is now in the final stage – constructing a recycling center right here on Eleuthera. This center will be invaluable to the environmental sustainability of Eleuthera. After we finished at the beach, we had collected over 460 pounds of waste and took it to a local dumping site where it will be incinerated. Eleuthera doesn’t have a large-scale way to manage waste, and so their main way to get rid of garbage is to burn it periodically within these dumps.

We came back to campus where we had some down time before dinner, then began packing for our next adventure… the Down Island Trip! 




Getting ready for jumping from the High Rock









Red, red, pointy head -- chant for identifying the red mangroves. :)


Another pointy head!


Learning about the history of Bahamas



Beach cleaning




We collected almost 500lb of debris! 








Taking the trash to the dump 







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