Our trek to Bailey’s key was smooth with a calm sea and an excellent ride from Captain Joel. The three cats greeted us as did a large sting ray (which was outside the main lagoon and not harassed by the dolphins!). Data collection was a success, despite the poor underwater visibility! We used two GoPros – one forward facing and one back facing.
The back facing GoPro needs a few tweaks on angle adjustment and not just from Buzz knocking it over! We also collected with the MVA camera and John set a few different attitudes for the drone. And we found a height of 300 ft that gives the most view of the main lagoon.
Today was the visit to Maya Key and we had a blast … you can see our smiles with the CSU Study Abroad flag on our way back from the day. But, on the key we had a great snorkel on the reef to the south and walked the island to see the Mayan ruins replica and the numerous rescued animals (pumas, parrots, peccary, sloth, monkeys and more).
Our afternoon was spent in the classroom for Dr. Kanatous’ talk on physiology, which he preceded with thoughts on life and the journey we all take. After his presentation, we practiced our dolphin IDs before a yummy dinner.
Daniel – I enjoyed snorkeling and seeing all the different fish.
Paige – I thought it was cool seeing the steep drop-off of the wall at our snorkel site today.
Gabby – I enjoyed seeing a barracuda for the first time in the water when I was snorkeling.
Maeley – I loved exploring Maya Key and seeing all the different rescued animals.
Bella – I enjoyed seeing the animals and I’m ready to sleep like the sloth.
Lauren – it was interesting to see the reef degradation. There was not a lot of living coral on the reef.
Eli – I enjoyed snorkeling in deep water.
Olivia – It was fun walking around the maya ruin replicas and I liked seeing the jewelry.
Holly – I enjoyed seeing both rescued peccaries.
Sara – feeling grateful to have seen such a beautiful reef. Thank you, Manon, for the second snorkel trip.
Madi – I enjoyed the physiology lecture and how it was more of a conversation and not y’all talking at me.
Traci – I really enjoyed snorkeling and seeing a pretty big sting ray from the shore at Bailey’s Key this morning.
Nick – It was cool seeing the crocodile and his spider friend (at Maya Key).
Manon – Very nice snorkel at Maya Key today. Hopefully we’ll have the same visibility tomorrow.
Bill – Fun in the sun with fish and furry critters.
John – Sparky made it back safely from another dangerous dolphin mission.
Shane – I was gonna compliment the drone footage until John’s statement.
Today was long and varied but also very good. We look forward to tomorrow’s data and more snokeling.
Cheers
CSU Rams Mother Flippers (MF-ers)
P.S. there is a ship sitting on the bottom in the shallow water to the side of Maya Key called the Sea Angel 1, which is for sale. We thought that was a cool name … hence our title for today!
