Today we had a really active and eventful day. We started our our day at the mango cabin for breakfast. After that we headed to the commissary to meet with Dr. Shannon to discuss the conservation efforts to save sea turtles. We discussed how there are 7 types of species and where they migrate. Sea turtles in the Caribbean despite popular opinions are considered least concern rather than endangered. Populations in the Caribbean have gone up in recent years, encompassing a growth to nearly 29,000 hatchlings. We discussed reproduction and life cycle and how we must maintain our beaches to the specification of sea turtles to nest. After our discussion we split up groups into two and mine headed over to a beach to learn about invertebrates. We snorkeled to find invertebrates to examine. Once we gathered some organisms to look at we had Casey teach us the functions, and behaviors of the creatures we caught. We caught sea enchants, slugs, a fire worm, and some starfish. One of those, the fire worm was my favorite due to it having wHits spikes shooting out when the worm is threatened. These spikes are venomous. Also, slugs that appear as algae also eat the algae and use their appearance to protect themselves from predators. After that we headed for lunch. After lunch we went turtle tagging. We tag turtles to better understand their migration patterns and thief growth. We searched and chased turtles for almost 2 hours. But finally we caught one and tagged it. We were really tired from turtle tagging, but we managed to participate in these games that Casey had for us. We did relay races, pictionary using only sand and a stick and other really tiring games. Trying to stay awake while writing this, but overall really fun day and I really enjoyed it.
