Who doesn't love a game of beach baseball?

Yesterday since the weather was absolutely gorgeous a few of us decided to walk down to the local beach for a couple of hours before our night seminar. It didn't take long before we realized that there wasn't going to be much swimming going on due to the high tide, rough waves and strong undertow. The tide was so high that there really wasn't any space to set up our towels and hang out either. After standing around in the wake of the water for a bit we were getting a little bored of just standing around. This is when we noticed these little round, green fruit and branches that were perfect to use as a baseball bat. We figured that this was great, a bunch of sport management majors playing a sport on the beach! It started as just a few of us throwing them while others tried to swing and hit them into the woods and eventually we decided to use rocks as bases and set up a baseball game. It seemed as though if you hit the fruit at the right angle they would split open and fly everywhere, which of course became an object of the game. We decided that if you hit the fruit hard enough to either go in the water or the woods you could move forward one base. Before starting the game we all went around collecting as many of these fruit as possible to use as our baseballs. This is when the lifeguard came over. He informed us that he didn't foresee any swimming today due to the water conditions and oh yeah that fruit? It's called manchineel fruit and it is highly poisonous. If the inside part touches your skin you will blister up or it will burn your skin. He let us know that we should wash our hands and stay far away from the fruit. If it rains and you stand under it, the run off from the tree is enough to produce blisters. (Check it out --> http://www.best-barbados-beaches.com/manchineel-trees.html ) So much for our baseball game!!! On the way out we saw a sign posted high in a tree about the danger of the manchineel trees, to stay away from the fruit, and to avoid standing under them while it is raining. Apparently we were forewarned! Luckily we all washed up and didn't get any blisters or burns but to anyone coming to Barbados in the future.. even though you think baseball is a good idea with the little green fruit and your proud of yourself for incorporating your major into fun games, be careful to stay away from the manchineel!!!

-Melanie Shanfield