Salt

South Caicos is a wonderful place, but fresh water is a little short here, due to the lack of streams, lakes, ponds, etc. You get it via rain catchements.

The average islander uses maybe 1/10 of the water used by an american citizen. Maybe even less than that. We've been keeping our usage low as well.

We do that by limiting the use of fresh water severely. Dishes are washed in salt water, until the final rinsing. Limited flushing.
Fresh water showers once a week, with low-volume showerheads.
And no fresh water for clothes

We get around this by using the ocean. If you go swimming and snorkeling several times a day, you can stay pretty clean with a decent bio-safe soap. But washing clothes in the ocean is a little less fun. Specifically, drying them afterwards.

Salt. As they dry, they become coated in the stuff. Up until the late 60s, the island used to export salt. I'd give the stuff I've collected away for free right now.

In a fantastic twist of irony, I'm hoping it rains while my clothes are on the line.

I really like studying here. Currently, we're learning to identify 70 different marine icthyids (sharks, fish, and rays).

Of course, being in South Caicos, means that our classroom is a short boat ride today.

The reef we're having 'class' at today is known as Shark Alley. It lies between two cays (small islands) between which the larger ships pass to drop off staples and pick up processed lobster and conch.

Apparently, sharks like it there. We'll probably see some nurse and reef sharks there (I hope!), and maybe a few rays- both eagle rays I've seen here were moving too fast to get a good look at, and the stingrays mostly sit under the sand waiting for prey. Maybe even a tiger or bull shark, but I'm not as eager about those, since they can be aggressive.

PS:

We saw some sharks!