After settling in at our new location on Andros, the Day
Shell Motel, Nicholls Town (it is beautiful here by the way); the team set about locating ourselves with the our
new environment; starting with setting up rain collectors for stem flow and
through flow (methods explained by KT later). Finding the down-hole loggers in
the various bole holes on the island proved a test of memory for KT who left
them to collect data from the last time she had been on the island, months ago.
Being brilliant as always, KT found these loggers without fail! These pieces of
equipment are serious bits of kit that have been collecting data for months on
end, measuring the attributes of the phreatic zone. Due to the strength sapping, midday sun field
days are split into 2, morning and afternoon. To avoid the worse of the heat
the team awake at the crack of dawn to make the most of this amazing island. While Didi and Mike were setting up the field
lab in the BAP house (the living room to be precise); KT took me out to investigate
the karstification potential of the North Andros well field. This also allowed
me to test some of the cameras I had brought into the field. The trenches in
the well field followed a grid like pattern with cruciforms formed from the
meeting points of 4 trenches. Initial surveys of the area were very promising
with large features seen in and around the trenches. Good few days all round!
Initial Surveys & Settling in Nassau
After the long flight to Miami, filled with films and food, followed by US customs (which I found unnecessary seeing as we only spent 4 hours n USA) and a short hopper flight we arrive on New Providence and the capital of the Bahamas, Nassau. We have been staying in the orange hill hotel which has a great honesty policy at the bar; a real relaxed atmosphere, especially since the place was half empty. Bahamian Immigration wanted an extra word with Mike and I but after a long wait with a nice chat we were allowed in the country for a month, with the proviso to extend the visa on Andros later. It has been fun shopping for everything we need, hardly have time to eat, when we do its fried, fatty and delicious. Weather is hot and humid so work has been slow and consists of moving the many items of the itinerary from one air conditioned box to another.
All is remedied by a cold beer and snorkelling on the white sandy beach outside the hotel!
Taking a very small plane to Andros soon, it’s going to take a long time to get used to the heat
Andros CRABFEST
After a couple days in the field, KT allowed us all to travel down to Fresh Creek for the evening and to the Andros Crabfest, a culinary celebration of Andros’ favourite food, land crabs! All varieties of crab were on the menu plus other local dishes: crab and rice, crab soup, crab salad, crab shells filled with spiced crab mince, crab fritters, fish dinners, fried snapper, cracked conch (shellfish) and cracked lobster! All the food we sampled was delicious and made for a fantastic evening.
P/S: the weather is extremely hot, over 30 degrees is the norm for this time of year, in the rainy season! Have yet to experience these famous torrential downpours KT has been talking about but I am sure the wait will not be long.
G
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