Another Day, No Sacrifice

As the great philosopher Seneca once wrote, "If a man knows not which port he sails, no wind is favorable."

Today was a choose-your-own-adventure day for the students of PLU. With the island experiencing day two of the wind's mighty roar (we couldn't decide who to sacrifice), our options were confined to the research station, where we were given time to work on our research projects and figure analysis. Some choose to attend church, while others decided to catch up on sleep. However, as any college student knows, unstructured time is a curse disguised as a blessing.

Mike chose a port and informed us that data presentations would occur before dinner. At 4:30, all four groups gave a snapshot of their data and an overview of the research that had been collected over the last few days.

“Meiomeisters“ started us off with their presentations with a comparison of the small creatures living between grains of sand. Following that was ”Flamin’ Hot Flamingo Tongues“ who studied Flamingos tongue (a type of snail) and how their abundance is correlated with Octocoral density. Next up was “The Drowning Damsel Fish” who observed the herbivory rate of damsel fish in relation to their rates of defense. Finishing off our presentations was “Rich Fish” who explored how fish richness differed between lithified sand reefs and coral reefs.

As we headed to the cafeteria, many of us felt that if we were to jump we would fly away, the wind was coming in strong! Dinner was Bahamian food, and delicious as always! The mac and cheese was much appreciated after a long day of group work 🙌 😋

After dinner Kathy Gerace gave us a wonderful lecture on the history of the island post-Columbus. We learned about the plantation period and the British loyalists who fled the United states after the revolution and the changes in the island following British emancipation. We also got a sneak peak of some of the ruins that she’ll be showing us out in the field tomorrow. A lot of it has been knocked down in recent hurricanes, but she assured us that some of it still stands! 

After the lecture, the sleepy lutes return to our rooms to get some sleep. 😴  100% needed, especially with another day of group work to come!

With the holwels of the wind to sing us to sleep we bid you all a good night and leave you with the words of Robert Frost 

“By measure. It was word and note,

The wind the wind had meant to be -

A little through the lips and throat.

The aim was song - the wind could see.”

Toby, Kennedy and Logan