Day 3

Mullet sees us off as we load up the bus

Walking through the coppice

Banana hole

Today we loaded up in the van and headed to Maidenhair Coppice. A coppice is an area within a pine forest that has different vegetation and soil composition. It is elevated higher than the pine forest. There are also banana holes in the coppice. Banana holes are big holes in the ground due to dissolution of the limestone from which the Bahamas were formed. The small holes join together to make giant holes in the ground that are sometimes joined by caverns into adjacent banana holes. We saw several varieties of plants endemic to the Bahamas and to coppices specifically. We sampled some of the edible plants like pigeon plums, cinnecord, and we picked some sappadilla fruit, but they weren't ripe enough to eat. We also came across a termite mound, and Dr. Ballenger said she'd give five points extra credit if anyone would eat a termite. So I ate one. It tasted like a bug with a bit of a minty after-taste. I might need that five points!

Termite mound

Sign at Androsia store

Then we went to Androsia to visit the batik factory. Batik is the "fabric of the Bahamas." The workers spread a length of white cotton cloth over a table that is lit from below with a stamp pattern, and they dip sponges in wax and stamp the pattern onto the fabric. The fabric is then dyed bright colors, and the wax prevents the dye from penetrating where the stamps are placed. Then they wash the fabric in hot water to remove the wax, and this produces the pretty patterned batik fabric. Androsia has a store where you can buy batik items such as bolts of fabric, clothing items, purses, and many other souvenirs.

Workers in batik factory

Wrecked ship at Androsia

We then walked out to the shore area and saw several houseboats and sailboats at the docks. We also walked out to a point on the shore and saw a wrecked ship and a lighthouse.

Lighthouse at Androsia

We had lunch on Somerset Beach and did a beach clean afterwards. We are going to analyze the trash we found and compare it to a cleanup we do later in the week at Money Point.  Then we stopped at a store at Fresh Creek for ice cream before we headed to Church's Blue Hole. A blue hole is like a banana hole, only much bigger and deeper and filled with water. The top layer of water is a fresh water lens, and underneath is salt water from the ocean. Blue holes are somehow connected underneath to the ocean, and their depth is affected by sea levels. It looks like a round pond, and of course we went swimming in it after we were advised not to pee in it. Andros provides fresh water to its citizens and to other islands in the Bahamas that do not have access to fresh water. We had to jump about 15 feet from the side, and it was a blast! We returned to Forfar for dinner, and we had a history lecture afterwards.

Trash picked up at Somerset Beach