The weather finally seemed to be improving a bit since I didn't wear jeans for the first time in 3 or 4 days. We had another puppet show scheduled as well as walking around Red Bays. Red Bays was a very poor area, but still so beautiful! We walked along the streets (which is awesome because of there being nearly no traffic!) and saw all of the baskets that some of the local people make. It's amazing that they do that with their hands, straw, and a few pieces of Androsia fabric! One of the guys on the trip, Tim, had a guitar when we were walking around and a few kids saw him and suggested that he play his guitar while they play their drums. They started reeeeally getting into it and drumming and dancing and it was SO cool to watch! It ended up being Tim just holding the drum while they play and dance.
We were all amazed at how excited these kids got with the music and how talented they were. We're so used to kids in America at that age being this happy with video games, sports, and other stationary high-tech things.
After Red Bays, some of the group went back to the station while I went with the rest to check out another blue hole--Charlie's Blue Hole. It was a little too cold for me to actually go in, but I had to see it since there was a swinging rope that went in. It was pretty cool, but I'm glad I stayed put because I was chilly in a jacket and shorts so I knew I'd be freezing if I were in the water.
Saturday, December 11--Day 13
First off, Happy Birthday Grandma! Secondly, it's a free day for us! This pretty much translates into drinking, eating, and laying out on the beach--my ideal vacation! We hung out at Somerset beach and the weather FINALLY cooperated with us. It was a little cloudy for ideal tanning, but still enjoyable. If I wasn't needing a jacket, then I was happy!
I think you could say we were enjoying ourselves :)
This day was also the first day I actually ran on the island. I hate that I didn't run more during the trip...even though it was colder than I liked at times, it was perfect running weather. The only bad thing was the beach that we were on wasn't very long so we had to run on the roads (not the most exciting thing). I knew I wasn't in shape when I took this ran considering I needed to slow down at mile 2.5, but we ended up going almost 4 miles which I was happy with considering how long it had been since I last ran.
It was taco night and I successfully kept down all of the food that night! We also went to what is called rake and scrape where they had some music play, a bit of food (not their best), and a fashion show of Androsia fabrics. It was VERY cold that night, but still a cool thing to see/do.
Sunday, December 12--Day 14:
The first day in awhile that had been 80 degrees! It was BEAUTIFUL out. And we were taking advantage of the warmth and sun and getting the tan we have wanted to show off to all our Ohio friends and family. We had lunch at the station then headed to Turtle Reef to do some snorkeling. While it was much warmer that day, it was verrrry windy--not the best snorkeling weather. I got a good work out in swimming because the wind kept pushing me away from everyone and I needed to stay at least somewhat close to them. I'm pretty sure I spent more time swimming and making sure I was near everyone than snorkeling and looking for turtles. Sadly, I didn't see any. The rest of the day was spent the last of the really warm weather because we only had one full day left and it was going to be spent in the beginning of another cold front.
Monday, December 13--Day 15:
Last full day. At this point, I was slightly ready to go home. Okay, not ready to go home, but ready to go to New Orleans. I had found out about the NOLA trip about a week ago and over the week I started really missing my friends and new that New Orleans was wayyyy warmer than Ohio so I was okay with leaving the Bahamas at the time. Anyway, our last day we went to the tourism office and learned a lot about Andros Island and how it attracts people and what are its most popular things to do. The most popular thing to do is bonefishing mostly because it's so hard to catch a bonefish.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing, packing, and hanging out with everyone one last time.
Tuesday, December 14--Day 16:
We woked up at about 5 am to catch our flight from Andros to Nassau and our flight form Nassau to Charlotte wasn't until 1. And the Nassau airport was NOT exciting so we had to entertain ourselves. We used the "underwater" cameras we were given earlier to take pictures of random things. I even took a picture of a really pretty postcard (sadly, none of these pictures turned out because the underwater camera had too much water in it--tell me how this happens). Anyway I bought a few souvenirs with the money I had left then spent the remainder of the day flying and waiting to get home. I arrived in Columbus around 7:30 and got home around 10 that night.
Overall, I absolutely LOVED this trip--especially when I look back at it now. There were many times where I wasn't full enjoying myself either because the weather was colder than expected or I was getting sick of people, but the reason I came there was to get a better grasp on biology outside of Ohio and to get in a study abroad experience related to my major and that was definitely a success! I learned A LOT and feel like I wouldn't have soaked in the information as well if I were learning about this in a lecture. If only all classes could be this fun and interesting! I believe it was well worth the money--I'm not sure if I would have been able to do anything like this after college (unless of course I'm lucky enough to do something like it as a career). To sum this trip up: it was an absolute blast, I learned so much about so many different things, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
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