Training Day 3: Island Crash Course

Another day, another whirlwind. Its only the third day of training and I'm already beginning to lose track of time. Bad sign.
Today was chock full of basic information on island history and ecology. The morning started with a walk through the maritime forest, one of the last pristine forests of its type on the east coast. Thick and beautiful, this ecosystem is normally one of the first destroyed by developers. Because it has been preserved, however, it now stands as a natural safe haven for many species of plant and animal. The hike itself, while not difficult was the definition of a crash course. Every few steps, Maureen would stop and point to yet another tree that looked almost identical to the one before it and proclaim that not only was it an entirely different species, it was poisonous, unlike the 30 identical trees before it. Confusing? Anyways, Maureen left us halfway through the hike for a meeting so Brett decided to have some fun with our learning. Now instead of a risk-free quiz, every time we missed a species identification we were made to do push ups. Very 7th grade gym, but reaaaaallly effective to a bunch of tired interns.
After quite the involuntary pectoral workout we all headed back to the dorm for a nap. Ha, right. Nope instead, we grabbed a bite to eat and headed right back out for a historical tour of the island. To be perfectly honest, and my collegues are in complete agreement with me, it was a gigantic waste of time. The tour guide really wasn't too concerned with getting the information across and seemed rather impatient at times. Oh well, I think I got the most important part: PIRATES. Yes ladies and gentlemen, the quaint little island of Bald Head was once home to the notorious pirate Stede Bonnet. Apparently he would lure boats (somtimes with the aid of his friend Blackbeard) into the shoals which stretch off the coastline for miles and force the ships to run aground. From there he would plunder the boats and retreat to his island fortress. I think I'm going to make my tours pirate-themed, they sold pretty sweet eyepatches in the gift shop.
Last but certainly not least, we got a chance to enjoy our inagural beach relaxation. As I've related to you in the past several days, the weather has been far from stellar. So far in fact that I might even call it miserable. Anyhoo, today was the first day where we actually saw sun for more than a cumulative 30 minutes, so at the first sign of free time we all dashed out to the beach to enjoy our new home...I got burned, I can't win.