The Beat Goes On

It was back to work today. We are trying to finalize our digging and be ready to pour concrete on Monday. Our missing rebar came in on the flight today so we should be good to go. We're are having one issue that we did not expect. Some of our foundation holes fill with water at high tide, and empty out at low tide. So we will do it the Bahamian way, and go with the flow. Concrete pour starts at low tide.

Exam Day and Junkanoo

Students had there exam day today. There was much groaning after the fact. Comments from two of the students indicated this might have been the most difficult exam they have had in all of their studies. Well, at least they all had Junkanoo to look forward too, following the exam, and they now have proper expectaions for the rest of the course work and future exams.

After finishing the exam, we loaded into vans with the Eco Tourism students and headed to Nichols Town. The costumes, dancing, and drumming were very entertaining. Junkanoo is a celebration initiated by the slave population of Andros. It celebrated the three days per year the slaves were free from work; Christmas, Boxing Day, and New Years. Tradition has it that the remnants of Christmas wrapping paper and boxes were used to make colorful costumes and masks. These were integrated with customs and dances from the African culture of the slave population. The festival is celebrated in the fashion of Carnival and Mardi Gra. It's quite the party on Nassau we are told. This local celebration was held at the local high school and was well attended by the local community. Children traveled up to 50 miles to attend and compete. They were adorable and they all had their groove thing goin' on.

The Big Dig Continues

We continued our efforts on digging footers today. There were definitely a few sore muscles, blisters, and/or abrasions. Tough going but the students worked hard and we are making progress. We also finished our curriculuum on wind turbines. Exam day is tomorrow.

Pete Davidson gave an evening lecture on the local festival called Junkanoo. We are going out tomorrow to see the junior Junkanoo festival at Nichols Town. It's a competition between the local primary and preschools for the best costumes, song, dance, etc. We are looking forward to it.

The Big Dig

We started our day with a brief lecture till 10:0 AM and then went out to start the Big Dig. We have 5 peers to dig, form, and pour to support the turbine. Each is 3 feet in diameter and 4 feet deep. This would be one matter if we were simply shoveling sand out of the ground. Unfortunately we have a few inches of sand then you hit limestone, ancient coral, which verys between hard and very hard. The students worked diligently, shredded a few pairs of gloves, got a few blisters, and worked really hard.

ForFar Walkabout, Rock Party, and Wind Lectures

We began our morning with a walkbout the grounds of Forfar with Ricardo. Ricardo has been with Forfar for going on 22 years and manages the facility maintenance. He gave us a tour of the electrical, water, and waste disposal systems at the station. During our stay the students will make some evaluations of the stations energy usage and make receommendations regarding conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy projects.

After our walk we took a trip with Pete Davidson to a local qurry site to collect stone for our footers. This brings new meaning the to term "rock party"


After our morning rock party, we then headed into the classroom to learn the theoretical aspects of wind energy. The class went well but by 4:00 PM eyes were glazing over so we headed outside to play with some of our toys; the hand held anemometer, the Kill-A-Watt, and the Solar Pathfinder.

Classes Begin

We got things rolling in the classroom today, starting with an overview of the Skystream turbine, and our initial objective of determining the status of our equipment which had been shipped to Forfar.

Fortunately all the delicate components seem to have arrived in good shape. Unfortuantely we are missing some of the rebar needed for the foundation peers. Seems to have gone missing in transit. We are blessed though, in that our local goto guy, Pete Davidson, knows where and how to get most everything so we will work past this.

Once we completed our inventory we headed out to site the turbine. Using a two string lines for marking the axis of the turbine foundations we shifted, rotated and ended up with a location that we are all happy with. Pictures you see Henry acting as the Tower anchor, Aaron, as the west anchor, and Elizaebth making sure we've all got it right. Jason serves as the south anchor, Tommy serves as the turbine head, and Joel serves as the North anchor. We're thinking of patenting this new turbine siting method.

Sunday a day of R and R

The staff offered us wonderful opportunity to go out for a snorkel trip today. The weather and water were fantastic. Tommy and Mike stayed behind at Forfar the rest of us had a great day in the sun and surf. Our Captain and First Mate are Sage and Linsey. Competant boaters and spearfishers, and good company.