Today in the BVI’s our group did something a little bit different. Instead of scuba diving, we went sea turtle catching and tagging, and also we studied invertebrates.
Today’s Events and What I learned
We started out the day with a breakfast set up by the Mango cabin. After the breakfast, we attended a presentation by Dr. Gore. She taught us how to properly catch and handle a turtle and also the different species that are on the earth. There are seven different species of sea turtles but the one that is prevalent in the BVI’s is the green sea turtle. We then set out to a lone beach called Savannah Bay with crystal clear water to study invertebrates, while the other group went sea turtle catching first. On the way to the beach, we could visibly see the separation from the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean ocean in between islands. Anyway, on the beach, we all snorkeled for around two hours. All of us were looking for different invertebrate species to study. After our snorkeling session, we all headed to the beach to study all of the different specimens on a table. We saw creatures like: sea urchins, lettuce snails, common sea stars and brittle stars, and a fire worm. The fire worm was interesting because when it becomes angry, it excretes these needles that are found on its back. These needles irritate the human skin and one would feel a terrible burning sensation. After our invertebrate studies, we headed towards the docks to start our session of turtle catching. We went to another beach filled with sea turtles. We all jumped into the sea out from the boat and did our best to try and catch one off these animals. After a while of swimming and trying to no avail, we regrouped on the boat and came up with a game plan: no splashing to scare the turtle off, and do our best to circle around the turtle so that it doesn’t have anywhere to swim. We all tried this and without a doubt, these two simple rules managed to catch us a large green sea turtle. Since we caught one, and the other group caught one, our whole group did better than last weeks group who only managed to catch one. Later today, everyone competed in beach games, where Lime House, the cabin I’m staying at, won the whole thing, and in addition won the final obstacle course, gaining a free hat and a fifty dollar gift card. There were five events total including the championship obstacle course. Lime House won the first event, placed second on the second event, third in the third event, and first in the first event; enough points to win the beach games.
What I look forward to
I look forward to visiting the coral nursery and diving in the deep shipwreck. Also, I plan to advance my groups project even further and presenting our data gained.
