Sean Howard '16

Today we cleaned up a beach by the airport. For a few hours, we picked up all sorts of trash around the area. There were thousands of pieces of various sized rope lying around the beach and stuck deep within the dirt; some pieces were over 20 feet long. Other interesting pieces of garbage were a surf board, large...

Today we went on our last dives of the trip at Baraka Point to plant coral by the underwater camera that marine II set up. We used staghorn coral for the transplant because of its natural fragmenting capability and sturdiness. While marine I gathered good staghorn candidates, II prepared the spot for planting. Afterwards, we worked together to place...

Yesterday and today were extremely full days. We started off these busy 48 hours with a lesson on turtles from Dr. Gore. She first discussed the different types of sea turtle species found in the BVI, like the leatherback, green, and hawksbill turtles. She also showed us both how they are endangered and how research is conducted on them....

Today we had two dives and a snorkel. The first dive was through "the Chimney", a series of several crevices and caverns in the reef. This dive was the most interesting one we've gone through so far. While at the surface, many moon jellyfish were lurking about in the shallow range. After some serious thought, I finally had the...

Today the Jasmine cabin, consisting of Jackson, Chase, Liam, Luke, and myself, awoke around 7 AM for breakfast. It was a rough night sleep, for my body has yet to adjust to the humid climate and lack of an air conditioning system. After breakfast, Casey, Jeff, Jeremy, and the gang gave us an introduction to the island...

I am taking this course because I have a strong interest in the sciences and feel that this class will give me a very unique, hands-on experience with marine biology that could be once in a lifetime.