First Time At The Keys!

My days here at the Keys Marine Lab have been amazing so far! Being one who hasn't been to the Keys before, I can say that it's been mind-blowing to say in the least. First, right outside our dorms for the week we have a little lagoon that we all explored, and is just incredible!

 

Cody

Paige

Jessica

Arien

Laura

Me snorkeling! 

I hadn't snorkeled before this trip, and not much before this week, but being in the Keys for five days already has made me quite experienced!

Scrawled cowfish! (moo!)

Angelfish species 

Sunset from Key West

We explored Key West on Sunday before class when we were all here, and it was great bonding and watching the sun set. On Monday, we had the opportunity to explore some beautiful coral reefs that housed numerous species of fish, invertebrates, algae, and corals. It was amazing to see, and made me want to get my diver's certification that much more! (See, I float too much to stay down and explore for to long...it gets frustrating, haha!) Afterwards we learned about the different species of corals, which seems like it will take a lot of practice to remember. Then Tuesday we explored a mangrove island and it was interesting to see the similar and different species that resided here than those in the coral reefs from the day before. Dr. Voss then explained to us the methods of study we'll be using tomorrow to survey the species in the reefs (called a Reef Visual Census) and gave us the 50 most common fish species to help us recognize those we'll see.

Fire sponge

Today we learned lots about macroalgae from Dr. Hanisak and explored some seagrass beds and coral reefs that helped us test our knowledge of macroalgae, coral, and fish. It was quite fun knowing what was what, and being able to identify things!

Different macroalgae species

Holy Batfish, Batman!

Beautiful blue water of the Keys

I am eager to explore more the remaining two days we have here. One of the highlights was seeing a 9-ft. nurse shark today swim underneath me at the last site of the day! My only hope is that we see many, many more sharks these next two days...