Maracas Beach was surely one of the most enjoyed day trips we’ve had so far off the Harvey Gamage. The trip started with a beautiful two-hour drive through the mountains to the beach’s location on the other side of Trinidad.

All the views along the way were incredible, and I especially enjoyed the occasional head bobbing out of the van window in front of us. Upon arriving, we knew we were in for a great time, as the parking lots and road were packed with cars and locals.

The first priority once we parked was lunch, and all the options looked delicious. In the end, everyone ended up ordering either a “vegetable and bake,” a “fish and bake,” or a “shark and bake.” The “bake” part of these names referred to a fried dough bun, which would encompass the filling of either vegetable, fried shark, or fried fish (skin intact).

Following lunch, we had an hour-long discussion of the scientific paper we had all read for homework. This discussion was very interesting and by the end, everyone had joined in. After class we were all given a couple of hours to roam the beach, swim, sunbathe, and best of all, body-surf.

Maracas Beach is perfect for body-surfing. Funneled waves come into the shore, grow, and break about two hundred feet from the long, straight shoreline. Most of the waves we caught were of moderate size, three to five feet, but some abnormal ones reached almost seven feet.

All the students and educators had such a great time during this free period. We never wanted it to end. The reason we enjoyed this day so much, in my opinion, is because we felt such a connection to what we did that day.

Most day-trips we go and converse with the locals and learn about their culture, which is almost always very different than ours. This day however, the culture was something we had so much ease connecting to, because it was exactly like one we have all experienced before, a day at the beach with all your friends.

Hanging out with friends was exactly what everyone was doing at Maracas, locals and us included. I think I speak for all of us when I say that it was really great to experience a familiar feeling, compared to all the new experiences and feelings we have on this trip every day.

Related: A stop in the Caribbean

Hayden Wright is a junior at Boothbay Region High School and is participating in a semester at sea through the Ocean Classroom Foundation. See more blog posts at oceanclassroom.blogspot.com/.