Today was our second time out to patch reefs. This morning we had a bit of time to snorkel around looking for certain things. The list we were given helped direct my attention to bits of the reef I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise I don’t think. I think I saw a parrot fish that was red with white spots, but I was having a hard time getting a look at its mouth since it was very close to a coral. I also saw my first anemone. I saw a Condylactis gigantea(Giant carribean anemone) and a Stichodactyla helianthus(sun anemone). Unfortunately, my camera ran out of battery before I saw them or I would share a picture.  I also saw plenty of coral that I’m still getting the hang of identifying.

In the afternoon we went back into the water, but this time stuck to the sea grass patch. We were surveying squares for the presence of two different macroalgae. Right before getting in we saw a baby nurse shark (don’t worry it’s not a threat). My snorkel buddy and I happened to have a section of the sea grass that had fairly dense populations of one of the algae and it took a while to repeatedly dive down to count. After we headed in, we learned that most of the other groups hardly saw any hadn’t had to do much counting. Among the sea grass we had also seen two spotted rays, another sun anemone, and I think I might have seen a puffer fish.

Lastly, we went to a different part of the island to look at fossilized coral skeletons. I feel significantly better about recognizing different corals on the reef tomorrow, but I’m still a bit nervous. I guess I’ll find out if I really can.

Oh and there was a gorgeous post-card-worthy sunset on the island that already looks like a postcard.