Greetings from sunny, wet Belize! I am writing this blog entry after dinner and our lab meeting, around 9PM local time. I meant to put the day of the week in the heading, but I honestly didn't know what it was. It's easy to lose track down here, to become disconnected to the mainland and its various issues/worries (football playoffs? government stalemate? how's the weather?).
Today was our longest and most adventurous day so far. We were in and on the water from 9AM until about 8PM. I can still feel the boat swaying beneath me, despite the sure knowledge that my feet are planted on the ground at TREC.
We began out day with a 1:15 boat ride to a mangrove swamp:
Our research ship Goliath is slow but steady and reliable! We arrived at the mangroves, a unique and scarce ecosystem that plays very important roles in this tropical marine habitat. Dr. Ken briefed us on this important resource and what we should expect to see:
The mangroves teem with life, much of it tiny. We snorkeled our way around the edges and through channels within the small islands, trying not to kick up silt as we marveled at the multitude and variety of life in this marine nursery:
Upon returning to the boat, we partook in a great tradition: warm bean dip and chips that awaits us after every dive:
Every day, we have lunch on the boat, eating pre-made sandwiches (tuna, chicken salad, etc.) from a cooler with optional PB&J and "digestive" cookies. There is always plenty of bottled water on board:
After lunch, as we were making our way to our next stop, we noticed strong storms off in the distance:
I don't know much about the sea, but I know it's a bad sign when you see your captain dressed like this:
We rode out the storm inside the cabin, planning our lab activities:
As the rain died down, the students took to the ocean in 3 research groups. Each was tasked with finding a stand of one type of coral (staghorn, elkhorn, and boulder brain) and recording the fish diversity associated with that coral species. The students are investigating whether a correlation exists between the overall shape of the coral and the fish diversity associated with it. Today was our first day of data collection:
The students all worked hard to collect data and to test their research hypothesis. We will be collecting more data over the next two days.
Our work complete, we explored the Coral Gardens reef. This large reef was simply spectacular, living up to its name with large stands of many different types of coral, and huge varieties of fish that naturally occupy such a habitat:
And just in case you are wondering what kind of stuff NEC students are made from...
Even after a full day of snorkeling, the students had to be forced from the water. Many declared Coral Gardens to be our favorite spot so far:
By the time we returned to the dock, we had less than one hour to walk back to TREC, change, prepare for our night dive, and return to the dock. We were greeted by pizza for dinner on board and a lovely sunset:
After an extensive briefing by Dr. Ken about what we'd see and how to stay safe, we followed our guides into the pitch black sea. Everyone was equipped with a dive light and quite a bit of courage! I was proud that every one of our students pushed their limits beyond their comfort point and ventured into the black deep. It's hard to convey this experience in photographs given the limited visibility, but we were able to see and interact with squid, octopi, moray eels, sea stars, lobsters, crabs, fish, sea cucumbers, and much more:
We returned to the dock exhilarated and exhausted from such a long and eventful day. And yet everyone was able to return to TREC and meet for a few hours to work on our lab project. Students were required to complete the Introduction and Methods section of their lab report tonight, and everyone was up to the task. Such hardworking students! I am proud of all of them.
That's it for now. All is well, everyone is fine, the weather is great, the seas calm, and the sights plentiful.
Thanks for reading!
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