We ate the normal breakfast at 8 this time so we got to sleep in which was nice. We then got in the taxi and headed to the marina but only sea monkey got off at the marina to go turtle hunting while sea dragon (my group) went to do and invertebrate study on savanna bay. Once we got to savanna bay we looked for invertebrates including urchins, slugs, squid and shrimp. While we were searching we found a ton of urchins and slugs. Becca and I found a squid though but we couldn’t catch it but it was really cool to see a squid up close because it changes colors and tried to ink us. Once we gathered up our invertebrates and discussed them. My favorite invertebrate that we discussed was a type of cleaning shrimp. It was really interesting to watch it clean himself and try to clean the bucket he was in. While all the invertebrates were in the bucket one specific type of urchin released a gamete that continued feces and poison because it was in distress after we caught it. I didn’t know that sea urchins had other defense ,enchants ms besides there long spikes. After our invertebrate study we headed to the marina to go hunt turtles and tag them. We drove about 15 minutes out to a bay. My group Iv, Miles, Brock and Doc, wanted to go first but once we got in the water we noticed the multiple jellyfish in the water. No one was getting stung though until we got dragged by the boat on ski ropes, I got stung so many times on my hands that the tops of them are red and swollen. The stings weren’t very strong but when they built up they felt like it. We didn’t spot a turtle for the first 30 minutes until someone on the boat spotted one about 100 feet out. We swam towards it but couldn’t find it. About an hour later we decided to go to a different spot and within 10 minutes I spotted a turtle while I was underwater. We swam towards it but it was too fast and swam away. We looked for it for about 10 more minutes and found it again. This time we started surrounding it but something scared it away and we couldn’t find it the third time. So we came back without getting to tag any turtles. The other group, sea monkey, found one turtle and tagged it though. After our failed turtle tagging we headed back to the resort and showered. We then got in our project groups and discussed our project for a couple hours then presented. I think our presentation went well and I got the opportunity to interject a lot in the presentation. We explained how we thought our hypothesis was correct which is that red, brown and black fish were out more during the night and in shallower areas while brighter fish were out more during the day. We showed data table made through excel and discussed our methods and conclusions. After our presentation we ate pizza on the beach and Beth made us cupcakes which were amazing. I am looking forward to cleaning a beach tomorrow and having our first free afternoon of the trip. I learned a lot today and I am excited to learn more tomorrow.
