St. John Thurs. 3/8/12

Last night a lecturer, Barry Devine, came in to talk to the kids and invited the staff to sit in. He talked about biodiversity and the patterns of flora and fauna from the ridge to the reef in the Virgin Islands. It was very interesting and the kids asked very good questions. He reminded them that our generation was the one to identify problems in climate and the environment and that their generation must be the one to begin fixing these problems. The loss of live coral was the most dramatic change that he showed and we have seen that for ourselves. In just a short time, the percent of live coral has gone from 80 to 15! We had more rain and wind last night, but it didn't last as long as the night before. We had just gotten into our cottage and it began pouring. We heard the stomping of feet on the boardwalk and screams from the girls so obviously some of them didn't make it to shelter in time! Dave and I did housekeeping this morning. We are expecting a group of students and staff from Manhattan College tomorrow so we tidied the rooms, made beds, etc. I then did laundry from Glenn and Harry as they are leaving today. Our next job was spreading mulch. The town trucks were around yesterday cutting brush and small trees next to the driveway and road heading to camp and today they came back to chip. Randy went out with the truck and kept bringing back truckloads of chips which we spread in the newly formed gardens. What perfect timing! The gardens looks great with all of the mulch (see photo). We had a quick lunch and then took Glenn into Cruz Bay to catch the 1 PM ferry over to St. Thomas. We also took Jerry who was going in to town for the afternoon. After seeing Glenn off, we checked for mail at the post office, picked up Charlie who had gone in with John and Harry earlier in the day. He had been bitten by a spider in his armpit and wanted to get it checked out at the clinic. He seems to be okay, but will watch the area for a couple of days to make sure that it is healing. We took the north road back so we could return the projector to the National Park and stopped along the way to take a few scenic shots. In the Maho Bay shot, you can see the tents on the hillside. The other shot is of Trunk Bay. We stopped at the grocery store for more bananas for people and got home in time for a quick swim. The kids have been busy all day with their projects and seem to be doing a great job and having fun at the same time. One of the girls who is doing the mongoose project just stopped in for water. She said they have caught 26 mongeese today! They have traps set up at camp, on Yawzi Point, and the Lameshur Bay trail. We have connected with a friend of Jon Owen and will try to see him next week sometime. He lives out on the East End, not too far from the Round House. Happy Birthday, Dean!