First Day at the Reef

Hey guys, Ryan and Justin here just enjoying another beautiful day in the Bahamas. We woke up and walked straight out onto the beach for an amazing view of the ocean. Right after breakfast we went on a botany walk and learned some things about the local and invasive plant life on the island. Then, we all piled into some vans and went to the New Hope Baptist Church for the Palm Sunday service. It was a very different experience with singing and dancing with some very friendly people. After a quick lunch break we headed out on a boat excursion to a patch reef where we had our first reef snorkel. We saw everything from lion fish (invasive fish) to sting rays to hundreds of kinds of coral. Our next stop was at a mini blue hole where underwater caves push freshwater and salt water together, creating a very different environment filled with sea life. A giant sting ray chased Ryan and I around for a bit (see video). Then we went back to Forfar for a break, dinner, and a fish and inverts lecture. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday (but not before, the Bahamas is too nice). Have fun with your New York weather, we heard you had snow hahahahaha. Love Kibbles and Brinkman.

Dear Parents:
We are having internet issues...will upload photos as soon as we can. Mrs. Brosnick

Day Numero Uno (on Andros)

What's up? This is Chris and Clayton.
Let's start with the plane ride......awesome! We rode on a charter plane, like the one on Jurassic Park 3. Chris really wanted a window seat, but got stuck with the ONLY seat without a window. From the plane we could see the different depths of the ocean based on the color of the water. When we landed, we rode to the station, in vans, on the left side of the road. We got to the station, got our rooms, then chilled on the beach for a few minutes before our first snorkel experience. Snorkeling was really fun, we saw some cool algae, the Mermaids teacup and experienced some strong currents in the nearby creek. When we were done snorkeling, a group played catch, and the other group just hung out. Then dinner came.....TACO NIGHT!!! After dinner, we had a 10 on 10 game of volleyball, with kids from the other school that is here from Vermont. Sean was the ball boy during the game and played his little heart out, even going so far as to dive in the water to save the ball. We got summoned by the counselors for the orientation meeting. Scotty Z, you will be happy, you are a legend at Forfar! They idolized you in the presentation with a picture of you hanging a towel on the clothes line. It is about 86 degrees here and sunshine is plentiful. Well, that's all she wrote for today, this is Cerne and Zymowski wondering what's going on in your neck of the woods?

Friday in Florida

Hello Families,
Kali Fyock and Cindy Nelson here. Day one has been a long but very eventful day. We started off with waking up at 3 a.m. to leave for the airport. Our flight was very smooth. Kayla Kron and Mitchell Williams enjoyed their first plane ride. Once we got to the Florida airport, we got our luggage and all headed to the La Quinta hotel. We dropped our bags off and headed straight to the Everglades. There we went to two different trails. The first being Anhinga trail and the second was the Gumbo Limbo trail. At the first trail, we saw a double-crested (bird) Cormorant sitting on the railing. Walking further down the trail, we saw many alligators gently gliding through the water. We saw a Blue heron and two Florida Soft Shell Turtles. We saw many Anhinga (bird) which the trail was named after. One thing that caught our eye was two simple black crows pecking at the ground and pulling out what we think were lizard eggs. Then they would fly back into the woods and bury them in the trees. On the second trail, we saw a lot of different tree. The first was the Gumbo limbo tree that shed red bark The trail was named after this tree. Zach Hyde also picked out a crocodile. These are very rare to see. We also saw tons of lizards, all different sizes and colors, scurrying from tree to tree. Finishing the Gumbo Limbo trail we headed to the bus and went back to the hotel. We then quickly freshened up and headed out to dinner at T. G. I Fridays. We are all safe and sound and having a wonderful time. Can't wait to get to the Bahamas were the real fun begins!

Parent Meeting: Wednesday, April 6 at 7 pm

The meeting will take about 1 hour. Topics to be covered include our proposed daily itinerary, flight schedule, emergency contact information, suggested spending money and a packing list. If there is any thing else you feel you will need, you can contact me via email or simply bring your questions with you.