Today we finally finished our project dives! On the first dive we found a reef that was partly healthy reef. The parts of the reef that were healthy had a small bit of algae at the base of the coral. The reason that the healthy coral has algae at the base is because algae uses sunlight and converts it into energy for the coral. However, when there is too much algae, the algae takes over the coral not allowing the coral to acquire its other necessities. On the second dive we found a reef with mainly stag-horn coral. We found 4 different types of algae at this site, but only the caroline algae was encroaching on the coral. The caroline algae started at the base of the coral and it appeared to be climbing up the base of the coral taking over it entirely. After our dives we went to the beach for beach games! Unfortunately me and my team came in second place; however, the whole thing was fun and entertaining. After eating hotdogs and hamburgers we went night snorkeling and saw an abundance of marine life that you don’t normally see during the day! Today I learned that there are a lot more types of algae than I had originally thought and I cannot wait to try to catch a sea turtle tomorrow! I’m having a lot of fun and making a lot of memories, but I’m missing my friends and family.
