 | Oceans Live '97 Journals from South Caicos
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From the week ending April 11, 1997
Current Events with Raoul
The Turks Passage, located between the South Caicos Island and Grand Turk
Island, is a deep trench where the ocean bottom plunges down from the
shallow waters around the islands. On the east coast of South Caicos, looking
across the ocean in the direction of Grand Turk, there's no way to tell that the
water gets so deep. The surface of the ocean looks like the surface of the
ocean anywhere. Close to the beach, the water is a light bluish-green.
Underneath are shallow sands and seagrass beds. Out farther, you can see
waves breaking over the fringing reef, and the water is a dark navy blue. Our
islands are some of the only patches of shallow water between the Atlantic
Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Like a strainer filters water poured from a pot
into the sink, the beaches on either side of the Turks Passage catch odds and
ends drifting on the oceans currents.
A bunch of us went to a beach on the Turks Passage to camp out a few nights
ago. We arrived early and wandered along the sand, checking out what the
waves had tossed up the last few weeks. It was like a garage sale or a flea
market of things the ocean didn't want any more: "Here, I've pushed this all the
way from South America. You can have it now." We found seed pods
someone recognized from the West African coast. We found old sonar tubes
used by the U.S. Navy to search for submarines. We found a one-legged,
no-armed Ken doll which we stood up next to the camp fire. We cooked him a
bunch of marshmallows, and then when he didn't want any, we ate them
ourselves.
After dark you can't see where the water changes color anymore, and it's hard
to hunt for lost treasures along the beach. The stars were spectacular, though,
and comet Hale-Bopp trailed all the way across the northern edge of the sky.
On the western horizon we could see where the lights of Grand Turk Island, 25
miles across open water, cast a glow on the sky. We ate rice and beans around
the fire, made up stories about some guy named Raoul, and toasted more
marshmallows. When we went to bed we slept above the high tide line, so no
one would get washed away. We know from nautical charts it's a long way to
the next beach where we might wash up.
A Peaceful Campout
Scott Ethington
This past Monday evening, the SFS interns organized another overnight
campout. I wasn't sure what to bring because it had been ages since I'd been
on an actually campout. In the past, Boy Scout campouts were a regular
weekend thing for me, and I thought this opportunity would bring back some
old memories. The name of the campsite was Long Beach, and Drew, Ben,
and Evie were the interns that accompanied the group of students to the site.
The truck left a little late, but everyone seemed excited to get into the truck with
a pile of camping equipment and a supply of food for dinner. Once we arrived
at the campsite, we organized a fire pit and an eating area. Our dinner included
fresh fish fillets, pork chops, beans, rice, Captain Crunch, and salad. The fish
was excellent and the fresh sea air blowing inshore made dinner that much more
enjoyable. We also carried down a large water jug to quench everyone's thirst
throughout the campout.
Daylight was fading fast, so we built a fire pit. The fire rapidly grew into the
night and lasted for three or four hours. Everyone gathered around the fire pit to
listen to music and to tell stories. The next morning we cleaned up the campsite
and loaded up all of our equipment back onto the truck. It was a successful
campout and I think the entire group loved sleeping on the cool sand and gazing
up at the flash of the stars.
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