Today’s post contains writing from Putney student Maya

July 3, 2024

Hello everyone! Maya here. Today, we had more of a recovery day, with a late wake-up and a slower-paced morning. After breakfast, we went on a walk around the beach where we explored the ruins of what we believe to be an old farm from the late 18 to early 19 hundreds. We made sandwiches for lunch in the guest kitchen and had ChatGPT decide who would do the dishes.

The afternoon began with presentations by Lauren and Graham about their work. Lauren showed us the different aspects of tagging and tracking humpback and minke whales, while Graham provided examples of what it means to be an astrobiologist that sparked some passionate conversations during our project work time.

To kickoff the evening, a few of us went explore through the hills of Breiðavík ,where we stumbled upon tiny houses and an amazing view of the beach from on top of a cliff. We finished off the day with bird watching. The cliffs were full of puffins, razorbills, and gulls. While battling the strong winds, those of us dedicated to our bird photos army crawled closer to the ledge (don’t worry none of us were in danger of falling) to get the best photos possible! All in all a nice recovery day full of local adventure.

– Maya