Today marks the 15th day on our adventure and the 13th morning we’ve had French toast. Another beautiful morning gave us time to go out into the field and gather data for our research projects. Those of us who didn’t need to do so hung back at the GRC and worked on projects in the lab. Right after lunch a storm rolled in just in time to supply some of the students with soothing back ground noise for a well-deserved nap. Half of the group got to go out to on a reef and explore for the second half of the day. This reef trip was different in that we took a boat out to the reef. We went to a deep fore reef known as Gaulin Reef, which was filled with many corals that we have yet to see such as elkhorn coral and staghorn coral. These coral species usually reside in deeper waters which is why we have yet to see them until now. Along with these coral, we saw much larger fish than usual such as some very large parrotfish, barracuda, and a mammoth tiger grouper. The rest of us will make the trip to Gaulin Reef tomorrow.
In class, we went over how we would be presenting our research projects when we return to school next fall. We also went over our hypotheses and methods sections, later sharing previews of our projects with the class. With all the hard work going into our research projects, the talk about finally presenting them got the class excited about what our final products will be like.
Tonight, there is a fish fry on the beach that most of us plan to attend to get a nice taste of Bahamian culture. Seeing other schools come and go reminds us that we only have a short time left in paradise before we have to venture back to the real world.
Levi Burns ’15 Dani Lacy ‘16