As time went on, I grew to love South Caicos. Below is a picture of the main parts of South Caicos. Our campus, the School for Field Studies Center for Marine Resources, has been on the island for 30 years. The campus used to be known as the Admirals Arms Hotel. This hotel used to be a grand tourist attraction because of its proximity to the ocean. The original structure of the area has been maintained. Online photos and history of the hotel can be found online if you’re interested!
All students and staff reside on campus in our respective sections. I have three wonderful roommates from different backgrounds (two from Michigan and one from Nebraska). The surrounding rooms are set up similarly and we typically venture into each other’s rooms to hang out. Every Saturday after Waterfront and Community Outreach, we get dolled up and head out to Laya’s, or Chicken Bar. Your favorite burger from your favorite restaurant cannot compare to the burger at Chicken Bar. It truly is that good! Besides the excellent food, the vibes at Laya’s are amazing. In March, the cohort attended a live band event at Laya’s. That night, I danced with some locals, taught friends some dances, and dance battled against some drunk people. Those dance battles were epic… I hope my knees are that strong when I’m in my 50’s. That experience truly made me feel like I was a part of the local community.
After filling my belly at Chicken Bar, I would head over to Ms. Carla’s. Ms. Carla is a Belonger, South Caicos native, and businesswoman. Her restaurant serves excellent conch fritters, grouper, barracuda, and shark. I loved her conch fritters for their richness and spicy kick. There, our cohort would congregate, drink, and play games. On my first night out at Ms. Carla’s, I picked up a game of Dominoes and asked some locals if they’d like to play. This gentleman the locals called G took me up on my offer. If you ever visit South Caicos and want to play Dominos, DO NOT play with him. I was lucky to win one game out of the dozen we played that night. It was a victory that I will never forget. Ever since the day I approached him, we’ve become good friends. Around 9:30-10 pm, we would start making our way down to Haitian Bar. We used this space to play music and dance. We’d belt our lungs out to songs of all genres. Most of the time, we’d convince the locals to join in on our shenanigans. By 11 pm, we would be back at campus and debrief about our night out. I hope this tradition will ensue for the rest of my time here.
Growing up in a strict household, I couldn’t experience these events with my friends. Over time, I just stopped asking to go out. Now that I’m older, I want to venture out and become more socially involved at home. I feel as though these two months in South have shown me that life is what you make it. We should go out, meet new people, mend old wounds, try different foods, and sometimes, get off our high horse. When I return to the Virgin Islands or Pennsylvania, I want to attend every party, celebration, jazz night, and fete. Please hold me accountable for these promises 😊
Conch FEX
Field Exercises, known as FEX, are in situ labs that we completed this semester. For this FEX, we wanted to determine the effectiveness of an MPA on the growth and density of the queen conch, Aliger gigas. Each group would go out to collect identified queen conch at four different sites, inside and outside of the MPA. This MPA is known as the East Harbor Conch and Lobster Reserve (EHCLR). Its main purpose is to conserve queen conch and spiny lobster populations, both economically and culturally significant in the Turks and Caicos Islands. This FEX was intense. My group was outside of the MPA in much deeper and choppier water. We would have to duck dive up to 20 feet to collect queen conchs from the sea floor. On our first day out, we had to abort because of the strong current. Though I was not duck-diving for the conchs, I would hold the net to transport them back to the boat — a full body workout. While we were complaining about our intense weather conditions, the groups inside the MPA were complaining about finding over 200 queen conchs at one site alone. Nevertheless, both groups were demolished after those two days of Conch FEX.
Before Conch FEX
After Conch FEX