This morning consisted of some serious truck bonding, which was mostly singing songs…real or made up. The whole purpose of the morning at Sand Dollar Bay was to review our fish, coral, and reef organisms for our exam. There were some exciting sightings of a large Southern stingray and the biggest barracuda we have seen yet, at least in regards to girth. However, the further out on the reef we went, the less fish we saw. This was quite unusual, but we did see enough to get a good review in. As the name implies, Sand Dollar Bay has quite a few sand dollars in it; this lead to a vigorous search for them. Let’s just say that it was like Las Vegas; a few people hit the jackpot while most went home empty handed.
As you may recall, yesterday we were at the fossil reef. It turns out we had left our weather equipment behind! Therefore, we made a slight detour to get it back safe and sound. After we retrieved the weather equipment we rearranged our plans to avoid the strong thunderstorm to the southwest. We ended up at Bonefish Bay again to do some final studying on the beach or in the water; whichever we preferred.
After the exam, most of us realized how much we learned through hands on activities and can look forward to the many more adventures in the weeks to come.
P.S. Even though we personally do not get on the computers much, the professors show us the blog comments after class each night, so we can see and enjoy them. They are very much appreciated!