We awoke at 6:15am to a sky of dark blue and gray. We marched from the dorm to the flagpole to begin our trial. Children from New Hampton and Deerfield congregated near each other in a dazed state in a shrewd attempt to stay awake long enough to hear what we were about to embark on. Students were paired with a buddy from the other school to journey together. We were then welcomed by a warmup to begin prepping both our bodies and minds for the trial. We screamed “ribbit” into the cool Bahamian air as we did frog jumps to bring energy to ourselves. Then we were off. We began to jog at a leisurely pace across campus and through the woods. We were then greeted by the polar sea water and we swam across it. If we weren’t awake before the plunge, the water definitely made sure we were. We jogged and swam across the island school campus picking up and moving rocks in an outdoor rock gym, swimming across small coves, and climbing a seawall as a team. We encountered an area where everyone “broke out of our shells” as we “tried to fly.” We jumped from a small cliff and as we dropped we cried out “I’m falling,” then popped up to the surface and reassured our teammates that “I’m okay” – and we were ok, because we were with each other. Jogging back with each other and sprinting to the flagpole we ended the circle as we had begun, with the schools’ founder blowing through a conch shell. We then chanted as a team in triumph to commemorate all of our success.
We later set out with the shark team around 9:30 AM following breakfast and some boat trouble. We departed in two boats a “Fun boat” for swimming and a “work boat” for setting and collecting shark bait. We went 0/25 on shark bait attempts but the snorkeling adventure and the beautiful ocean views made the day worth it. Ms. Jane took us snorkeling about ¼ mile off the coast of “the Exuma wall,” where the water drops from 100 feet to 1500+ feet deep. This was also the site of a plane crash and a sunken ship. While snorkeling we saw a reef shark and a giant turtle. Ms. Jane said this was the biggest turtle she has ever seen in the wild! Overall it was a super fun and impactful day!
