The dolphins were very playful and mouthy at each other today! Gizmo, Kami, and Sandy were jawing at each other several times with Ronnie joining in the session, too. Sandy and Gizmo also made lots of really weird noises. Sandy and Buzz also played head-to-head! We will have fun analyzing the video!
After breakfast, we spent the morning in the classroom learning about physiology from Shane. We learned about metabolism and exercise at the extremes. We had about an hour of “free” time before lunch. It was a sunny day and we enjoyed the climate!
Our afternoon brought us back to the classroom to review the morning’s video data and to practice our dolphin ID’ing. We are about 40% confident in the dolphins we can reliably ID from their scars and marks. We had time to return to our rooms to get our snorkel gear and prepare for a sea turtle lecture and then the night snorkel. The talk was excellent and we learned lots! And the night snorkel was spectacular! We were apprehensive about being in the water after dark but soon got over our fears when we saw three octopuses, lobster, puffer fish, cowfish, squirrel fish, and so many more critters! And, the night sky was brilliant!
Here are our impressions of the day!
Alyssa – I saw three octopuses during the night swim and one seemed to have caught a brittle star.
Eden – It was super cool having my first night snorkel be so cool and even better being with such cool people.
Noa – Although I was nervous about night snorkeling, it ended up being an amazing experience.
Camdyn – it was so pretty to watch the sun set while we were in the water for our snorkel.
Flora – as much as it was amazing to learn about all the different types of turtles, it was unfortunate to see how much humans are messing up the planet.
Catalina – it was interesting to learn about how animals survive in extreme environments.
Kayvon – Octopus!!
Michaela – It was super interesting hearing the turtle talk and learning about all the different conservation projects ongoing.
Annelise –I loved learning about turtle conservation and watching the stars from the snorkel boat.
MacKenzey – during our night snorkel, I found it exceptionally interesting how the lobster’s eyes reflected the night light.
Jade – although I was nervous for the night snorkel, I had a lot of fun seeing the different animals, especially the see-through fish.
Paige – I saw a new lizard today. It was Basilisk.
Don – the earth is 75% water. Divers live in a bigger world!
Manon – I’m glad everybody enjoyed the night snorkel.
Shane – Highly impressive performance by the students during the night snorkel.
From Kathleen: Happy Birthday, Hazel: our macro seabeagle is 1 year old today!
Until tomorrow,
CSU Double D’s