Stop the World and Let Me Off

We met at LeNoir Hall on Friday at 1:00pm for our trip to the Bahamas. There are twelve of us: Dr. Ballenger, who is our group leader; Emily, a pre-dental biology major; Sydney, a pre-med; Caitlin, a communications major; Elicia, a biology major looking at zoology; John, a pre-med who wants to be a physician's assistant; Justin, a computer science major; Hema, a pre-med; Parag, also pre-med; Bill, a biology major interested in ecology; Stacy, an education major; and me.

When we got to Atlanta, it was really different to be on a group trip. I'm used to doing everything by myself, and it was really nice to be in a big jolly group of students who were excited about a trip to the Bahamas. We flew into Ft. Lauderdale, arriving at about 7:45pm. We got our bags pretty quickly and boarded the shuttle to our hotel. Everyone was starving, so we walked to a nearby TGI Friday's for dinner. It was fun, and we were entertained by a very enthusiastic sports fan at the bar whose volume control was apparently increased by alcohol consumption. We had a few jumpy moments when he surprised us with his loud cheering.

We had to get up at about 4:30am so that we could catch a shuttle to the international airport because our plane took off at 6am. Our plane was VERY small! One student sat in the co-pilot seat, and there were eight of us on the plane. It was awesome not having to fight for a window seat, because they were ALL window seats. We could see the ocean all around us, and we even saw the sun rise. As Andros Island came into view, I couldn't help but be excited about the adventure ahead of us!

After an interesting cab ride on the wrong side of the road, and some welcome advice from the driver about poisonwood, we arrived at Forfar. The second group was delayed an hour, so we hung out in the water while we waited for them to arrive. We found several shells and many varieties of algae.

This is as close as I got to the dolphins!

In the afternoon, I learned how to use my snorkel equipment. It was amazing, it's like a whole different world under water. I also tried out my underwater camera. Three dolphins were swimming nearby where we were snorkeling, but they didn't come close enough to get any good pictures. The group that were shooting the creek got really close, almost close enough to touch the dolphins! After dinner, the Forfar staff had an orientation lecture and then a lecture on fish.