North Land Day

P.C. J.R., J.A., R.L., R.M., Z.A.

The third full day was July 9th, and was the North Land day. We learned about invertebrate ID, hiked and walked several locations, and continued our basket weaving lessons. We also went on a night insect walk.

Itinerary

Our third morning at Forfar we attended a lecture on invertebrates. We learned more specifically about marine and intertidal inverts.

P.C. Alexis Agnew

Atala Forest Trail

P.C. RL, JR, RM, ZA, JA

Atala Copis is one of the only places left where you can find the Atala butterfly. We walked along a trail through the Bahamian Pines. We learned to identify a few other species of plants at this location such as Pine Pink and Poison Wood.

Morgan's Bluff

P.C. Alexis Agnew

Morgan's Bluff is a site with interesting geological and historical features. It is the highest point of elevation on the island, and the place Captain Henry James Morgan tricked ships into wrecking in order to loot them for treasure.

Morgan's Cave

P.C. Lisa Rose-Mann

The treasure that Capt. Morgan looted would then be stored in this cave. It had a low entrance but was spacious inside with narrow offshoots. In those tunnels there were Bahamian Funnel-eared bats sleeping, and as we woke them they started swooping from side to side.

After visiting those three sites, we went to the beach by Conch Sound Blue Hole to eat lunch and then snorkel. The area surrounding the blue hole is mostly very shallow turtle grass beds, where I saw some worm eggs and smaller fish. However, the blue hole itself was fairly deep. Inside are two shipwrecks. The shallowness around the blue hole meant that water clarity was comprimised when all of us were in the water, and made the boats look eerie and daunting. I also didn't see many fish. However, I missed the call to get out of the water at first, and when there were less people in the water the blue hole came totally alive. The water turbidity dropped and the fish all came out of hiding. There must have been hundreds, maybe thousands of fish all commuting around the blue hole and through the ships. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip.

Conch Sound

P.C. Lisa Rose-Mann

Wreck in the Blue Hole

P.C. RL, JR, RM, ZA, JA

Pleistocene Reef

P.C. Lisa Rose-Mann

Pleistocene Reef is a fossilized reef from the last ice age, and some of those original corals are still visible in the rocky outcropping. I saw my first fuzzy chiton and buttonwood at this site!

Money Point

P.C. RL, JR, RM, ZA, JA

Money Point is a rocky intertidal zone where we went tide pooling! We lifted up various size rocks to see what critter were hiding underneath. We saw brittle stars, cowries, red rock boring urchins, and crabs.

P.C. Aléjandra Mavares

P.C. RL, JR, RM, ZA, JA 1,3

After Money Point we traveled to Uncle Charlie's Blue Hole. It is a freshwater blue hole that is deep enough to where you can't see the bottom. The edges are carved out from the rise and fall of the tides underneath the freshwater layer, and we saw some crabs and moths in them. We had lots of fun swimming and jumping in here.

P.C. Lisa Rose-Mann

P.C. Aléjandra Mavares

Basket Weaving 2.0

P.C. RL, JR, RM, ZA, JA

After dinner we had our second basket weaving lesson, and I was able to build up my bowl to a size I liked! Then we handed them off to Miss Lorraine to finish over the next couple of days.

After basket weaving, we had a lecture on insects that had some really cool fun facts. Then we went out to the back of the station in the woods to see their land crab pens, blacklight sheet, and go on a short hike. The whole thing was definitely new to me, and I definitely expanded my comfort zone by getting so close to insects in the dark. We did a lot of stepping over, under, and around spider webs, and I decided very spontaneous to try eating a termite! I'm of the opinion that they taste minty with a mustardy aftertaste. Saleha told me about Cuban Tree frogs as well, which were actually cute.

P.C. RL, JR, RM, ZA, JA

Fun Friends

P.C. Lisa Rose-Mann

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