Day Two

Today was an amazing day! We started off with a little snorkling practice around some mangroves in shallow water. We could see baby fish hiding by the safety of the roots and some odd jelly fish that disguised themselves as clumps of seaweed on the sandy bottom.

After lunch we went to the Deep Creek Primary School to meet the children and tell them about what we're studying. The children had brought all of their chairs outside and were waiting for us when we got there. It was very intimidating! Each of us talked to them for a minute or two about our special area of study (Austin: Echinoderms, Maggie: Ethnobotany, Billie: Blue Holes, Johnathan: Coral Reefs, Elizabeth: Mangroves) and they asked us questions. Afterwards we talked to them casually in groups and starting taking some photos. This quickly gave into chaos as everyone wanted their picture taken and to take everyone elses picture! It was such a riot since we had about 5 cameras between us all, and kids were posing in groups all over the place. Soon someone got the idea to take down our addresses and all the kids starting racing to get all over our "autographs," which consisted of our name, address, phone number or email address. We felt like celebrities! We were warmly thanked by the teachers and hugged by half the students! It was unbelievably charming!

Later we had dinner with some friends of the Leopolds. An elder man named Manny came with two of his great grand children (who remembered us from school). He is 86 years old and claims to be the oldest man on the island. He had lots of interesting stories to tell us, but real and mythical.

I want to wrap up this entry because there is a bonfire on the beach happening outside and I don't want to miss it! Tomorrow we hope to have pictures up here!