Welcome Exploring Marine Science and Diving students!

We are looking forward to hosting you July 5 - July 19, 2025 at Forfar Field Station. To better prepare you for your stay, please read the information below:

CONTACT: Email any general questions to Katelyn at office@intlfieldstudies.org

Course Recordings

Listed below are the online lectures and related readings. Please watch/read at your own pace prior to the program beginning July 5, 2025. The videos can take a while to load.

For course information view the syllabus here: SYLLABUS

• VIDEO 1 - Intro to Marine Ecosystems

  • READING 1 - Mangrove Reading 1 & Mangrove Reading 2

• VIDEO 2- Mangroves

  • READING 2 - Tidal Flats Article & Additional Paper

• VIDEO 3 - Tidal Flats

  • READING 3 - Conch Reading

• VIDEO 4 - Seagrass

  • READING 4 - Chasing Coral Documentary & Documentary Discussion Guide

• VIDEO 5 - Coral Reef I

  • READING 5 - Fisheries Reading

• VIDEO 6 - Coral Reef II

  • READING 6 - Climate Change Reading

• VIDEO 7 - Threats to Marine Ecosystems

PROGRAM DETAILS

• VIRTUAL INFORMATION SESSION

  • Virtual Information Session Date: TBD (via Google Meet and all students, parents are encouraged to attend)

• Passport: A valid Passport is required to enter the Bahamas. Passports must not expire during any of the dates you will be staying in The Bahamas or they will prohibit entry. Passport operations have been impacted by COVID-19 and the timeline for renewals has increased. Please contact the IFS office immediately if you do not have a passport or if it expires within the next few months.

• Travel and Flights: You will be responsible for paying for your flights into Nassau, BS. As part of your program fee, we will schedule and purchase your round-trip flights from Nassau to Andros. For this reason, your flights into Nassau must arrive and leave by specific times so you can make the connecting flights we purchase for you.

  We strongly encourage that you purchase travel insurance for your flights and/or research the rescheduling/cancellation policy of the airline in which you choose to fly. Delta and American Airlines have frequent flights into Nassau and may be a good option for your trip. We do not recommend booking your flights with third-party services such as Expedia, Travelocity, etc. as these services have very strict cancellation/rescheduling policies.

  • DO NOT PURCHASE NASSAU FLIGHTS YET. We have not reached our minimum numbers to run the program. Once we do, we will give you the go ahead to purchase flights. If you want to start researching flights now, here are the specifics: You must arrive in Nassau, BS (Lynden Pindling International Airport) by 12:45 pm on Saturday, July 5, 2025. IFS will purchase your connecting flight to Andros and it is imperative to land by this time in order to catch that connecting flight. Your flight home can leave Nassau, BS any time after 12:00 pm on Saturday, July 19, 2025. IFS will purchase and coordinate your travel to Nassau from Andros that morning.

• Program Fee: The total program fee is $2,999. As mentioned in your acceptance email, a non-refundable $500 deposit is due with the Student Agreement (linked below) to secure your spot in the program. Space is limited and first-come, first-serve; your spot in not guaranteed until we receive payment. The rest of the program fee, $2,499, will be due on the following date:

  Final payment and all forms are due May 5, 2025

• There are 4 options for ways that you can complete payment: 

  • Credit Card: You will receive an email from PayPal with the subject line: Invoice from International Field Studies. You may need to check your spam folder for the PayPal email. Please keep in mind that there is a 3.5% processing fee for any payment done through PayPal that is over $500. 

  • Check: If you'd prefer to send a check through the mail, you can do so by mailing it to our office at 1550 Old Henderson Road, Suite E268, Columbus, OH 43220. There are no extra fees for sending a check through the mail.

  • Zelle: We also accept Zelle payments. There is not a fee for paying with Zelle. If this is your preferred method, please let me know so I can send you our Zelle information.

  • Wire Transfer: If you would like to Wire Transfer the money please let us know and we can email you the details needed. The fee is $15 for a wire transfer.

• Forms: All forms are due May 5th. Some of the forms are online and some are paper. Please be sure to scan and submit the paper forms to the appropriate links below. A doctor’s visit is required for all students for the PADI Medical form and the Medical Consent form requires notarization (for US citizens only). Please be sure to list all medical conditions and any diet restrictions on the online medical form. View the menu here for reference.

• Dive Insurance: DO NOT PURCHASE DIVE INSURANCE UNTIL THE PROGRAM REACHES ITS MINIMUM NUMBERS. Dive insurance is required for this program and it is not covered in your program fees. Please be sure to secure dive insurance and send a copy to our office by the form due date. You can read our blog post on dive insurance to learn more. Past students often purchase the DAN Membership for one year for about ~$40 which comes with travel insurance that will cover your stay at Forfar. For dive equipment, see our Packing List and note our partner Columbus SCUBA offers a 20% discount to Forfar students!

Required Forms - Pt. 1

• Participant Registration & Medical History Form

• Travel and Excursions Form

• Medical Consent and Assumption of Risk (Must be notarized)

  • US citizens: Submit Notarized Medical Consent Form Here! Or you can email a copy of the form to office@intlfieldstudies.org

  • Non US citizens: A notarized signature on the medical consent form is only required for US citizens. If you are NOT a US citizen, please complete this form without notary.

Required Forms - Pt. 2

Dive Forms

• PADI - Liability Release

• PADI - Continuing Education Release

• PADI - Medical (Doctor’s Signature Required)

  • Please complete the PADI - Medical questionnaire by answering EVERY question on pages 1 and 2. Regardless of your answers on the PADI - Medical form, every student is required to have a doctor’s signature at the request of IFS.

• Copy of your DIVE INSURANCE 

  • Dive insurance is required. Purchasing the Individual basic DAN annual membership meets this requirement. Additional insurance packages through DAN are optional. Read our blog post to learn more. If you purchase your DAN membership through this link, IFS will receive a small referral commission.

Travel Documents

Available closer to travel date