Tropical Marine Ecology - San Salvador, Bahamas

Exam and flight day! Our last day on campus for the month of January started with our first and only exam for Tropical Marine Ecology! We all arrived just before 11 am and collaborated on the knowledge or lack of knowledge on the lectures. Mike graciously allowed us 7 minutes to crowd together and talk about the exam questions and start to answer them. We rapidly fired off possible answers and crossed our fingers we would remember them. After about 12 pm, we were all finished and did a MASSIVE debrief in the rieke hallway. Some of us were satisfied and some were frustrated. Mike will decide our fate with his classic purple pen on our flights to San Salvador! After our treacherous exam this morning, all students and staff finished last minute packing. Mike urged us to take covid tests, and all were negative! We met at the American Airlines area and trekked through check in, luggage, and security together. All went incredibly smoothly! We now sit at the terminal D9—chatting, playing game...

  Monday Day one!! We gathered for the first time as a class in Rieke where we looked at photos from past trips (stirring up excitement and some nerves), talked about logistics, and went over some basic information regarding marine environments and the basics of ecology. We answered questions like how the ocean is different from terrestrial environments (plot twist: it’s more than just one has water!), what are coral reefs (different than coral reef communities!), and how abiotic factors affect marine communities. The class was also convinced to take the exam before leaving so study plans were made and procrastinators began to panic. After the lecture, we got a few hours of break, then headed to the pool for snorkeling practice. We all tried on our gear, practiced swimming with our snorkels and fins, and diving down to the bottom of the pool. Class snorkeling practice in the pool! Tuesday Mike began the day by spending nearly a full hour showing us pictures from previous years and ...