Slayton, Nicholas.
I slept well this morning, so I was rested, and breakfast was fine. After we were done with breakfast, we went down to the commissary to receive a lecture on turtle conservation. One of the things I took away from it was that turtle population has recovered sharply, but without more work to be done, the turtle population will shrink again. Then, we went to the dock, and then traveled to a beach where we studied invertebrates. Trip and I went out to snorkel to collect some of them, and we got a little creature to bring back to examine. We also saw an octopus that was hidden in its shell, and then I came down and tried to get close to her. When we were done snorkeling, all the groups of two brought back the creatures they caught, and for the next hour and so, the two teachers explained a lot of the organisms. It was an interesting experience learning about an underwater jellyfish, a hermit crab, and other siblings. Once we were done with analyzing the animals, we took a taxi back to the marina. Then, we went to tag turtles at Little Dicks bay. Or as I should say, try to tag turtles, considering that none of us could catch a turtle in the open water. I was very close to one, but I swam for glory, and scared the turtle off, when it would have been prudent to go up quietly. Dawson came close multiple times, but he could never quite tag it, though he saw five turtles in total. After we were done trying to tag turtles, all of us were towed on a boat for fun, however, I was dizzy, and had to close my eyes while we did so. When it appeared as if we were done, Evan let go, and then raised his hand to signal that he saw a turtle. This lead to a chase where multiple people tried to dive down to tag the turtle, but to no avail. Then, we came back to shore for lunch, and went back to the hotel. Our group worked on our project, and began to finalize it with data tables, and an analysis of our evidence. After that, we ate a dinner that consisted of a chicken or pork wrap, with guacamole and salsa. To wrap up the day, we watched a documentary on coral loss in the world, but in particular, about Hawaii and The Great Barrier Reef. It made me reflect on my energy useage, and how I impact the world around me, and how my impacts can change the world as we now it. Finally, we wrote our blogs, and went to bed. Good night!
