Happy Sunday! Today we had the morning off, which was much needed after an action packed first few days! Most of us needed a break from the sun. We spent the morning catching up on sleep or working on our site presentations which include Bonefish Bay and Sand Dollar. The morning was cloudy and windy, so we were glad to be inside, it even rained a bit.
We had a quick grilled cheese lunch (which was amazing) and then headed to Telephone Pole Reef. The weather began to clear up and the sun was out again. At the site, the beach was rocky, so it was quite a challenge getting in the water. Because of the wind, there was a strong current, so getting to the reef felt like a workout. Almost immediately we came across a somewhat camouflaged peacock flounder. It swam for a few seconds before it settled down and we were able to observe its neat patterns and coloring. This was a bit of a deeper reef than we have seen previously, so there was lots of diving down to see the various sea creatures. Some of the coolest ones were a yellow stingray, some reef squid (water puppies), a white spotted filefish, and a honeycomb cowfish.
Showering was a treat today because we finally got warm water. After our nice warm showers we headed off to dinner to have a Bahamian classic, block mac n cheese!
For part of class we got the opportunity to hear about the new National Parks and marine conservation on San Sal. One of the coolest parts was that they are starting coral nurseries right off the coast. Out of the 200 corals in the nursery, 198 survived (insanity!).
We are ready for some rest and excited for the week to come!
Kaity Seitz ’20 and Payton Hurl ‘20