Camp Focus:

Description:

Fascinated with the underwater world or interested in becoming a marine biologist? The historic island of San Salvador in the eastern Bahamas offers a unique aquatic world for diving and study. Based at the renowned Gerace Research Center, the surrounding reefs, seagrass beds and beaches are your classrooms. Under the instruction of professional marine biologists, the curriculum is designed to anchor traditional learning with immediate real-world application and hands-on experience.

This college-accredited program focuses on the intricate ways entire reef systems come together to form beautiful yet fragile environments. Our studies provide a base for our research and underwater service work, which includes collecting much needed data for the REEF Fish Survey Project. Formal presentations, direct nature observation, and informal discussions get us thinking about a myriad of topics, such as biodiversity, marine conservation and coral bleaching. Participants engage in comprehensive preparation before dives, field studies and lab work. The combination of dive training, field experiments, discussion lectures, exams and marine surveys qualifies this course for high school and/or college credit.

Each day opens a new world of discovery as we dive, snorkel and explore the island. Investigate patch and fringing reefs, observing marine creatures in their natural habitats. Check out a spectacular reef wall which drops dramatically from 35 to 6,000 feet. Hop on the skiff in Graham’s Harbor and ride to Green Cay to see the endangered San Salvador iguanas. Analyze and discuss the feeding habits, life cycles, symbiotic relationships and ecological concerns of a coral reef system. Learn about bioluminescence as we dive at night to uncover the marine world’s nocturnal metamorphosis.

The Gerace Research Center is one of the largest and best equipped in the Caribbean, with teaching and research labs, dorms, a full kitchen, a library, animal holding tanks and an outstanding specimen repository. Once a United States Navy base, Gerace’s facilities still show evidence from the Cold War era. Abandoned radar stations, cryptography rooms and guard shacks lie atop the very grounds that Christopher Columbus first visited in 1492. The sheltered waters of Graham’s Harbour are immediately accessible, with nearby seabird rookeries and patch reefs. Other study areas close by include hypersaline lagoons filled with ancient stromatolites, mangrove channels, gorgeous beaches and vast seagrass beds. Numerous fringing reefs offer some of the best diving in the Bahamas. Large pelagic fish and hawksbill turtles are commonly encountered.

Europe and the New World first came together on San Salvador. Monuments to Christopher Columbus litter the island, and there are several archaeological sites to explore. Climb the lighthouse steps for a magnificent view. Investigate the ruins of abandoned sugar, citrus and sisal plantations. Walk amongst tropical birds as they court and nest on local cays. It’s easy to see why San Salvador is a mecca for birdwatchers, historians, marine ecologists and scuba divers.

Request Camp Information