Marine Biology Camp - Day Six

Going back in time

After a long night sleep we rubbed our eyes and got ready for the long day ahead of us. As we sprinted towards the cafeteria we got a whiff of the scrumptious muffins and delicious eggs. After we had all gobbled down our breakfast we pulled out our pens and notebooks and headed over to our second home: lab 3. We all settled in for an in depth explanation on the mysterious sharks! Sara was nice enough  to lend Abby and I a pencil to take notes. 

 

The lesson got everyone extremely pumped up for the snorkel ahead. We all piled into into the truck with our swim suits on and ready for action. As we parked we all dispersed out from the truck and were all lured like baby sea turtles to the ocean.  

 

As we went on a walk to the site we took in the amazing view and tried to avoid the little hermit crabs patrolling the rocks around us. When we reached the reef we all ditched our stuff and ran into the water. Our bonded group of 10 split up into mermaids and turtles and we went on as explorers and and entered the marine world. We saw many sea fans and tons of bright colors. Miles found a giant trumpet fish and we followed it around for a while. We soon headed back to the truck and hopped in, the engine roared and we jolted back and felt the reassuring wind blowing in our hair. We were all ravenous and curious for what was for lunch. The doors opened and we all rushed in and were imediately satisfied with the yummy burgers and fries. 

   
Leigh kindly offered to take us to the ancient old plantation ruins where many old structures lined the area. Sara, Tennie, Abby and Kaylin all helped trim the overgrowth on the paths. Along with them Joaqin and I helped to tape the paths so people would know where to go. Leigh told us all about the slaves and where they worked. We mostly saw the masters houses in tact because their homes were constructed better. Even though it was very hot in our protective long pants it was still amazing to learn about the real history of the place we are. We hiked down and felt the cool breeze back on our faces as the truck started up. 

 

After all our energy was almost to zero we made it to dinner at 5:30 to settle in for a nice plate of rice, beans and chicken! Before eating we made sure to say the quote of the day: everything in life has a reason, so appreciate it! We thanked the talented cooks and once again headed to lab 3 for a quick briefing on night snorkelling and bioluminescence. We learned that some plankton are bioluminescent to scare off predators. We were all very excited to head down to the the fallen dock to check out at night what we had snorkeled during the day. Once again we split into two groups and set out. My group: the turtles actually ended up seeing two amazing turtles but sadly Caden, Alex, and the rest of the sea horses did not have that opportunity. We got to see amazing jelly fish just floating along. We were all a little nervous but seeing all the incredible creatures made it worth it. Today our whole group successfully accomplished the arduous task of not getting sun burned! Today was a big fat juicy burrito packed full of new events and new adventures for us to take on.

Having a blast,

Ginger