Ooids!

The next day was another boat day,

this time to Joulters Cays,

one of the only active ooid shoals in the world.

For those of you that are not familiar with ooids,

they are a type of sand made entirely out of CaCO3

which precipitates out of seawater under special conditions.

I was really excited for the Joulters trip because,

after researching ooid sands for my presentation,

(we were all assigned a topic before arriving in the Bahamas)

I had to admit to myself that I actually thought they were interesting.

And yes, sand can be interesting if you are nerdy enough.

As it turns out, I am not the only person

who is nerdy enough to think ooids are cool...

my teacher is a borderline ooid fanatic,

so I was in good company.

The trip out to Joulers was beautiful.

Depending on where we were, the water varied from the color

of blue Listerine to green Listerine and every shade in between

and was so clear we could spot sharks and rays from far away.

We chased both, but the sharks were harder to photograph.

The tidal flats at Joulters are only exposed for a few hours,

so we had to time our trip perfectly

so that we could walk around before high tide.

Even though I think my teacher and I were the only two who

had any real interest in ooids on the way over,

everybody fell in love with them as soon as we got out of the boat.

They are fantastic to walk on because they are all perfect little balls.

And because they are almost always submerged,

your feet disappear in less than a minute if you stand still.

I am not sure how long we wandered around the tidal flats

relishing in the ooids, but we must have been there for a while

because we didn't regroup until hunger called us in for lunch.

And then, all too soon, it was time to leave Joulters,

but before we left I filled a bag with ooids to bring home for Orin

so that one day he will understand what I was tracing in

when I took this picture.

Because no matter how much fun I was having,

and how many interesting things I was learning,

I still missed my family back home.

So much.

Snorkeling

On the third day after breakfast we visited another blue hole

where we got out our gear for a test snorkel.

The blue holes are pitch black and don't provide much in the way

of underwater entertainment, but it was nice to make sure our

goggles fit properly, our snorkels cleared water,

and our wet suits looked fabulous

(please note my awesome 80's wetsuit ... it is at the end of this post)

After everyone had gotten a chance to try out their gear

we loaded into the boat and set off for the reef.

Here is a picture of our ride:

And here are two of my favorite classmates, Naisa and Rachel.

When we got to the island we were diving from

(it was our first coral reef snorkel so we didn't jump from the boat)

we walked around for a while and talked about the history

of the island using fossilized evidence to support our conclusions.

Here are ancient root balls

(evidence of an old sand dune environment):

and here is fracture line:

There were also intersting plants and animals like this sea biscuit:

and these algae balls:

We snorkled around the island before getting back on the boat

for a quick trip to an oceanic blue hole

where we dived in from the boat.

Here I am, rocking my 80's wetsuit, about to take the plunge.

The oceanic blue hole was amazing.

The second you swim over it the whole landscape changes;

all of a sudden you enter an underwater city

with countless varieties of coral, fish, and other animals

(there was a huge shark in there and a sting ray)

It was definitely one of the highlights of the whole trip.

We went on one more snorkel that day, a deeper water snorkel

where we saw large elkhorn corals and huge lobsters,

but nothing could rival the blue hole.

Herbs and fabrics

The next day, we took a break from our geology discussions
to visit the medicine woman of North Andros.
We walked around her house and looked at the wide variety of plants
that she grows for her teas and other traditional remedies.
Here are some of her plants:
Next, we went on a tour of the Batik fabric factory.
There are very few ways to make money in the Bahamas and this
is one of the biggest employers (but it still has less than 50 employees)The process for making these incredible fabrics is fairly labor intensive.
The fabric is first laid on large tables where it is stamped with wax.
The stamps are made from sponges and
come in a wide variety of designs.
The fabric is then moved to large tubs filled with brightly colored dyes.
After the fabric has been dyed, it is hung to dry
and then the wax is removed.
We then went to the store where I bought Orin a green tee-shirt
with turtles on it that will probably not fit him until he is ten,
but I couldn't resist... Orin loves turtles.
As our last tourist activity of the day, we tried to open a coconut.
After 45 minutes and quite a few tools we were successful.
The coconut was worth the wait.

Swimming with Charlie

A couple hours later, our teacher arrived and we were
given a short briefing by the Forfar staff.
The briefing included two main points:
1) Don't flush anything that didn't come from your body
down the toilet. Ever. But don't worry, there is a tool by the toilet
that you can use to scoop it out if you forget.
2) There is not enough water for everyone so you get to take
a "two-burst" shower, meaning you turn on the water to get wet,
turn it off again immediately, soap up,
and turn the water on one more time to rinse.
Good thing most people weren't too worried
about staying clean.
After the meeting, we moved our stuff into the cabins.
Here is #4, the best cabin ever,
complete with 8 beds and 1 bathroom.

And here are my awesome cabin mates.

After we had unpacked, we set off to start

our exploration of the island's geology.
The Bahamas platform is essntially 100% calcium carbonate
in one form or another.
Because of this, the exposed rock easily dissolves in freshwater
causing the land to be covered in holes.
The holes can be small:
Or much larger:The forests are full of them, and many connect below the surface,
so you can travel from one to the next through underground tunnels.
We walked around in the woods for a while,
exploring banana holes (the locals will often plant bananas in the holes
because they are full of organic matter)
and talking about when and how they formed.
After the walk through the forest, we visited a blue hole.
Blue holes are also formed by the dissolution of CaCO3,
but they are later filled with water, typically fresh water overlaying
salt water. Most of them are tidally influenced.
This particular blue hole was named "Charlie's Blue Hole"
after the unfortunate fellow who drowned there
(Quite a few blue holes are named after people who drowned in them)
Cave diving, one of the most dangerous sports in the world,
is a common on Andos and blue holes are a popular starting point.
(Divers will often try to make their way through the cave system
that connects the blue hole with the ocean... sometimes,
like in Charlie's case, it turns out not to be such a good idea)
After a quick dip with Charlie, we headed back to Forfar for dinner.
Day two coming up...

The smallest plane in the world

I met my classmates at the Jetcenter in Fort Lauderdale

(a small strip of land trying to pass for an airport)

in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday.

I should have realized that something was strange when I first pulled

up to the matchbox size airport,

and I definitely should have realized what was coming when I

was asked to step on the scale after my bags had been weighed.

But it wasn't until we made our way through the doors and

out to the "runway" a.k.a. "sidewalk"

that I realized the plane we were taking to Andros Island

was in fact, the Smallest Plane in the Universe.

Here she is from the inside.

I was told to sit in the very back.

The zoom feature on my camera was not necessary

to take this picture of the pilot.

And here is the wing (the finger is for scale).

The ride was exhilarating, to say the least.

I have never been on a plane that has not only bumped up and down

in turbulent air, but has also swayed from side to side.

Thank goodness for Dramamine.

After landing safely and going through what I imagine

is the easiest customs department in the world,

we hopped into a van for a short ride to Forfar research station.

Our teacher was on the next plane

which wasn't supposed to land for a couple hours,

so we plopped down in the sand and got comfortable.

This is what we would call home for the next week.

Not too bad...

The beginning of carbonates

WARNING:
For those of you that only read this blog in order to satisfy
your craving for baby pictures, I must warn you that the
next week of blog posts will contain roughly zero photos of Orin.
Instead they will be filled with interesting pictures like this:
ooids under a microscope.
The reason behind this is that I have just returned from the Bahamas
where I was taking a week long geology course
(part of my masters degree requirements)
And now that I am home and my brain is still loaded with interesting
factoids about carbonate sedimentation,
I feel inspired to write about it.
If carbonate sedimentation does not sound interesting to you,
just know that I don't blame you at all and you should feel free
to check back in at the end of the month
for the latest Orin updates.
And now, off we go to the Bahamas.

It's 2010!

Happy New Year!