Summer School

Hello again -
One of our parishioners works for the Bahama National Trust. This is a group that works to set aside land as part of a National Parks System, among other things. During the summer there is not too much for the children to do on Andros so she runs a summer camp to introduce the kids to the different eco-systems here on Andros. They do a class, then a field trip, usually each day on a different type of ecosystem.

Well, they were going to show the kids 'blue holes' and needed a van to carry them to the northern part of the island and they asked us! Were we glad they did!

A blue hole is a naturally occuring geological phenomenon and Andros has more than any other place in the world. I've mentioned before that this island is basically a rock - very little surface dirt on most of the island. There are literal 'holes' in the rock, some as big as football fields, that are very very very very very deep, and filled with water.

We had found one about 20 minutes from us and have gone swimming in it. What we learned at summer camp was that, not only are there land-based blue holes, there are ocean-based blue holes. We drove to Conche Sound, a nice little beach we would never have found on our own. Peter, our guide, pointed out to the sea and said, "Do you see that area of water that's a shade darker than the rest, where the water isn't quite as rough?" No if he hadn't pointed it out I wouldn't have noticed, but there was this area where the surface of the water was actually calmer than the sea that surrounded it, and it was a darker shade of blue.

Well, that was a blue hole about 30 yards off shore - and it was one we were about to lead 12 primary school kids with snorkles to explore (yikes!). Peter explained that this particular blue hole was particularly dangerous in that off the side walls of the hole were caves that went under the sea bed for great distances. When the tide changes the hole can act like a suction hose and a funnel will form sucking surface water down into the hole - or if the tides coming in the water can be forced out of the hole and water will bubble up on the surface. So, taking 12 little cherubs to snorkle over this blue hole had its challenges.

So one of the volunteers starts passing out snorkles and masks and Peter takes one of the more experienced boys with him to the hole, after about 5 minutes the boy swims back and I take the 2nd child out to Peter then swim back half-way while Ginni sends the next child out to me. In short order we had a conveyor system of kids swimming to me, where they wait for Peter to finish with the child he has at the hole, then they go out for their turn. Meanwhile Ginni and the other ladies with us kept the kids occupied that were waiting their turn (a job I was glad was not mine).

When all the children were done I swam out to Peter and finally saw the hole myself. It was amazing. You swim out over sand and turtle grass and then all of a sudden there is this shear drop. You could see 60' down and, on one side of the hole, there was an old fishing boat that had sunk into the hole years ago. There were lots of fish, amazing color, and quite the experience.

Once back on shore Peter told us that National Geographic had done a special on Blue Holes and this particular hole was a feature part of the article. They sent a scuba team to dive the caves off the side walls of the hole and one of those dives set a worlds record for the longest cave dive. It turns out the caves go miles under the surface of Andros. We actually drove over the caves on the way to the beach!

After the dive we had lunch - the summer school includes breakfast, which they ate at the classroom before we arrived to pick them up, and lunch. Lunch was peanut butter sandwiches and I was surprised at them providing breakfast and lunch since I knew this program had a very small budget. Later I learned that they provide breakfast and lunch because if they didn't, these kids wouldn't have breakfast or lunch, and once again the reality of island life here hits home.

Over the course of the week we had 3 excursions like this, and I realized if we were tourists this type of experience was worth a pretty penny. The environmental groups we worked with, the fishing lodges that let us use there boats, the tourism office who loaned a guide, were all provided at no cost to the Bahama National Trust folks to help the children learn about what a precious place Andros is. We were very thankful our offer to drive the kids exposed us to this too!

Till next time