Programs Blog

November 14, 2024

Location: Barbados 

Weather: 86 °F and Sunny, 69% Humidity 

Hello again! 

My name is Katie Hallee, and I am tuning in for one more blog post! For any new readers, I am currently a junior at Wheaton College, Massachusetts. At Wheaton, I am majoring in environmental science with a concentration in biology and minoring in public policy. However, I was drawn to SEA’s Coral Reef Conservation Caribbean program to get the opportunity to experience hands-on marine fieldwork, develop snorkel research skills, and explore if I want to pursue a career in marine conservation. We have had a long journey from SEA’s campus in Woods Hole! So far, we have been fortunate to visit the three islands of St. Croix, Anguilla, and Dominica to conduct our reef surveys and interact with local communities. Now, we have reached the final stretch of our field component. After a 4 am wake-up on Tuesday, a broken backpack zipper (thank you, Claire), and airport card games during a 2-hour delay, we arrived safely at our final location of Barbados!! 

So far on the island, we made a trip to Fitt’s Village Beach to try to deploy our water sensor and our “reef recon.” However, the waves were too strong to snorkel safely. We opted to do some wave surfing and hope we can get in the water later today to snorkel instead! Yesterday, we also had the opportunity to speak with Nikola Simpson. She is the founder of Sustainable Caribbean, which offers sustainability consulting and educational services. I found it really inspiring to talk to Nikola. Through our conversation, her passion for the environment, especially in the Caribbean, is so evident. She called herself a “changemaker,” but also expressed the growing mental health concerns in the field of marine and climate science. It resonated with me to see that Nikola recognizes how dire our climate crisis currently is, but at the same time is remaining optimistic about her own personal impact. Today, we also had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Frederick Alleyne, a history professor at UWI Cave Hill, while doing a walking tour of Bridgetown. Dr. Alleyne gave us great insight into the history of Barbados including the plantocracy, religion, British colonial influence, the parliamentary system, and national heroes of Barbados such as Clement Osbourne Payne.  

For the rest of our time in Barbados we will be working with Antonio Hollingsworth from the Bluebot Project. We will be going into a glass bottom boat in the Folkestone Marine Park and be able to pilot robots that monitor the reefs using artificial intelligence. I think this opportunity is really exciting because it will allow us to interact with new scientific innovations in the field of coral conservation! In Barbados, our program will also be working in collaboration with the Coastal Zone Management Unit (CZMU). The CZMU is giving us our research permit to conduct our snorkel surveys, and like all our local partners, will be receiving all the data we collect.  

I want to express my gratitude to both Nikola and Dr. Alleyne for offering our group insights into the sustainability initiatives in the Caribbean and the history that has shaped Barbados culture. I would also like to thank our amazing cooks Nataley, Sharron, and Shakira. Your kindness and smiles brighten every day for us!  

Thank you for reading,  

Katie Hallee