Today we left land and moved out to sea. I enjoyed our long boat ride out to Glover’s Atoll, its been a while since I’ve been on the ocean and the waves felt great. It’s a beautiful place out here. After orientation we hopped in the water for a quick snorkel on the patch reef. I ended up having a few technical difficulties towards the end that hopefully practice will resolve.

I am already having more luck with this taxonomic group. I saw two orange Pomatostegus stellatus (star horseshoe worms) growing on a coral, and apparently Grace found Spirobranchus giganteus (christmas tree worms) as well. Besides annelids I saw staghorn coral, a queen conch, a ray, and a ton of fish, soft coral and sponges I couldn’t specifically identify.

Sophia Streeter

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