This morning we all loaded into the vans and
hit the road for Padre Island. Although we only had a three hour van ride
(roughly) it still felt like forever. By about 2:00 p.m. Padre Island welcomed
36 students and four faculty members. Driving on to the sandy beach was
something many of us have never experienced before some had never even seen the ocean/Gulf of Mexico. As we started driving on the beach all that we could notice was the
dead fish. They were everywhere. Gary later mentioned to us that the trash
Mexico produces gets dumped in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, and throughout
time floats to the shores of Padre Island. It is a disgusting subject when you
think about how much trash America produces daily let alone Mexico. Many of the
reactions on our faces was that of complete shock.
We were given 35 minutes
to unload the vans and set up tents before beginning our beach project. Many students had
already put their feet into the water though the red tide was present and
some students even started to itch. So, a couple students and Julie took a van
and went to the showers to rinse off. On the way back, Rian ran over a dead
fish, there were dead fish
everywhere! We did not really think anything about it until we keep hearing
the noise it was making as the wheels turned. Rian got out and removed the fish which was
embedded in the tire. The dorsal fin had punctured the tire, as Rian pulled it
out, we all heard the hiss and we were presented with a soon to be flattened tire. We had made it this far, but yet we drive on a sandy beach with
dead fish and end up with a flat tire. Who would have guessed? So, we drove back
to the paved road and Rian began to change the tire.
 |
| Fish Flat |
While
Rian was changing tires, Julie gave us the charge for an assignment:
Sandcastles! I mean there really would not have been anything else we could do
on a beach that did not involve sand. She gave us the guidelines, had us
partner up and gave us two hours to work. I would have to say that this was one
of the best assignments I have ever been given.
Make sandcastles for a project?
I think yes! Now these were not normal sandcastles there was a catch, we could
only use the materials that were around us but were not allowed to touch living
vegetation. After about two hours when the sun was heading down, other students
would walk on the beach and look at other projects. It was pretty neat. Once
the sun set, there wasn’t much we could do after that. But, all 36 students
decided to take a silouhette photo of us on a little hill with the sunset in
the background and it was just what we needed to end the night.
Goodnight
Padre Island!
Amanda and Sydney
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