Bahamas Blog: URI J-term Updates

 After a week of exploring and examining San Sal, the students and the instructors will be changed forever.  This is the real benefit of a study abroad -- it is unlike home.  Now, we all have new perspectives on the Bahamas, the coastal environment, the people and ourselves.  This blog has attempted to share many of our activities, but much is missing from the posts.  As travel often does, visiting San Sal and specifically the GRC has helped reinforce a sense of wonder about the world and how it works as well as its history and future.  We saw the island from above (by drone and satellite) and below (in caves and underwater), and these perspectives engendered curiosity and enhanced appreciation of the place and the planet.  During our adventures we interacted with new animals and new habitats, and we met new people, both similar and different in a variety of ways.  We bring home with us many memories as well as some items to remind us of that spec...

We've packed as much as possible into our week on San Sal.  We must thank Executive Director, Troy, and the full staff at the University of Bahamas Gerace Research Center.  The accommodations were comfortable; the food was delicious and bountiful, and everyone (including the other visitors) was friendly and fun.  On our final day, some of us explored the backyard of the GRC with a group from Alfred University (Thanks to Prof Fred).  We walked over the water catchment and hacked our way through some dense, thorny but colorful vegetation.  Meg was amazing at id-ing plants.  Hurricane Melissa knocked down many trees, and despite our best efforts and battling the mosquitoes, we were not able to reach the nearby pond.   Our travel home has been uneventful.  We overnighted in Nassau and enjoyed a yummy dinner at the Twin Brothers along Fish Fry Street.  And we did a little shopping in the morning before getting a ride to the airport from Eddie...

We began the day with a climb up the Dixon Hill Lighthouse, and some goats gave us a friendly welcome.  From the top, we had a great view over the island including to the north (see photo) where the University of Bahamas Gerace Reserach Center (GRC) is visible.  The large white building houses the Conference Room and Labs.  Then, we hiked down to main opening of Lighthouse Cave.  This cave was mapped in the early '80s, and the network includes dry and wet portions (tidally flushed).  You can read more about the cave in the Field Guide by Mylroie and Carew, 2010 .  The students really enjoyed exploring the cave although bats (and their smell) make most folks a little nervous.  We ended the day with a snorkel during which we saw a sea turtle, lionfish, red cushion sea stars and much more.  And with some passing rain showers we even got some rainbows before sunset. Today, sadly, was our last full day on San Sal. :(  But we have some many memorie...

Hi! My name is Ella and I'm a senior Geological Oceanography major! I came on the Bahamas trip to continue my knowledge of coastal processes and expand the applications of field methods that I learned during my time at the Bigelow Lab for Ocean Sciences last semester! Though the Bahamas is a big weather change from Maine, I've had so much fun cooling off in the water and exploring the drastically different geology! My highlights of the trip so far would have to be holding my favorite animal (octopi) and the amazing Cockburn Town formation! Seeing the ancient reef and karst erosion has been so cool! So far I've also seen blowholes, Iguanas, a turtle, crabs, egrets, and caves!! This has truly been the best field experience ever!

This day was garbage. No seriously, we conducted beach surveys and analyzed the shoreline marine debris (i.e., garbage)!  And after conducting our measurements, we collected more than two huge trash bags from the beach (along only about 100 meters of shoreline).  Unfortunately, East Beach is also sometimes referred to as Trash Beach, and the name lives up to the hype.   Students worked in teams to measure the profile of three different beaches to understand how processes shape the beach and spread debris along our shores.  We also enjoyed a trip to the landfill!  Boy, do we know how to have fun?!  After some hot and hard fieldwork in the sun, we had a little fun in the water.  We saw a sea turtle while snorkeling and took a little time to relax in the warm water.  Our time is running out here, so we need to soak up as much saltwater and sun as possible before heading back to winter in Rhode Island! Beach surveying Students counting up and cla...

Hi all!  My name is Kaitlyn Kobetitsch, and I am a third year Marine Biology student. This trip to San Sal was my first time flying out of the country, and it has been amazing thus far!! I have never been to a tropical environment, but I have heard plenty about the Caribbean through friends--safe to say it has lived up to the hype! So far, my favorite experiences have been snorkeling. On Monday, we went on a boat and snorkeled out in Fernandez Bay. Despite the choppy conditions, it was such a fun snorkel, and I got to see some awesome fish like the parrotfish and blue tang (aka the fish that looks like Dory). I also really enjoyed getting to see marine invertebrates at the tidepools in French Bay. In the fall semester, I took a class called Invertebrate Zoology, and it was so cool to see some of the animals we learned about in the wild, such as chiton (a type of mollusk)!  I can't wait to see what the rest of our trip has in store for us!  update -- after writing thi...