It was another beautiful morning at the GRC. After a warm and buggy night, we were all excited to get up for breakfast and get our day started. Because it was Sunday, we were able to have our morning off to either go to church, relax on the beach, catch up on some sleep, or work on our organism projects that are due this week.
After a yummy lunch of spaghetti and meat sauce, we were off to a site that we were all excited about—the wall. We all hopped on the truck and traveled about 20 minutes down the road to beach where we all piled out to put on our gear and get in the warm water. As we were swimming out the wall, we saw different types of fish, algae, and corals. When we arrived at the wall, JW told us that the drop went down to about 5,000 feet. It was amazing to see a fish that none of us have seen before called Creole Wrasse. We also saw 3 coral trees that Sandy, a woman who used to live on San Salvador planted. Essentially they are coral hybrids that have the opportunity to grow and be replanted on a reef close by.
The wall was a thrilling experience. To look over the rocky bottom and look into the mysteriousness of the deep, deep waters. Occasionally, a curious shark would swim by. Between the large and new (to us) fish, and our shark visitors, the wall was a favorite for many of us.
When it was time to head home, we jumped into the back of the truck and started to drive, when we got a big surprise! Lots and lots of rain came pouring down, as we were travelling 30 MPH down the road in the back of a truck. I know, exciting right?
After showers and dinner, we all gathered in the classroom to enjoy a couple site presentations from our classmates and learned all about our Class Aves friends from our professor, Dr. Phillips. Now it’s time to go coat ourselves in bug-spray and get a good nights sleep!
Emily Buckley ’20
Caylin Ashcraft ’20