July 14 Today we woke up at 6:30 and prepared for turtle tagging and snorkeling in Savannah bay looking at invertebrates. For breakfast we went to Mango cabin for breakfast and then we went to the media room for a presentation on sea turtles from Dr. Shannon Gore. She told us about the lifecycle of a turtle, the threat level they are in, and about her Association of Reef Keepers (ARK). We then went to the bay next to Savannah bay to catch turtles. We spent about an hour chasing turtles, which are extremely fast underwater, and we also saw lots of sting rays, assorted fish species, and several sea urchins in the coral. After a while, I caught a turtle with the help of Jim Hayden and William Name. At first I only touched it and feared it got away, but Jim and Name corralled it back and I was able to catch it thanks to them. It weighed about 50 pounds and was flapping it’s fins all around attempting to escape. It was a green turtle name was Dawson, as Dawson had caught it week one, so we gave it Leonard as a last name. It had an amazing pattern on its shell and had a very unique texture. We took measurements and photos with it and released it back into the bay. We almost caught another, someone getting a hand on it before it jetted away. After that we left, going back to the marina for food. The burgers were quite good and others said the shrimp and crab wrap was excellent. The other group had gone snorkeling to look at coral and invertebrates. So after lunch we switched places, but before we started snorkeling, Mrs. McNutt told us about the invertebrates and showed us some in bins. There were urchins, sea slugs, star fish, sea pearls, which are single celled organisms, and a fire worm. We dived for about an hour and a half to two hours, seeing urchins, lots of other aquatic life, the more interesting including a puffer fish, goat fish, and squid. We returned to the marina and picked up the other group. One of their instructors, Daniel, had caught one. We went back to our cabins to rest for cabin games. There were four main games, a water balloon fight, an obstacle course, a game of pictionary, and a relay race. My team, plum cabin, was second place and there was a championship but we lost by a small margin. The winners, lime cabin, got $50 to the dive shop each. After that we had a delicious lasagna cooked by Mrs. McNutt. We returned to our cabins to shower and then wrote these blogs.
