Location: Tabago Cays
Another great day in the Grenadines! After a long night of last-minute studying, everyone powered through a near-impossible marine biology test. For most, the day was spent finishing up literature reviews for Oceanography. Some of us got to see a massive barracuda near the bow, though. That was pretty cool! Overall, today was solid! Stoke level is high for the surprise shore activity coming soon!
And special guest star writer Heather:
The day started out particularly beautiful with a glowing pink sunrise around the Tobago Cays, uninhabited islands surrounded by sea turtles and box fish, and baby sergeant majors (oh my :)! While students were taking their first marine bio exam (there were some fun bonus questions mixed in if you read instructions carefully), Drew was all the way at the top of the main mast doing routine checks on the rigging of the boat. After the exam, students transitioned into seamanship with Freddie and finished learning about the basics of being safe and effective crew members. When lunch rolled around, head chef Meghan and sous Corinne and Freddie treated us to a taco party. Post lunch, we jumped back into marine bio, but this time to start unit two, learning about cnidarians (corals, anemones, jellies, and much more:), sponges, and a few other crazy cool inhabits of our marine backyard. This lecture was the first of a taxonomy-heavy unit in Meg’s class where the students get to learn a touch of Latin and deepen their understanding of the organisms we see and to what level of classification they’re all connected to each other and the afternoon continued on into a bit of study hall. For many, this involved wrapping up literature reviews for oceanography and preparing presentations on their respective topics to teach the class tomorrow. Many afternoon swim breaks were had, the sunset did not disappoint, and dinner was another hit — although the local “jalapeos” I found while provisioning in Union a few days prior may have been more spicy than your average pepper. For some of us (myself included), this was an absolute delight, and a touch more hot sauce was added on top. For others, the rice and cornbread that went alongside the chili were used to soak up the spice as much as possible.