The fourth day ...

Day four began with an awesome boat ride out to beautiful Nonsuch Island, a former yellow fever quarantine hospital. The island also was home base to William Beebe and Otis Barton's Bathysphere dives. Nonsuch Island is currently a wildlife sanctuary that Bermuda biologist and ornithologist David Wingate set out to restore the island into a living museum of pre-colonial Bermuda. No development and limited access to the public has made this possible. Upon arrival to the small cove, we began to swim from the boat to shore and were caught in squall as soon as we stepped out of the water. We hid under sea grape trees to shield us from the stinging rain drops and gusty winds. About 15 minutes later, the seas calmed and we were able to begin our responsibilities on the shore. Prior to our tour and snorkel, we were responsible for helping to pick up trash off of the beach, which was a parting gift from Joaquin. On the Island, we learned about all kinds of cool nature stuff including the incredible story of the Cahow (Bermuda Petrel). The Cahow was thought to have been extinct for almost 330 years and in 1960, Wingate began the Cahow recovery program with 17-18 pairs and it has blossomed to 55 in 2001 and now stands at 115 under the direction of Dr. Jeremy Maderios. The entire island was amazing and is a personal highlight of mine as there is always so much more to learn no matter how many times I been invited to Nonsuch.

Following a wet morning, we next journeyed out to the other end of the island to hike from Warwick Long Bay out to Horseshoe Bay. We stopped several times along the way to learn some interesting information from our patient guide Kaitlin. Even though the longtails (white-tailed tropic bird) are gone for the winter; we were able to see their nests, learn about the breeding habits and how the young chicks learn to fly by setting off of the cliffs. Our hike culminated with an awesome snorkel and some sunning on the beautiful pink sand.

Day 3 of awesomeness...

Everyone was bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning as they were all looking forward to another fun-filled day! Once again, we begin our day a wonderful sunrise and fantastic breakfast outside on the porch. Next, off to Walsingham Nature Reserve and Blue Hole Park for a exciting adventure with our long-time Bermuda friend Dreaddy. We took some time listening about the creation of Bermuda and the existence of the caves on the island. After a small hike, we encountered an area with a small overlook and two spots to dive off the cliffs into the water hole. One spot is about 15 feet high and the other closer to 20. Almost everyone took their chances and jumped at least one time, some people jumped several times. We then began a longer hike with several stops along the way to learn more about the reserve and history of the Bermudian environment. To cap off our morning, we actually got to swim in a cave for a while! The water was a little cool but still we had an absolute blast!

 

Then we were served awesome chili, meat filled and vegetarian, for lunch and back out on the road. Our fantastic driver, Kenny, then brought us to Achilles Bay for more swimming and snorkeling. We saw all kinds of cool fishes and even saw a few wicked big West Indian top shells (large, edible sea snails). Some of the students went out searching for shells and other things in the pink sand and came back with some beautiful shells. Back to BIOS for showers and dinner and then a small group session where we all shared our favorite parts of the day, a difficult part of the day and what we are looking forward to tomorrow. Then off to a Supernatural season opener and some down time under the starry skies.

Day 2... of our Beautiful subtropical paradise

After a much needed rest, we had a fantastic breakfast of eggs, pancakes, sausage and fruit! Then it was off to Cooper's Island, which is a Bermudian Natural Reserve dedicated to bringing the animals, flora and fauna back to days prior to mass development. We toured the island with our wonderful guides Kyla and Lara. They showed us many beautiful plants and trees and also took us to the new observation tower overlooking Castle Harbour and St. David's. The main focus of our visit to the Island was to participate in the biodiversity action plan by planting two endemic trees, a Bermuda Cedar and a Bermuda Palmetto. As we have done in the past, the students planted their trees and marked them with GPS coordinates to track them for viewing in future days.

Following the grueling work of digging and planting, we then did a little sight seeing and discussed many of the animals we were going to get a chance to see. We saw long tails, turtles, roosters, Jamaican blue anoles and lots of kiskadees. As it was quite warm and humid, we then jumped into the turquoise water for a tutorial on snorkeling and some time exploring. The group was able to do very well and saw all kinds of different fish.

After Cooper's, we came back to BIOS and had another awesome lunch and headed off to the Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo. There we saw seals, giant turtles rescued from the ocean, an American alligator, awesome lemurs, HUGE tortoises and the only two snakes on the island. Luckily enough on the way back to BIOS, we were picked up by a traditional island school bus and made it back early enough for a refreshment before dinner. Post dinner was ice cream and some well deserved quiet time with some exploration of the grounds.

Day one

Here we are again... at the beautiful Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences! The island fared relatively well in Hurricane Joaquin and only had some wind shear and localized power outages. Our group left as scheduled and headed into a fifty knot breeze, which surprisingly enough did not make for a difficult flight save the landing. Due to the heavy breeze, our late afternoon snorkel was postponed but that gave us some time for a late lunch and to settle into our rooms and clean up a bit. The weather is a balmy 83 degrees with 80% humidity but there is a fresh breeze to make it a little more comfortable. As usual, the olfactory senses are jumping with salt air and the wonderful aromas of the indigenous flora.