On Thursday and Friday, we went on an adventure! Thursday was Port Saint Joe and Friday was Saint Andrew's.
At Port Saint Joe, we snorkeled in the 2-3 ft deep seagrass beds. Obviously, this is ridiculously shallow, so we were literally in the habitat... swimming through all of the sea grass as if we were a part of the ecosystem there. That was really cool. This place was full of life! Rays, welks, sand dollars, sea urchins, and starfish (Anna even found a super cute, baby starfish- no bigger than your thumb nail). Sea grass beds are nurseries, so there were tons of cute, little fish everywhere. But that means that it's also a great place for food, so there were some large fish that came in the sea grass as well. Those guys were fun because we played tag with them. It was pretty clear, so it was easy to see them, and they swam so fast- it was a fun game to try and touch them. As I've said before, scientists are really just a bunch of adults that act like kids. I wasn't lying. But this was seriously a way cool experience- felt like I was literally part of habitat.There was also a trench in between a couple sea grass beds. It had so many cool things! Whelks racing each other, spider crabs, hermit crabs... It was just full of sea life!
We snorkeled for much longer than we were supposed to, and because of that, we did not get dinner until 9:15pm. We were dying. But we went to this wonderful fish restaurant and ate entirely too much delicious food. Yes, marine biologists eat fish, for those of you who have asked. And we like it.
Then... Beach Party!! Chillin on the beach with Dr. Just, trying to see the glowing dinoflagellates in the ocean, listening to music, and discussing super nerdy/sciency things. We also came to the conclusion that Marine Biology is only 20% seriousness and 80% is enthusiasm, which I definitely have. Just said that there's also a bonus 5% of crazy, which I'm pretty sure my friends and I have in abundance.
Then to Saint Andrew's on Friday! This location was 20-30 ft deep with the deeper side behind the jetties. Because it was exceptionally deep, I got to use my fins for the first time!! Those things are huge and heavy, but man, do they work! I got a fantastic work out and moved very quickly though all those waves (while looking super legit in my gear, I might add). So what did we see? A couple rays, a toad fish, some UNA-spirited fish (Roar Lions!) aka little purple and yellow fish, a suh-weet glowing jellyfish, and a barracuda.
YES! A BARRACUDA!! Sooooooooooo awesome!! It was 4 feet long, and just a few yards from my face. I was LOVING it!! And I was too busy thinking about how cool it was, that I didn't even think to be afraid at the time. But for real, I was right next to a barracuda... in the wild...I love marine biology!
Then the drive back to DISL. With some super cool experiences and absolutely wonderful memories!
No comments:
Post a Comment