Abby Wright
Every day at the Island School is full of opportunities and challenges. From swim track to research class, Monday through Saturday is packed with events. Sunday is the day that every student on campus slows down for a second and breathes. Although Sunday is technically our “day off”, every student on campus takes advantage of the free time and explores the island. It is hard to describe a typical Sunday for me, because every Sunday has been filled with different adventures and experiences. One thing that I try to do every Sunday is free dive. Every Saturday at circle students are asked to sign up for free diving on Sunday morning. Although it can be challenging to sign up for something that requires giving up your relaxing Sunday morning, freediving is a great experience.
The first time that I tried freediving I went out with a group of friends. We arrived at the Boathouse with snorkel and fins in hand, no idea what we were doing. We stretched, paired up, and loaded onto motorboats. The boat ride out was only ten minutes and we arrived to the dive site ready to jump in the water. We cleaned our masks, put on our fins, and prepared to hold our breath for ‘extended amounts of time’. I jumped into the water with no clue what I was doing, but ready to try and learn. With go pros in hand, my friends and I each took a turn trying to dive down as far as we could go. Even though none of us could get past fifteen feet, we had a ton of fun and vowed to try to free dive every Sunday.
Meg Barnes
After a busy week and a fun Saturday night, the whole of Treehouse enjoys a sleep-in on a typical Sunday morning. At home, a sleep-in might be till ten or 11 o’clock, but here the last person gets out of bed at 8:30. Rubbing our eyes, my friends and I head to breakfast for some cereal and excitedly talk about our plans for the day, which could range from snorkeling off of High Rock or trekking through the Inner Loop in order to find the banyan trees. This past Sunday was different from normal, as I had the amazing opportunity to venture out to the deep sea with Mackey and Reid leading the charge. A group of about five students helped Mackey haul up the traps which sat on the ocean floor at 800 meters and 1,000 meters. As one can imagine, the traps took over forty-five minutes to haul up. The students switched duties between milking the rope and then coiling it. In the meantime, if you looked over the side of the boat, you would see splashes and smiles because my friends and I had snapped on our masks and jumped into the rich royal blue water. It was crazy. It was also a little eerie because below you lay so much unexplored water and so many undiscovered animals. There were no reefs to snorkel or caves to explore. When we finally lifted the traps up we held the isopods that had been in the traps while Mackey taught us more about them. We were sad to have to head back after our day at the deep sea, but a pair of beaked whales swam by the boat to send us on our way.
David Mohamed
Every Sunday, students are given the day off to go explore the wonders Eleuthera holds. During my Sunday, I went out to Harbor Point with some friends. We sat, ate a meal, and just had fun talking about random things like world affairs, back home life, and specifically boat pricing. Afterwards, we went to sunset beach to take a nap and spend some time in the sun. Sunday for us is a time to sit back and relax from all the events that take place in the week. This means that our time to relax on Sunday is greatly valued. We then broke off and did our own things. I went back to the dorms and changed into running clothes. With what time we had left in the day, I went for a run past the harbor and past a few beaches. I like running with a view because it distracts the mind while getting exercise at the same time. Eventually, dinner circle was approaching. So I ran back, took a “sailor shower” and concluded my Sunday. In my eyes, this is what a good Sunday looks like.