On the Expedition
Snorkel for science! Help monitor coral reef health and combat global climate change on a remote Bahamian island
Snorkel through the crystal clear waters around a remote Bahamian island to survey endangered coral reefs, document the threats to their health, and help test techniques that might restore them.
You'll learn to conduct a number of ecological field measurements: surveying hard corals and other reef animals and plants, mapping transect sites and taking reef measurements, and testing water chemistry. On land, you'll map corals in tidal pools and monitor beach profile data for changes. You’ll also help refine methods for repairing and even rebuilding reefs that have been damaged by bleaching, storms, run-off, and systemic threats such as global warming. In the evenings, you'll transcribe the day's data, and enjoy films and lectures.
Longtime Earthwatch scientists Rollino, McGrath, and Smith continually receive high marks for their patience, humor, and teaching prowess. In your recreational time, you can scuba dive, go caving, see where Columbus first set foot in the New World, nature hike, or just enjoy the beautiful surroundings.
Meals and Accommodations
You’ll sleep in shared rooms at the comfortable Gerace Research Center (GRC), a former U.S. Navy base. The rooms are former officers’ quarters and each has a fan, a sink, an adjoining shared bathroom, and showers. The GRC cooks will provide simple, filling meals in their cafeteria. Teams will also have a meal or two out at a local restaurant and finish the expedition with a slice of guava duff (cake) - a volunteer favorite!
About the Research Area
San Salvador Island in the Bahamas is surrounded by warm, blue waters full of beautiful subtropical reefs, as is perhaps most well know as the place that Christopher Columbus made his first landfall in this hemisphere in 1492. The island’s interior is mostly uninhabited and full of hypersaline lakes. San Salvador is one of the outermost links in the chain of some 700 islands sprinkled throughout more than 5,000 square miles. While similar to the other islands of this archipelago, it is unique for its history, ecology, inland lakes, and the pressure to develop it mostly undeveloped landscapes.
The harbor remains largely as Columbus saw, except for the Gerace Research Center, which is located on the berm of a beach composed of calcareous sands. Pleistocene sand dunes, sea cliffs, and other unique coastal features can be found within walking distance of the Center.