Day 26/27/28

I cant believe this is the last day of the trip! This month has flown by..

On Friday we had two morning dives on the south side, the first was a deep wall dive where some of the class saw another shark! I saw a couple turtles and two lion fish. The second was a shallow reef dive where many of the students took off their fins and walked along the bottom in "zero-gravity". Everyone really had a blast but were sad that it was our last diving day. I know we are all going to really miss it!

Photo credit: Ricky Rosas

Photo credit: Ricky Rosas

Photo credit: Ricky Rosas

That night we went to the beach resort for dinner together and sang karaoke afterwards -- it was tons of fun! We capped off the night with live music at the Iggy which was an awesome time too.

On Saturday we decided to sleep in since we couldnt dive and spent the day lounging at the beach resort. We ended our night with a barbeque together at CCMI.

Today we swam out to Owens Island (a small island about a 10 minute swim from the beach). We explored the island and swam for a while before heading to our favorite spot, the beach resort, to chill for the rest of the day.

We plan on having a bonfire tonight as our last hurrah before we have to head home tomorrow morning.

I know we are all sad to leave, it has really been an incredible month that I know I will never forget. This is a truly beautiful island with some really wonderful people. I hope that I get the chance to come back someday!!

- J

Day 25

Another day of calm skies meant another day full of diving!

We headed out first thing this morning to the reef wall on the north side and went for a deep dive to 100 feet (the students first time in the triple digits!). Everyone was really excited to get a deep dive in so that was alot of fun.

The second morning dive we went on was at a reef called the mixing bowl and it was really wonderful! We saw a nurse shark (so exciting!), tooooons of fish, a turtle, and a coloful and apparently rare snail that likes to hang out on the soft corals.

Photo credit: Ashley Barnett
Dr. Adam Marsh observing a school of fish

Photo credit: Erin Papke

After our dives we headed back in and made sure to stop in the lagoon to snorkel for conch again! We are stock piling up to make conch fritters this weekend.

After lunch we had some time to relax and recoup for our night dive!

We headed back to cumbers caves reef for our night dive which we swam too from the shore. Night dives are truly awesome and Im so glad we were able to get another one in! Some of the students were lucky enough to see an octopus (so jealous!) while they were out tonight. I saw a big stone crab, a barracuda, lots of corals with their polyps open (they are fun to shine your light on becuase the zooplankton gather around the light and then the corals feed on them!), cleaner shrimp, some anemones, and a big sea turtle. There was also a school of large tuna-esque fish that kept swimming around us eating all the little fish our lights were attracting. They even ran into us a couple of times! Was crazy and awesome, cant wait to see what we do tomorrow!

- J

Day 24

Today may have been one of he best days so far! We woke up to a calm, sunny, warm day with not a cloud in the sky - perfect diving weather.

We decided to go for a shore dive this morning at eagle ray reef. This site is so great because the reefs grow up so far from the ocean floor and they are amazing to swim around and explore. We even spent a little time along the wall as well! We saw a turtle, barracuda, grouper, lots of other fish, and even a big sea anemone! It was a great dive.

Photo credit: Jenn Riling

Once we got back we dove back into the second half of our NITROX course. We took a break to eat lunch and then we took the test (and everyone passed yay!).

After class we headed over to Point of Sands, a really lovely beach on the south side, to go snorkeling. The sand there is so white and clean, it is quite beautiful. The current was a bit rough, but overall a great site. We also took a nap on the beach in the sun which was a much needed time of relaxation, not to mention the sun felt great!

We headed back late afternoon to get ready for a night dive!! We grabbed a quick snack and went over the game plan for the dive and then headed over to cumbers caves to enter via the shore. We went out right as the sun was setting, and let our eyes adjust to the dark. This ended up being one of my favorite dives and everyone said they had an amazing time as well. We saw a caribbean reef shark (first shark Ive seen on this trip, I was ecstatic!!), two little squid, large goat fish, corals with all their polyps open, a brittle star, a BIG barracuda, tons of jacks, little fish and worms, and a huge stone crab! Needless to say it was amazing! I cant wait for our night dive tomorrow!!

- J

Day 23

Beautiful sunny morning today!! We got in the water first thing today to catch some of the morning sun and beat the afternoon wind. We headed to the south side and had a fun dive along the wall (all the tansects are complete!). It was nice to just play the whole dive and explore around with the class. Was a great dive and on the boat ride back we even saw flying fish! They are so cool!

Photo credit: Alex Matacchieri

Photo credit: Jenn Riling

On our way back in we stopped in the lagoon to collect conch for conch fritters later this week! We each snorkeled around and found the biggest conch we could find and kept the 10 biggest ones (the total catch we are allowed to have per day). Once we got back to CCMI we learned how to clean the conch and everyone who wanted to got to give it a go.

After lunch we had a little time to relax in the sun at the beach resort before starting in on the NITROX course (learning how to use high oxygen gas blends while diving). We will finish up the class tomorrow.

After dinner a couple of us decided it would be fun to go on a night snorkel since it was so calm out. It was really awesome!! We saw a squid (my favorite part) and corals with their polyps open (another one of my favorites), a balloon fish, a grouper, tons of lobster, and hundreds of tiny fish (which loved the dive lights and hung around the whole time). Hopefully it will stay calm enough for us to go on a night dive this week!

- J

Photo credit: Alex Matacchieri

Day 22

Anther blustery day on the island. We can't seem to catch a break! Luckily the wind wasnt so bad, so we were able to go for some dives today!

We spent our afternoon diving on the south side of the island at two new sites. The first was called uncle lucky and was the spur and groove reef formation that weve been seeing. The students each took one transect with quadrats, and then got to swim to the reef wall and check it out! They really enjoyed getting to see it.

Photo credit: Jenn Riling

Photo credit: Ashley Barnett

Our second dive was on the wreck of the Soto Trader, the ship that used to drop off supplies to the island before they used a barge. The ship caught fire some 60 years ago and now is a nice dive site! This was the first wreck for all the students so they were LOVING it!! We attempted to take a group picture in front of the wreck but it was a silty and cloudy so it didnt come out as well as we hoped, but we will try again later this week!

Photo credit: Ricky Rosas

Once we got back to CCMI we had a nice big dinner and everyone settled down into processing their transect data. Hoping for clear skies tomorrow!

- J

Day 19/20/21

Not a bad weekend off!

On Friday Mark, Adam, and I went diving at the edge of bloody bay reef (where the reef drops off literally 90 degrees -- it is so awesome) after seeing the students safely to the airport to head to Grand Cayman! We wanted to have some fun too! The reef wall is such an amazing place to dive, Ive never seen anything like it. We saw ton of sponges and also single polyp corals which are really neat. I really hope we are able to go back with the whole class! (I searched for sharks the entire dive but sadly saw none :( but we did see a nurse shark when we tying the boat up!)

That evening we decided to go to the beach resort for dinner and decided to stay for karaoke! Was a great way to end the day. We even had lionfish ceviche while we were there (Ive been dying to try some!) and it was sooooo good. Im all about eating more lionfish!

Iguana sunning himself by the pool

Saturday was unfortunately very windy so we werent able to go diving, but I did manage to get out for a few walks on the beach where I sifted for shells and cool coral skeletons. I managed to find some fossilized coral skeletons enbeded in sandstone which was really awesome. The beaches here are so cool! After my walk and lunch we headed down to salt rock dock to watch the waves. There is no reef crest in that area so the waves crash right on shore, and boy they were huge!!

Salt rock dock -- watching the waves

For dinner we headed down to the Hungry Iguana (the Iggy for short). I had some island-indian fusion curry and it was AMAZING. Ive never had anything like it and I loved it! I want to go back just to have some again! After dinner we headed down to the docks to look at the tarpin that gather there at night. These fish are 3 and 4 feet long and for some reason are attracted to the blue lights and hang out there every night.

Tarpin swimming at the dock

Today the students made it back from Grand Cayman on a few different flights so we made sure to pick them all up when they arrived. I spent my day between the airport and the beach resort (where I soaked in the hot tub - Im really acclimating to the warmth here and 75 degrees felt cold today!). It was a nice relaxing day, but Im really looking forward to getting back in the water tomorrow!! Hopefully the wind will calm a little for us, I know everyone wants to make the last week here count!

- J

Lovely sunset

Day 17/18

Sadly the wind has been whipping in from the north east and we were unable to dive yesterday :( So we used our time to get some lectures in. In the morning after breakfast we learned about the evolutionary history of corals, and after lunch we were taught all about the symbioses between corals and dinoflagellate algae.

After the second lecture we broke for the day and spent some time relaxing. Even though it was windy it was still sunny and beautiful outside. I spent my time returning to the salt rock dock and exploring the iron shore formations (made of karst) and searching for shells and fossilized coral skeletons. Was a lovely afternoon!

That evening after dinner we all headed down the the beach resort to play trivia! Was a great way to end the day.

Photo credit: Melanie Brennan
Sunset Monday night

Today we were able to get back in the water!! The wind had died down just enough for us to make it out to a site called divers delight -- and it lived up to its name! The reef spurs were wonderful and there were tons of beautiful fish all around. The students took two transects with their quadrats and spent a little time after swimming around the reef.

Photo credit: Erin Papke
Mooring ball at the dive site

Photo credit: Erin Papke
A student swimming towards a school of fish

The boat ride back in was a bit bumpy and wet but we all mad it back safe and sound. We scarfed down a big lunch of build your own burritos which everyone loved.

After lunch the students went through their quadrat images on coral point count to identify all the corals they had seen earlier. Once they were finished they were free to explore the island. I spent my afternoon napping on the beach and reading. 

After dinner the students all started packing for their weekend away in Grand Cayman! I know they are going to have tons of fun.

Turning in for the night and looking forward to my free weekend as well! Looking to get some fun dives in if the weather permits!

- J

Day 16

Windy day today, woke up to waves crashing on the shore below us and on the reef crest behind the lagoon. Luckily the wind is coming form the north, so the south side of the island is still calm enough for diving!

Morning clouds

Wind blowing the palm trees

We spent our morning diving at pirate's point reef where the students each took 2 transects with their quadrats. Everyone did really well and took great images! Everyone is becoming really self sufficient which is wonderful to see. We give the directions at the surface and they dive down and get straight to work!

Photo credit: Erin Papke
A student inspecting a coral after finishing their transects

Photo credit: Emma Wennick
Two angelfish swimming along the reef

When we got back to CCMI we were welcomed with a lunch of bacon cheeseburgers (yum!!). After we had a little time to digest we got to work processing the pictures the students had taken earlier. We also had a little classroom time going over previous data collected along the transects.

After dinner we had another class period in which Dr. Adam Marsh intruduced the students to R - an open source stastical modeling machine that works wonders with data sets like ours. He showed them how to made their data into intelligible graphs so they could compare their work with each other and even from the previous study abroad class 2 years ago! Its going to be great to see how everything turns out at the end of the course.

- J

Wind is still blowing but it looks beautiful!

Day 13/14/15

Unfortunately my post from this weekend wasnt able to upload and was deleted/lost :( So I will give you a quick snapshot of what our weekend looked like!

On Saturday the students took an underwater coral quiz where they looked at different corals marked by buoyes and wrote down their scientific names on slates. (We use slates with pencils underwater for writing on, and they work really well!) Everyone is really starting to get the names down which is exciting to see! The rest of Saturday was free time (yay!) to explore the island.

Sunday we spent relaxing and soaking up the sun at the local beach resort, we even spent some time lounging by the pool! It was a great day to rebuild our strength for the week!

An iguana at the resort! These guys live all over the island and just wander about on the road and resorts soaking up the sun. They are too cool!

Today we woke up bright, early, and rested. The wind has really picked up today (and its supposed to be blustery all week) so we went to the south side of the island, away from the wind, to go diving today. We took Banana Wind (the big boat) and went to a reef called grundy's garden and took transect measurements with the quadrats the students built earlier this week. They are getting better with them already!

Photo credit: Jen Riling
Student (Jen) taking a quadrat selfie!

After the dive we had a nice big lunch and a short break. The students then spent the rest of the afternoon until dinner working through the images from their quadrats today. It was great practice for remembering the coral names!

After dinner we decided to watch Finding Nemo! It was a nice way to relax and even call out coral names and diving tips as the movie went on. I guess thats what happens when you watch with a bunch of marine scientists!

Was a lovely weekend overall and Im looking forward to tomorrow.

- J

Day 12

After 11 hours of (much needed) sleep Im ready to write about my day yesterday!

We spent the morning diving at snap shot reef using the new quadrats the students built. They took their regular transects and then took meter by meter images using their quadrats along the transect line. Even though the quadrats are a bit unweildy due to their size, all the students were able to execute the dive and get all their images!

Photo credit: Ashley Barnett
A student enjoying a swim around after their transect was complete

Photo credit Jessica Waites
A lionfish searching for prey

After lunch we let the students loose for an afternoon off (it was Friday!). Once they returned we held a short class on how to use coral point count, a saftware package that takes the quadrat images and lays random points on it. We determine what is under every point and the software tells us the distribution of organisms in each image. So cool! We will be using this software for the duration of the course to build accurate data sets of the reef over at each place we dive.

Dr. Mark Warner instructing the class

 After class we had a delicious dinner of grilled burgers and hot dogs. The students settled in for a night of coral identification using their pictures of the day and I read a little and went straight to bed!

Its a beautiful, calm day today and we are getting ready to do two more dives! Woohoo!

- J

Photo credit: Ricky Rosas
Peering into a crevice along the reef

Day 11

We let the students sleep in a little this morning, they have been working so hard! After a late breakfast we started to build pvc quadrats. These quadrats will hold their GoPro cameras as they take meter x meter images of corals along transects (instead of just identifying what was below each meter mark like before). This will give us a way bigger and fuller data set of what is making up each reef we visit.

The begginings of the quadrats

Once the quadrats were built we settled in for a quick lunch then quickly turned it around and set up our gear to go diving! We visited two incredible reefs today. The first was called Paul's anchor, and it featured 3 old anchors from pirate ships that have now started to mold into the reef itself. We managed to find one of them though! The students took transects on this reef as well as pictures of the bleaching orbicella annularis coral.

Photo credit: Ashley Barnett
Imaging bleaching orbicella annularis with coral health indicator cards

Photo credit: Jessica Waites

Making sure to do my saftey stop!

The second reef we dove was Jackson's point. This dive was work free, and I know the students were thankful because this reef was gorgeous! There were tons of fish and so many nooks and crannys to peer into and swim through. Everyone had a blast diving here and I for one want to go back! We had an awesome time exploring and getting up close and personal with this flourishing reef.

Photo credit: Emma Wennick
School of fish swimming over the reef

Photo credit: Maural Sowlat
A grouper swimming close by -- the grouper we have encountered are very friendly and will actually swim along side you and follow you as you dive. It is so cool!

After our dives we headed back in to CCMI and had ourselves a big (much needed) dinner. Everyone settled in for the night going through pictures of the day and the data collected. I can tell everyone is really getting into what we are doing and are truly loving diving!

Tomorrow is supposed to be another clear day (we've been so lucky with the weather) so we are planning on more dives in the morning! Can't wait.

- J

Day 10

Woke up this morning to a light breeze and pink skies. I really need to beat the sun one morning and watch the sunrise in full form! But even the endings are beautiful.

Another beautiful sight was the reefs we dove today! We set out early on the big boat 'Banana Wind' on the south side of the island. First we dove at coral city. The class took more transect measurements (we are building a big data file) and also orbicella annularis bleaching measurements with the coral health reference cards. We happened across 6 lionfish while we were down there, and while they are beautiful, they are a very harmful invasive species. So its always mixed feelings when we see them.

Photo credit: Jenn Riling
Two students (Emma and Jenn) taking a selfie on one of their dives

After coral city we boated over to lucas ledge. The class took more transect and bleaching measurements here and even had a little time afterwards to swim around and explore the reef. We saw lots of colorful fish and corals. Its aweomse seeing the students starting to recognize different corals and learn their names!

We made it back in time for a late lunch which we followed with a little time to relax.

Once the afternoon rolled around we all gathered and went over how to process and organize all the data the students have accumulated so far. They will be using this data to analyse the proportion of the different categories (coral, algae, soft coral etc.) at each reef.

Im spending the rest of my evening finishing up some work while some of the class is at trivia. Hopefully they do well against the locals!

- J

                                 

Day 9

Another lovely day in paradise.

Started the day out with a morning lecture on brain coral skeleton morphology (how they are structured and look). We then headed over to salt rock dock to look at the iron shore formations (made of karst - a calcium carbonate substrate formed by cyanobacteria) which contain many coral skeletons (and even conch) from the pleistocene era, about 125,000 years old! This was one of my favorite things we've done thus far. I just think fossils are so cool!

After our morning field trip we had a delicious lunch of loaded nachos (shoutout to Ms. M, our cook who feeds us VERY well).

Fossilized conch shell

Fossilized brain coral skeleton

Fossilized coral skeleton

Dr. Mark Warner teaching the class about coral morphology

Dr. Mark Warner teaching the class about coral morphology

Fossilized brain coral

Salt Rock Dock

Salt Rock Dock

Salt Rock Dock

We quickly switched over to diving after lunch. We broke up into two groups again so we could use the small boats to head over to snap shot reef to take more transect measurements there. Each group identified what was under their transect tape and took images at every meter along a reef spur. They then looked for all the orbicella annularis corals along their transect and imaged them alongside a coral health color index. While each group wasnt diving they were writing up all the data they collected that day. It will be awesome to see the data that gets collected this week!

After dinner we had another short lecture going over the major coral genus and species names that we will encountering over the rest of the trip. Everyone is really starting to commit them to memory! Im excited to see how much everyone knows by the end of the week.

Everyone is really imporiving in their diving skills and it is great to see! And as always, I can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store!

- J