Off to the sun, fun…and learning! Ten Linkers and two chaperones set off yesterday for The Island School , Eleuthera, The Bahamas for a week’s educational adventure. They will study marine ecology, sustainability, and Bahamian culture as well as explore the island’s terrain. Students will learn to snorkel to view the ocean flora and fauna. For some this will be their first time out of the US; their first time swimming, much less in the ocean; and their first time dissecting a fish! Stay tuned for their exploits. More will be added as the week progresses.
CLICK HERE for photos from The Island School 2015.
Students wrote from The Island School:
Monday:Yesterday was a very very exciting day. The plane ride was very long, and we had to take two planes. The last American fast food we had before we arrived here was the Wendy’s that we had in the Nassau Airport. I would think that they would have Bahamian food in the Wendy’s in the Bahamas, but surprisingly it is the same thing that we have in the US. Once we finished eating, we went on the second plane which brought us to Eleuthera. I was not able to take a nap on either plane ride because of how excited I was.It took most of the day to arrive here, but once we arrived, the whole wait was worth it. On the car ride to the campus, we sang songs and annoyed each other. Once we got to the campus it was very windy and it still is. It is wonderful  because it is keeping the mosquitoes away. The sea is a very beautiful sight. It is many shades of blue and sometimes green. When standing there and just listening to it, it is a very soothing sound, and that is what helped me to fall asleep last night. It took a while for me to fall asleep last night because I don’t usually go to sleep at 9:30 pm. I also kept on waking up in the middle of the night which also led me to being tired the next day. I at least got enough sleep to go through the next day. It was very helpful that we had to go to sleep early because the next day brought a lot of tiring activities.So far I have had an amazing time and learned so much about the campus and the animals living in the seas. By Hervluida
Tuesday: Today we woke up at 5:45 am to get dressed and go to our meeting place called the “octagon.” We were late by 1 minute, so we had to do 10 push ups. One of our guides, Stan, explained the schedule after the push ups. Then we went to breakfast and I had cereal with skim milk. Later we left for the “4th Hole,” which is a coral reef. It’s named the 4th Hole because it used to be part of a golf resort and it was around the 4th hole. We went into the ocean to go snorkeling to see coral in their home. I have lots of pictures on my camera. We saw brain coral and fire coral. Fire coral would shock you if you touched it. After we came back from the 4th hole we went for lunch and had ribs and salad. Next, we went on a tour of the island school. They have a farm with really big pigs. They grow all of their fruit and vegetables. Later after the tour we played Jeopardy about all of the things we saw. Did you know that the Island School makes its own gas out of vegetable oil, lye and methanol? They also have an aquaponic system that collects rainwater at the bottom of our dorms for showers and the toilet which are called the grey water and black water. Grey is for the showers and sink while the black is for the toilet. We were divided into an even and odd group, and I was in the evens. We won the Jeopardy and the prize was knowledge! It was a good trick and fun. After that was finished, we had exploration time and we all wanted to sleep, but Ms. Pierce and Mr. Hogan wouldn’t let us so we went to the beach to relax. We stayed there and talked with one another before dinner. At dinner, we had lasagna which was very good. After dinner we went to the dock to have a night wade. We only went up our knees to look for all of the nocturnal marine life. Did you know that we are diurnal? Which means we go to sleep at night and are active during the day. At the night wade we saw jelly fish and a type of worm that glows in the dark which was pretty cool. We also saw an urchin, conch and sea cucumber. Lastly, we went to sleep way before curfew and we still woke up tired the next day! By Joshua
Wednesday: Island School has been a wonderful experience, which I will remember forever. Where do I start? First, everyone woke up and we went down to the beach to play beach volleyball. It was a game for fun and everyone enjoyed themselves. After playing beach volleyball we went down to breakfast where we had omelets, orange juice, and dilly (which is grown right here in Island School’s very own garden). After eating breakfast, we had to rush to the van for our road trip which included visits to: the Down Island Hatchet Bay Cave, the Glass Window Bridge, the Bahamas bakery, and the Ocean Hole. The cave was a dark pit with many stalactites and stalagmites and it was filled with waist-deep cold water. Everyone enjoyed climbing the rocks and taking 30 seconds of silence in the darkness. Almost everyone put on tribal make-up (red clay from Africa). From the Glass Window Bridge, we could see both the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. The bridge was moved 2 ft. due to the waves, which caused it to be reinforced so that people can enjoy the beautiful sight. The Bahamas Bakery was one of the places that everyone enjoyed. The Ocean Hole — to me — was the most memorable experience I’ve had at the Island School so far. The Ocean Hole is actually a blue hole that connects the Caribbean Ocean. It is 600 ft. deep and it was at low tide when we submerged after jumping off the cliff. This was easy for some and a challenge for others. Fortunately, everyone got a chance to overcome their fears. We returned to the Island School just in time to eat dinner. Then we had a lesson on Fish ID where we explored different fish characteristics and learned about many types of fish. I couldn’t believe there were so many types of fish! It’s only the second full day at the Island School and we are all so exhausted, but everyone is ready for many new experiences. By Lucinda
Thursday: I can now safely say that I can jump into water and actually not drown. Early this morning before the sun itself was up we embarked on a “Run Swim”. We did multiple drills that would help us feel more relaxed in the water and know what to do to conserve energy. When I first arrived I had no idea how to swim. I relied heavily on every flotation device around even when I have my PFD (Personal Flotation Device) on. After the drills I was able to swim from one shore to the other by myself, even though I did swallow more salt water than needed and flipped over on my back when I meant to swim forward.
After breakfast, we had a small lesson on plastic and how much ends up in the ocean. We then proceeded to Cotton Bay Beach where we picked up plastic of the beach and did a not-so-competitive competition to find the weirdest things. We found a lot of nets, Â refrigerator door, toothpaste tube (made in the US, package designed in the UK) a plate, some clothes, and a lot of unidentified objects as well. Overall it was a great way to give back to the earth and to save the fish even though I never eat any. In the end we had three full boxes and had to leave some there to grab later.
After we had a picnic on the beach we headed to the gift shop which had slightly overpriced stuff which made sense since everything was handmade. The stuff was very beautiful and I was happy just window shopping. We then traveled to a small corner store which we got ice cream from thanks to our Island School guides Stan and Anna. I had a “Junkanoo” which was a rainbow colored vanilla ice cream. Despite its look, it tasted just like the plain white vanilla ice cream you would get every day. Next we headed to the Banyan Tree.
The Banyan Tree is a tree that was actually born off of another tree. The branches start to sprout off the host tree and usually move down and connect with other branches making lots of other trunks. We were then serenaded by bird calls provided by Josh who was able to get calls back from other birds as well. We were informed that if we were quiet we would get to see wild horses that live around the tree but all we got was a load ton of “evidence” which we made sure not to step in as it was practically everywhere. We did some tree hugging and made our way home to get ready for our dinner at Sharil’s Inn.
Even though it seemed as if we had enough time to wash hair and take a quick shower we were quickly pushed out of the dorm by Ms. Pierce. I settled for a ponytail which looked good considering my too curly and tangled by the waves hair which I was able to slightly tame with a small hairbrush. We got to the Inn and were graced with beautiful food and soda which will maybe never top any feast I’ll eat again (maybe).
The rest of the night is chill and we get out a long time before lights out, waiting  to sleep in.  By Medina
Friday: Today was one of the days that I had to get out of my comfort zone. At first my peers and I watched a power point about Persistent Organic Pollution aka P.O.P. In order words it is the waste of plastic that is collected along the shoreline over time. The amount of pollution that is gathered is equal to between 5-8 million tons per square feet of shoreline all over the world. A majority of this plastic goes towards the ocean into an ocean gyre which is confused for food and eaten by smaller marine life then bigger fish eats the smaller fish that has the plastic inside. This process have eaten continues until we, as humans, eat some of the fish with the plastic that has derived from its prey. This is known as bioaccumulation.
After the presentation, we dissected some fish called wahoo and mahi mahi. These fish have traveled  a great distance and we have assumed that along their travels they may have eaten some plastics based on what we found in their stomachs. We took measurements on the contents of the stomachs where we found other fish and some plastics. There is a chance that we have already eaten plastic from the fish that we eat because our markets do not really check the fish for safety reasons they just sell to make a profit.
Later on this afternoon we ate lunch then we set out on a boat named Mac Daddy, towards the ocean to join a shark research crew with their studies on marine wildlife. The boat traveled at high speed and the water was choppy so it was an exhilarating experience. Then it came to the point where some of us were starting to feel sick because of the choppy waves and the sun beaming on our skin. We started to head back to land, but we stopped at the marina to see Nurse Sharks. We also witnessed some fish that looked amazing. By Austin
Saturday: Today was our sixth day in the Island School in Cape Eleuthera, Bahamas. We started our morning late since the alarm did not go off on time. We rushed to get ready for our morning activity, which started at 6:30, which is a customary starting time. Our morning exercise was yoga and we went to one of the buildings with our towels, water, and sun protection. Our hostess, Ms. Anna, was there to guide us along with a partner, Ms. Tiffany. For a good hour, we relaxed our bodies and stretched them out with famous yoga positions such as child’s pose, downward dog, and the cobra. I personally felt very relieved of any tension I had and the yoga was splendid.
After our fun yoga wake up, we went to do chores. We only had to clean up our stuff, since the girls in my dorm were leaving in the morning. That was pretty cool, too. Then, we ate breakfast. We ate ham with butter and biscuits. That was a good breakfast. Following breakfast, we had a pelagic plastic boat ride. This means that we went on a boat for two hours going in the deep waters of the Exuma Sound pulling and catching plastic and fish. There were other people on the boat with us, so we explained the purpose of the boat ride and what we have been learning about plastics thus far. Unfortunately, we caught no fish, but we did see stingrays fly out of the water so that made up for it.
