Hello again from the Greater Caribbean!
As the week moves on, we are getting more into our classes and learning much more about each other, the local island, and expectations throughout this trip! On Wednesday, we unfortunately sat in our classroom all day and were introduced to our Marine Ecology and Environmental Policy classes. I'm interested in both of them, and cannot wait to begin doing research with my professors; I even signed up to do field work with lemon sharks next Wednesday! The rest of the day was devoted to my scuba certification course. Unfortunately (again) I sat in the classroom the rest of the day and watched a really cheesy video about diving skills. The fun part of the day was we finally got to open all of our new scuba gear and learn how to attach it to the cylinder, and mostly just get to know our equipment better. Our first dive in the pool will be on Saturday and in the ocean on Sunday, obviously I am really excited for this! Later in the evening, we decided to check out South Caicos night life... which was interesting, but fun! We went to a bar called "Deryl's" and were greeted by very friendly islanders. I befriended a man that they call "Juice" and his wife, Susette was the bartender. Juice told me that he considered himself a "renaissance man" and he was really fun to talked to. Everyone in South Caicos goes by an island nickname, which Juice told me that they usually all have stories behind them. Then he assured me that he would think of a nickname for me, but had to observe me a few nights before he did so. After getting my first taste of South Caicos' famous coconut rum and learning how to play dominos, I think it was a successful first night in town!
On Thursday we began with class again, but for our environmental policy class we got to walk around the island while our professor gave us a history lesson of the Turks and Caicos islands, as well as South Caicos itself. The island has a unique story of how it came to be the way it is and it was really interesting to learn! One of the things we saw were the old salinas that were used for harvesting salt. Even though salt hasn't been an export of South Caicos for decades, the salinas still remain and are actually really cool looking. Some of them are even a soft pink color, and the salt crystals are the size of jelly beans... also there are wild flamingos that nest near the salinas, so it was cool to see them too! Later in the day we finally got to go snorkeling on one of the reefs! We snorkel a lot, because for our marine ecology class we have weekly identification sessions... so our instructors will go down and point at an organism and we have to give them the scientific name for it. Today however, we just got to go for fun and see the amazing sea creatures. Some of the things we saw were lion fish (pretty, but very poisonous and and invasive species), spiny lobster, barracuda (scary), sting rays (one was about five feet in width), and TONS of pretty fish! It was exhilarating to see so much life on the reef! We had free time after dinner, so naturally we went and found a place that sells ice cream and played card games the rest of the night!
Still, everyday I have to pinch myself when I wake up and see the blue water... I don't think I'll ever get used to that!
As the week moves on, we are getting more into our classes and learning much more about each other, the local island, and expectations throughout this trip! On Wednesday, we unfortunately sat in our classroom all day and were introduced to our Marine Ecology and Environmental Policy classes. I'm interested in both of them, and cannot wait to begin doing research with my professors; I even signed up to do field work with lemon sharks next Wednesday! The rest of the day was devoted to my scuba certification course. Unfortunately (again) I sat in the classroom the rest of the day and watched a really cheesy video about diving skills. The fun part of the day was we finally got to open all of our new scuba gear and learn how to attach it to the cylinder, and mostly just get to know our equipment better. Our first dive in the pool will be on Saturday and in the ocean on Sunday, obviously I am really excited for this! Later in the evening, we decided to check out South Caicos night life... which was interesting, but fun! We went to a bar called "Deryl's" and were greeted by very friendly islanders. I befriended a man that they call "Juice" and his wife, Susette was the bartender. Juice told me that he considered himself a "renaissance man" and he was really fun to talked to. Everyone in South Caicos goes by an island nickname, which Juice told me that they usually all have stories behind them. Then he assured me that he would think of a nickname for me, but had to observe me a few nights before he did so. After getting my first taste of South Caicos' famous coconut rum and learning how to play dominos, I think it was a successful first night in town!
On Thursday we began with class again, but for our environmental policy class we got to walk around the island while our professor gave us a history lesson of the Turks and Caicos islands, as well as South Caicos itself. The island has a unique story of how it came to be the way it is and it was really interesting to learn! One of the things we saw were the old salinas that were used for harvesting salt. Even though salt hasn't been an export of South Caicos for decades, the salinas still remain and are actually really cool looking. Some of them are even a soft pink color, and the salt crystals are the size of jelly beans... also there are wild flamingos that nest near the salinas, so it was cool to see them too! Later in the day we finally got to go snorkeling on one of the reefs! We snorkel a lot, because for our marine ecology class we have weekly identification sessions... so our instructors will go down and point at an organism and we have to give them the scientific name for it. Today however, we just got to go for fun and see the amazing sea creatures. Some of the things we saw were lion fish (pretty, but very poisonous and and invasive species), spiny lobster, barracuda (scary), sting rays (one was about five feet in width), and TONS of pretty fish! It was exhilarating to see so much life on the reef! We had free time after dinner, so naturally we went and found a place that sells ice cream and played card games the rest of the night!
Still, everyday I have to pinch myself when I wake up and see the blue water... I don't think I'll ever get used to that!
Queen Conch shell at sunset! Queen Conch is one of the top exports from the island, so there are shells everywhere. If you each conch in the US, there is a good chance that it came from the waters of South Caicos!