Today we awoke to embark on a rousing excursion to
the Marina, full of dogs and soccer. The grueling match came down to a last
minute goal by the ferocious forward, Kevin Harkey. This goal ended the match
in a 5-5 tie and we cycled back to campus to carry on with our day. After a
swift Sunday breakfast, we voyaged through Rock Sound to explore some caves and
an ocean hole. The caves were dark, but bright with life and energy. Bats
swooped through the air as birds chirped from the towering canopy above. The roots
from the trees above flowed to ground like suspended drops from a waterfall.
Then we hopped back into our vans to make the short trip over to see the
magnificent Rock Sound ocean hole. Once there we had a lesson on its formation
and the mythical being, the Lusca, whose half squid and half shark body is told
to inhabit the ocean holes of the Bahamas. We then enjoyed a few jumps into the
ocean hole before returning to campus for lunch.
After re-supplying our bodies with needed sustenance,
we returned to the water. This next voyage was taking us to no hole or cave,
but to the wide expanse of sand known as the ooidic sandbar. Ooids are a unique
type of sand that is shaped like an egg. They only occur in certain special
environments around the world. The chain of ooidic islands we were on are the
third largest in the world. We spent the afternoon at this sandbar frolicking
about in its shallow waters as vivacious echinoderms crawled about at our feet.
We enjoyed lectures about ooids and invertebrates under the intense rays of
sun. We took time to bask in the sight of another octopus. We were intrigued by
the many movements and color changes the octopus underwent. This exciting
afternoon slowly wound down as we devoured our final meal of the day and
watched an informative movie on extreme cave diving in ocean holes.
We look forward to an action packed tomorrow. Good
night!
-Chase & Max
No comments:
Post a Comment