The Beach in Port Lucaya, located in Freeport, Bahamas vTrip by Tory Nymick

Introduction This Spring Break 2016, I was lucky enough to visit Port Lucaya in Freeport, the Bahamas. I only visited for a few hours, but as I stepped on the beach, I noticed some interesting things that related to GeoSci 10. The next few pictures share what I saw on the beach and explain what GeoSci topics I applied to my trip. Port Lucaya is known for having one of the only national parks in the Bahamas, called Lucayan National Park. Unfortunately, I was not able to visit the national park, but still enjoyed my trip to the beach and exploring the natural area.

A picture of the rocky coastline A picture of the rocky coastline. You can easily see here how there is a “shelf” of a few inches where the rocks are higher than the sand, from the slow weathering of the coastline.

Closer – up action shot of the waves hitting the rocky coast Closer – up action shot of the waves hitting the rocky coast. This is an example of chemical erosion, and the erosion agent is the ocean waves. The rocks would be referred to as parent material.

These rocks are embedded in the sand, and the tide flows in and around them. This breakdown of minerals is called weathering, and the movement of the waves that take away the minerals is called transport. Together, they are eroding the rocks in the sand away.

Here, you can see how the water hits the rocks and when there is high tide, there is virtually no beach to walk on. This picture is proof that there hasn’t been any human interference with the erosion, because if there was, humans would have chipped away at the rocks to create a longer beach for tourists.

This is a man-made rock barrier at the Grand Lucayan Hotel in order to lengthen the beach. When it is high tide, this can be considered a water table.

The coastline of Port Lucaya The coastline of Port Lucaya. The weather during our stay was 85 degrees. The sun hits Port Lucaya (which is near the equator) more directly than it does in Pennsylvania, so we experienced more of the sun’s energy in the form of more heat than we feel in State College.

Conclusion I thought the beach of Port Lucaya was beautiful, and I was able to better understand and enjoy its natural beauty because of my GeoSci 10 studies. I am happy that I was able to explain to my friends what was happening to the rocks on the beach, and why they looked the way they did. I could also explain the reasoning behind why it was so much hotter in the Bahamas then in State College. Overall, I think I had a better experience in Port Lucaya because I knew about the processes and reasoning behind the nature around me. I am excited to take more trips in the future as I learn more from GeoSci 10.