Our first full day: surreal

Greetings from the most beautiful place in the ENTIRE world! San Salvador Island is absolutely breathtaking (and the water really is as blue as it is in the pictures). Today was full of adventure. We began the day examining different rock formations that make up the Bahamas (and I saw some of the most beautiful cross-bedding I've ever seen in person): the youngest, the Rice Bay Formation, less than 5,000 years old (Holocene in age) and the youngest Pleistocene member of the Grotto Beach Formation, the Cockburn Town member. After lunch, we found and examined some Terra Rosa (ancient paleosols), then we visited the monument to Christopher Columbus, which is where our entire group is pictured here. Christopher Columbus is said to have made his first landfall in the New World on San Salvador Island.

Next, we went snorkeling along the coral reef in Fernandez Bay, where we saw some sea cucumbers, many different kinds of coral, some beautiful and colorful fish, a turtle, and even some baby jellyfish. I have only one word to describe our experiences thus far: surreal.

Many thanks to our wonderful and fearless leaders: the brilliant, beautiful, and hilarious Dr. Shroat-Lewis and Dr. Ruhl. We can't wait to tell you more about our travels!

Thanks for logging in,

Morgan

P.S. All but one of these pictures were taken less than a mile from where we are staying, the Gerace Research Centre-which has its own very cool story!