Blank

 Day 8 (4/3) -- By Abby and Zoe  There’s something peaceful about darkness – true darkness, not the kind that we see every evening as the sun falls below the horizon, as we lay in bed trying to sleep at night, or even as we slept under the stars on the beach. There is a type of darkness that is all encompassing, a type that we rarely – if ever – experience in our normal lives. On our DIT (Down Island Trip) adventure, we were lucky enough to experience this rare form of peace. Taking a much needed break from the scorching Bahamian sun, our group headed down into the comfortable coolness of a natural cave. After a brief introduction to various mineral formations (such as stalactites, stalagmites, columns, iron veining, and – our favorite – cave bacon), we ventured deeper into the mile-long tunnel. Scribbled across the cave walls and illuminated by our headlamps were the legacies of past explorers, dating as far back as 1810. In addition to the human writings on the walls, geolog...

 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. ...

 Day 6 (4/1)  -- by Noa and Lulia  Our sixth day was filled with adventure, bats, and sharks! We woke up at 6:45 and headed on a speed walk to Triangle Cove, one of the best spots to jump off the rocks in South Eleuthera. As we marched (to the tune of a repeat-after-me-song about muffins led by Bianca) the sun began to rise over the ocean. We were reminded of how lucky we were to be on this beautiful island, immersed in the tropical ecosystems and participating in an intentional, sustainable community. After breakfast, we squished into the vans for our South Eleuthera Road Trip (SERT). Our first stop was Boiling Point, an ocean hole and cave system. In contrast to the sunny blue skies above us, the caves we explored were damp and cool—and filled with bats. It was so cool to see these ancient limestone rock formations and the organisms they support. The next natural phenomenon we visited was a banyan tree, which is a sprawling tree got started by strangling another tree. W...

 Day 5 (3/31) -- By Olivia and Roman  ---From Olivia---  So. March 31. Almost half way through. And quite the day it was. We woke up early or the ‘run swim’, a roughly mile-long circuit that alternated between running through swathes of Bahamian scrubs and swimming through the man-made coves that separated the chunks of land. And, to top it all off, our lovely leaders added squats with rocks, burpees but harder and scullers in between. It’s funny though, even if we did do our fair share of complaining in the middle of the exercise, there was something remarkable about being able to do it together. Despite moving at various speeds, we stuck together through it all and had buddies to high five after we finished every activity. Being in the water, appreciating the beautiful sunrise and working together to make it to the end, all before the time the rest of our classmates would start first period a whole country away, was definitely one for the memory books. We completed a le...