Day 10 by Ezana and Meredith

 Day 10 (4/5) -- By Ezana and Meredith 

Today we woke up and had an early breakfast at 7 in order to maximize our time at Half Sound. On our journey to Half Sound, we ran into an obstacle, a flat tire. One of the vans we took caught a flat tire and after about thirty minutes we were able to get the spare tire on and get back on the road. We started off our day at Half Sound with a 3-mile hike that led to an amazing view of the ocean pouring into the mouth of the sound. We were also able to see hound fish and many sea turtles. After our hike, we were very hot and needed to cool off so we jumped into the ocean before eating our field lunches. After we ate lunch, we began our most intense and exciting snorkel of the trip so far. It was a little choppy so for this snorkel we split into two groups. This reef was the healthiest reef we had seen since being in the Bahamas. It was stunning. This snorkel carried extra significance because all of the reefs we had snorkeled at beforehand had been visibly been damaged by both global warming and human activity, so seeing what a thriving coral reef ecosystem looked like was important for our learning experience. On the snorkel, we saw parrot fish, doctor fish, blue chromis, grouper, jacks, and many more. It was especially cool to see some big elkhorn coral because it is endangered.

              We were planning to do another snorkel, but couldn’t because of the delay of the flat tire, so we debriefed and had some alone time to reflect and recharge. Then we had dinner, which was taco Tuesday! After dinner, we had an interesting conversation with Darius and Alexis, two of our new friends and leaders. They shared their life stories with the group and spoke on Bahamian culture. They reflected on the contrast between different areas in Nassau; they had completely different experiences growing up despite living within ten minutes of each other. They spoke on the contrast between Nassau and Eleuthera, reflecting on the diversity of lifestyles in the Bahamas. They also spoke on voodoo, tourist culture, the influence of the United States on the Bahamas, and ignorance they have experienced.

              Afterwards, we had a night wade. Alexis guided us through the water, pointing out urchins, jellyfish, nudibranchs, and conch. The highlight, however, was the Caribbean reef octopus! Roman spotted it: a small blue octopus swimming through the shallow water. It landed on a reef ball and sat still. Meredith is writing part of this blog and feels the need to use first person to express my excitement at seeing this octopus. The Caribbean reef octopus was one of the organisms I researched, and it was by far the highlight of my trip to see it in the wild. We saw many of its traits and behaviors that I researched; for example, we saw it hunting in the night, changing color to brown to camouflage, and finally ejecting ink and swimming away. Having the scientific context made the experience so much more meaningful. It was beautiful. After we got out of the water, I was freaking out and jumping and down for joy. I was so happy. I’m still so happy. We walked back under the stars.

              I’ve also seen some more birds since I last blogged, with the tutelage of Mr. de Grys. I’ve seen a magnificent frigatebird, palm warbler, American redstart, red-legged thrush, royal tern, black faced grassquit, thick billed vireo, crescent-eyed peewee, semi-palmated plover, black-bellied plover, kingfisher, ovenbird, common yellowquit, cape may warbler, and more. Mr. de Grys’ excitement at seeing birds inspires me to be more observant and curious.





Half Sound, Eleuthera


Contemplation 






Coral reef 


Snorkeling in the Atlantic proper 



Coral Reef 











Night wading 



Kissing a sea cucumber





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