First thing this morning, we went out on the boat to snorkel the fore-reef (the part of the reef that faces the open ocean)! I was nervous about snorkeling in waters so deep and so rough, but I actually had a super good time, and I got to see some things for the first time: I spotted a sea turtle way down on the ocean floor, we saw some Walnut Comb Jellies floating just beneath us, and I saw loggerhead sponges (Speciospongia vesparium)! I wish I was better at diving down beneath the water, so I could have gotten a closer look…

After lunch (alfredo pasta, salad and bread), we were tasked with designing an experiment centered around cleaning up marine debris (trash) from Middle Caye in Glover’s Reef. Being an island relatively far from the mainland, marine debris is a significant problem because the Gulf of Honduras Gyre (a water current) funnels all kinds of trash from the mainland directly onto the shores of Middle Caye.

In total, we collected 64.5 kilograms of trash from three different sites across the island, including 7.4 kilograms of glass and metal, which will have to be taken back to the mainland on a boat. Part of the problem for Middle Caye is that it simply isn’t economically feasible to charter boats specifically for transporting trash, so a lot of trash (including plastic and Styrofoam) is burned right here on the island.