Andros Island, The Bahamas

The Arrival

---

For those of you who don’t know, I decided to take a gap year this year before heading to Wellesley College for the fall of 2021. There were many reasons why I made this decision, but of course Covid-19 was a major factor. Back when I applied for my gap year to be approved, I thought that Covid would probably be over by the end of the summer. Boy was I wrong! I was so excited that during a year off that I would be able to travel and immerse myself in new cultures and really push myself outside of my comfort zone. Even though my year did not go as planned, I still pushed myself in doing what I could mid-pandemic. I wound up with a job working as a manager at a farm stand in New Hampshire and ended up working 40 hour weeks for six months straight. I could have stayed at the farm stand through the winter season, but decided that it was time for my next adventure. So I started googling programs that I figured were at a relatively low risk level for Covid exposure. I found a program called International Field Studies at Forfar Station, and before I knew it I was off to the Bahamas for five weeks!

I am sure you have figured out from the title of this blog that I struggle with traveling. It was time that I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and did something just because I wanted to, and not allow myself to change my mind out of fear. And … I did it!

On my departure day, I woke up at 4am so I could catch my early morning flight to Charlotte, North Carolina. I just so happened to be leaving Boston in the middle of a snow storm so my flight was a little bit delayed-but we made it-phew. Once we landed, for some reason the flight attendants were struggling to open the plane door… which was very frustrating to say the least as I had a very short connection at this point. Once they figured out the door situation, I ran through four terminals to catch my flight to Nassau; if I missed that flight, it meant finding a hotel to stay in Nassau overnight on my own, waiting for the next daily flight to Andros. Luckily, I made it in time and was able to meet up with one of the kids from the program, Aidan.

Thank god that I had Aidan with me when we landed, so I was not wandering by myself in Nassau, because I probably would have broken down crying in the middle of the airport. Instead, once we landed, we went through customs, got our bags, and headed to check in for our puddle jumper. I knew that my checked bag was over the 40lb weight limit (seriously who could fit five weeks worth of supplies including scuba gear in a bag weighing less than 40lbs!?). I was ready to pay the overweight fee but was very confused when I thought the woman at the desk told me that I would have to personally put my bag in the plane because it was too heavy? After asking her about 20 questions, I finally understood that she just wanted me to tip the men that had to carry my bag. I liked the idea of rather than paying the company an overweight fee, that I could instead tip the men directly helping me. At this point, the entire group (of 12, including me) met up in the line signing in for our flight, as we mostly filled the plane. We all went through security together and proceeded to play card games on the ground in the Nassau airport for 2 hours. They finally called our flight and somehow I was the only one who heard the announcement… slightly concerning. We crammed 20ish people on this tiny plane that was pretty much just strangers sitting on top of each other. The flight was 20 minutes long, but let me tell you, it was a loooong 20 minutes. I was so so happy when we made it safely to Andros island and were met by two of the Forfar program interns.

Before I continue, a little bit about the island: Andros is the biggest island in the Bahamas yet it has the smallest population. And, it’s actually not one island, but several close together islands connected by bridges, and for the most part, navigable only by one road. Most of the island is made up of uninhabitable mangrove conservation land. On the island, we were staying at the Forfar marine field station located on the East side of the island, and directly on the water. It was named for Archie Forfar, and pioneering scuba diver and researcher, who died a few decades ago.

And back to the scheduled program…from the airport we split into cabs to head to the station. I was very confused when one of the students got into the left front seat as I really thought they were about to drive the car. That is the moment when I realized that in the Bahamas, people drive on the left side of the road (ahhhh… Sarah, real deductive reasoning there). When we finally got to the station, I got help carrying my massive duffel (that, by the way, I totally can fit my entire body into-of course I tried, would you expect anything else?) to one of the very last cabins. The boys were placed in the cabins, while the girls were exiled to the “hotel.” Trust me it was very much not a hotel, but instead is four cabins that are somewhat connected but still separate. The walls were made out of chunks of pointy limestone that had lots of holes as we quickly learned by the amount of cockroaches and other bugs (not a complaint, but an observation of tropical living. I had several face-offs with the many, many bugs). On the very first night we learned to turn the lights on with our eyes shut for a full 5 seconds so all the cockroaches could scurry away without our knowing.

Turns out that my roommate’s name was also Sara (spelled the incorrect way, without the “h”, sorry Sara!). First thing we did once we claimed out beds, was throw on our bathing suits. We were apparently the last people with that idea, because by the time we were running on the beach, everybody else had already swam out into the water. We quickly learned that you can walk two miles straight out and the water would still only ever reach your hips. We floated in the water just happy to be somewhere warm and not be locked up at home (remember, winter pandemic). We were not out for long before they called us in for dinner. Since it was Friday night, we had pasta for dinner, and it was in all actuality the ONLY thing I had eaten all day; my stomach was so wrecked by anxiety while traveling, that I couldn’t even manage to swallow one singular goldfish cracker. After dinner we played a little beach volleyball while the sun set and the no-see-ums arrived. After one game, I went to bed and absolutely crashed. I managed to fall asleep at 7pm with all of the lights in the cabin on. By the time I woke up, it was a new day in a beautiful place and I was ready to start this adventure!