Attack of the Waves

We started the day off with some yummy bagels for breakfast and hopped in our favorite truck Y at 8:30 sharp! (More like 8:30ish). Today we headed to French Bay for our first snorkel in four days following a bout of windy weather, which is not synonymous with being out on the water. French Bay sported some chilly water (78*F, chilly) and some shallow patch reefs surrounded by seagrass. 

Since seagrass serves as a nursery habitat, we saw lots of juvenile fishes, but also some cool adults! Including but not limited to: a terminal phase Slippery Dick, Nassau Grouper, and an octopus, along with lots of surgeonfish and blue headed wrasse. We then took a break to transfer notes into our field notebooks, while soaking up the sun. 



Once our stomachs started growling, we packed up our field lunch and headed over to the Grotto, promised by Mike to be a prime time lunch spot. We snacked and looked at the large waves crash on the shore, which some people thought looked fun, while others were content to just look. A good chunk of the class ventured out into the waves, only to be reminded of the power of the ocean, by being washed ashore and left with sandy bottoms. RIP our sunglasses that were lost to the waves.



Tuckered out (and some left with wounded pride) we packed up our gear and headed off to trusty Wendy’s for some well deserved ice cream. While listening to the locals play slam domino, we were delighted to learn that the barge had brought in some new flavors including pistachio and butter pecan. 



By some miracle, after 6 hours in the field today, none of us were burned too badly. We rinsed the sand from our bottoms and lined up for a delicious dinner of chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy (yes we ate our vegetables), finished up with a delicious berry jam dessert bars. 


We met in class in the evening after a quick post dinner nap to discuss the decline of urchins and coral abundance around Jamaica and discussed problematic urchin aquaculture. Planning for our proposal project data collection went on for a bit, until we were all satisfied with our plans for tomorrow. With a quick stop at the snack shack on our way to the dorms, we tumble into bed, dreams of data collection in our heads. 


-Julian, Liz, Amy.


Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 17, 2023 at 7:19 PM

    Awww what a lovely day! thanks so much for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 17, 2023 at 8:14 PM

    Yay for being able to snorkel again. And yay for Wendy's! Nothing better than ice cream on a warm day.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2023 at 6:21 AM

    It’s amazing the power of the waves- hope you all had done replacement shades . The sun saps lots of energy out of u -stay hydrated!!! Wear that sunscreen! Love your descriptions!!! All of us here are so jealous of all your learning.,

    ReplyDelete

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