Photo Gallery
San Salvador Island
Student Activities
Creatures and Habitats on the Island (Terrestrial)
Creatures and Habitats Around the Island (Marine)
| San Salvador Island | |
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| San Salvador International Airport and Riding Rock Point from the air, with a nice view of a beach and the coastal waters with patch reefs (dark areas). The steep "wall" on the western side of the island is visible as a line where the ocean color changes from light to dark blue in the upper half of the picture. The seafloor plunges from 50 to several thousand feet! | Interior view of San Salvador from the lighthouse showing several of the inland brackish lakes. |
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| A view to the north from the lighthouse. The Field Station (by the water tower), Grahams Harbor, and several offshore cays are visible. | The Cockburn Town Iguana (with rider). |
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| Rocky intertidal shore at the Bluff on the south-east side of San Salvador. | A blowhole along the steep rocky shore at the Gulf on the southern end of San Salvador. |
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| A view across the bay to San Salvador from High Cay, on the south-east corner of the island. | Man Head Cay - a small cay on the north end of San Salvador that harbors a population of iguanas. |
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| The lighthouse, photo courtesy of Rob Gersch. | Inside the lighthouse: this is the kerosene lamp inside the lenses, photo courtesy of Rob Gersch. |
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| Ruins of "Watling's Castle," an 18th century plantation house | Sunrise over San Salvador |
| Student Activities | |
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| Class of '01 on the truck heading out for a day in the field, photo courtesy of Rob Gersch. |
Professor Doug teaching the class some of the plants of San Salvador. |
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| Class of '98 in the interior forest along the Hard Bargain trail after sampling vegetation. | Doug leads the class on a hike through the forest: in search of the banana hole! Photo courtesy of Rob Gersch. |
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| Taking notes on plants during a hike. Students are responsible for learing to identify many of the common plants of the island. Photo courtesy of Rob Gersch. | Hiking along the Reckley Hill Trail, which explores several different plant community types on the island. (Photo courtesy of Rob Gersch) |
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| Descending into the Lighthouse Cave. | The class also explores several other caves on the island. This is the entrance to a dry cave, home to several bat species. |
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| Exploring the ruins of "Watling's Castle," actually an 18th century plantation house. (Photo courtesy of Rob Gersch) | Getting into the blue hole can be tricky! (Photo courtesy of Rob Gersch) |
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| Sampling the rocky intertidal at Dump Beach. (Photo courtesy of Rob Gersch) | At the Blowholes for a lunch break. (Photo courtesy of Rob Gersch) |
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| Class of '01 gathering on the beach of High Cay after a swim from the main island. | Dr. Doug ready to hit the water. |
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| Class of '01 on the way down the beach to the Bluffs to sample the rocky intertidal zone there. (Photo courtesy of Rob Gersch) | It's not all work: local musical legends Bernie and the Boys jamming at the Shortstop - with some out-of-town help! (Photo courtesy of Rob Gersch) |
| Creatures and Habitats on the Island (Terrestrial) | |
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| A view of some typical San Salvador vegetation from a ridge overlooking French Bay (photo courtesy of Rob Gersch). | A bearded cactus. |
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| An epiphytic bromeliad growing from a tree. | Banana trees growing in one of the more fertile "banana holes" on the island (photo courtesy of Rob Gersch). |
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| San Salvador's only snake burrows in sand and is blind. | The porous limestone of San Salvador has numerous caves, many of which home to bats (photo courtesy of Rob Gersch). |
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| Numerous ponds, fresh, brackish and hypersaline, dot the interior of San Salvador (photo courtesy of Rob Gersch). | "Moonrock" near an interior pond is the result of dissolution of the soft limestone rock. |
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| Mangroves grow around many of the brackish ponds. These are red mangroves. | Stromatolites, crusts formed by bacterial colonies, can be found in several of the hypersaline ponds. |
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| San Salvador has many easily-accessible marine habitats. Island Biogeography students visit and study sandy beaches, rocky shores, a lagoon, seagrass beds, and well-developed patch reefs. (Photo courtesy of Rob Gersh) | A giant Caribbean sea anemone from a tidepool. Other shoreline residents include..... |
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| a brittlestar (photo courtesy of Rob Gersh), .... | chitons, .... |
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| sponges (photo courtesy of Rob Gersh), .... | a nimble spray crab, .... |
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| a sea hare, .... | a sea cucumber, .... |
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| and a Sally Lightfoot crab. | Pigeon Creek, a tidal lagoon on the southern end of San Salvador, contains shallow seagrass beds and is lined with mangroves. (Photo courtesy of Rob Gersch) |
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| The lagoon serves as a nursery for many species of fish: small fish find ample hiding places among the seagrasses and mangrove roots. Invertebrates including..... | lobsters, like this Spanish lobster (photo courtesy of Rob Gersh), and .... |
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| gastropods (snails), like this Triton's trumpet, are also common. | Away from shore are the coral reefs. This is a large elkhorn coral colony. |
| Fire coral is common on shallow reefs. | A hawksbill turtle. |
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| A small nurse shark sleeping next to a reef ledge. | A large spotted eagle ray. |
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| Yes, this is a shark, probably a grey reef shark, spotted and photographed by 2001 students Jess, Ginneh, Stef, and Devin. | a Nassau grouper |
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| a filefish | a pair of parrotfiishes |
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| squid | a cowfish |
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