Today was day 3, and it’s crazy that we still have 11 days left on this journey. Each day has felt like 3 (not in a bad way though).
This mornings lunch was my favorite so far: some beans, bread, sausage, and spam (and some watermelon). It reminded me of something my mom would make back home, Simple but Delicious. It does seem like we’re running out of fruit though. The first couple of days, there were some delicious mangos, but alas, all of those are gone now.
After breakfast, we did an experimental design on land, which we then executed and collected data for in order to get used to using the transect tapes and quadrats. Then as a group, we designed an experiment for the water (determining the density of penicillus algae as we moved away from shore). This experiment allowed us to work with these tools in the water for the first time, and to work together as a team to develop and execute a scientific question. The experiment went well, but our hypothesis was dead wrong ☠️
During that snorkel, we also saw a starfish, a sea urchin, and a handful of mollusks! (Including a very large queen conch! 🐚)
We then worked together to make a scientific poster illustrating our experimental design and results, which we presented to Scott and Adrienne once we were finished.
Lunch was a chicken burger and fries. After lunch we did another land activity: we adventured to the coral graveyard 🪦🪸! Just a hop, skip, and jump away from our bunks lies a collection of calcified coral corpses like no other. They’re so well preserved in their fossilized form that we could identify the species from the long dead skeleton corallites. We verbally identified 11 species using ID cards and books.
We had one lecture before dinner(chicken, rice, and mashed potatoes, with the other 3 coming after dinner. The night snorkel was supposed to be tonight, but the winds have picked up too much to go out safely, so we’re staying in!
Fun extra excerpt about the day: Caio and Nyala became pros at cracking open coconuts and provided coconuts to your hearts galore for the whole group. Great kids