The Bahamas
2025–26 ENROLLMENT INFORMATION

Program Dates: March 7 – 14, 2026

• Trip leaders: Julia Rivellino-Lyons and Hardy Gieske
• Itinerary: *This itinerary is subject to change. 

This program begins on March 7 when the group spends the night at a hotel near their departure airport in preparation for an early morning flight the next day. The group travels to Cape Eleuthera in The Bahamas, and will be based there for an entire week. At The Island School, each day typically starts with group exercises like biking, swimming, or running, followed by breakfast. Mornings are spent on lab activities or ecology adventures, while afternoons focus on research projects and excursions, including beach cleanups and campus exploration.

Evenings feature research tutorials and activities such as lionfish dissections, night hikes, and bonfires. The program covers various environmental topics like plastics, sustainable fisheries, permaculture, coral reefs, and mangrove ecology.

• Program Notes:
  • All boarding students can stay in their rooms on the night of Friday, March 6th.
  • On March 7, 2026, Students and Program leaders will meet at Deerfield Campus to travel by coach bus to a Hotel near Boston Logan Airport. Students and Program Leaders will then spend the night at a hotel near Boston Logan Airport and on March 8, 2026, the group will travel together by hotel shuttle to Logan Airport where they will fly together to Nassau arriving on March 8, 2026. Students and Program Leaders will be based out of Cape Eleuthera Institute/The Island School on Eleuthera. On March 14, 2026, Students will fly out of Eleuthera and return to Logan International Airport in Boston, MA
  • Cell Phone Policy: This is an “unplugged” trip, so students will not have access to cell phones or the internet for the duration of their time in the Bahamas.
  • Other Important Information about the program: 
    • Deerfield students will live together in an open-style dormitory separated by gender, with several bunks per room and no air conditioning.
    • Students are expected to minimize wastewater production and electricity consumption throughout their daily activities. This means that Students may not bring their snacks to the CEI campus. Most meals will be prepared by CEI in its dining hall, where the kitchen team emphasizes sustainable practices and reducing food waste.