Day One: Bermuda Adventures!

After leaving the school we got to Logan at about 8:30 and boarded the plane at 11:00. When we got to Bermuda we were at the airport for about 45 minutes before we got in our van to get to BIOS. It was a surprise for most students to ride in a van that had the driver on the right and the roads having opposite traffic. After we got to BIOS we listened to the general rules and standards expected of us at the research center by an employee and got a quick tour of the center before unpacking in our rooms and getting ready for our first adventure of many to come. Whalebone Bay is about a two to three mile hike that all the students enjoyed not only for the exercise after sitting all day but also the wonderful view the hike had to offer. At the Bay we tested out our snorkel gear for a hour or two seeing the beautiful tropical fish in the refreshing water. On our arrival back to BIOS we discovered our showers did not work and needed a maintenance man to come turn on our water supply as we went out to dinner. Dinner consisted of salad, pasta with your choice of sauce, broccoli, bread, and we cannot forget the delicious lemon meringue pie for dessert. We had time before our lecture to wonder around and we went to concrete beach which is a small insignificant area students like us got to go swimming with a few beach chairs on the literal concrete beach and swim out to a floating dock in the middle of the mouth of the channel. Our lecture was a brief history of how this beautiful destination spot came about and then a little bit about the settlers and what not. Also we got to learn a little bit about tectonic plates and plate separation as well as dry caves, wet caves and sink holes. We also were given a heads up on what types of sea life to keep an eye out for during the course of our visit including brain coral, sea cucumbers and lion fish. A cool fact we got to learn is that parrot fish are a hermaphrodite species in which they transform between male and female when it is helpful for their reef. Free time was spent after the lecture going to the concrete beach and taking the showers we were denied before as well as hanging around the spacious air conditioned dorms. Bed time is at 11:00 in preparation for the exhilarating day planned for us tomorrow. Author of the day Kirsten Hohman and Emma Coffey