What Happens in the Cave Stays in the Cave

Bright and early, our alarms went off at 5:45 am to walk the half mile to Grahams’ Harbor to watch the sunrise. The view was fantastic, and a great way to start our day.

After a delicious breakfast of French toast, bacon, and oatmeal, we loaded into the back of the truck for our daily adventure. Our first stop was at Dixon Hill Lighthouse where we climbed up a steep spiral staircase to reach the top, about 160 feet up in the air. We were given a short lesson on the historic oil mechanisms and weights that helped the lighthouse function. After all of us had a turn admiring the view from the top, we came down to inspect the millipedes that were crawling on the stairs and sign the guest book. While hanging out at the base of the lighthouse, a friendly dog approached us and was excited for pets and playtime. We decided to name the dog Mikey Junior, after our fearless leader Mike. In the process of playing with Mikey J, he ended up stealing the human Mike's hat! 

Following our stop at the lighthouse, we made our way to the Lighthouse Cave, followed by our new friend Mikey Junior. After descending a very structurally sound ladder, we found ourselves in the main cavern of the cave. It was very humid in the cave system, which made most of us thankful for the cool water we were wading in (key word “most”: some of us were just cold). After dodging the vast majority of the stalactites and hitting our heads on only a few, we made it to the main passage leading further back into cavern we were heading towards. Since it was low tide, the water never got higher than most people’s chests (lower if you’re Julian). After a few twists and turns we arrived at the end cavern for a group picture. We also had a moment where we turned off our headlamps to appreciate total darkness and near-total silence. It truly was only a moment though- it’s hard to keep this group quiet for long! After a light show from Jordan’s new headlamp on the cavern walls, we were ready to return to Gerace. 

Upon our return from the cave excursion, we had lunch and some of us headed to the beach for some relaxation and fun. After some reading and sunbathing, we headed into the water for an increasingly-competitive game of monkey in the middle with a frisbee Jacob brought. Miraculously, none of us got sunburns despite staying in the water hours after our high SPF sunscreen wore off. 

After returning from the beach, we got in line for dinner and excitedly waited for spaghetti, meat sauce, and breadsticks. In class this evening, we analyzed the data that was collected yesterday at the fossil reef and found that there was no significant difference in coral diversity between the varying high and low points where our quadrats were placed. We also discussed our upcoming research projects, and most of us are about ready to start making procedures to collect our own data!

The main takeaway from today’s fun and relaxing activities is this: what happens in the cave, stays in the cave. 

Wishing you the best,

Sarah and Chloe