Sandwiches, Seawater, & Shortstop

 What is up lute fans?!

    Today started out with a great breakfast of pancakes and sausages. We loaded the truck and waited for what felt like years (30 minutes) for Cooper to get her toe bandaged. The no-see-ums were ruthless and tore the rest of the group up. Shoutout Mike for letting us take shelter in his air conditioned room. He gave Francine ozempic to help with the bites (it was actually Zyrtec she forgot the name… a girl can only dream). This next part goes out to Matt Smith as we met your doppelgänger from USD (see picture below). We finally left and drove to the farthest side of the island to French Bay where 2 groups were able to finish their data collections with the help of others. Flamin’ Hot Flamingo Tongues counted sea fans but weren’t able to find flamingo tongues :( and Rich Fish finished counting the diversity and abundance of fish on the reef. We then headed to Monument for a delicious field lunch of sandwiches and PB & J’s. Once we regained our energy we went for a swim, played freeze tag, and chicken fight (Zoe is horrible). Once we loaded the truck we headed back to Gerace for hot showers and much needed naps. For dinner we had pork and rice with a DELICIOUS side of yellow cake. After dinner we had our night class where we discussed the effects sponges have on coral recruitment. Now as we type this we’re getting ready to hit the convenience store and our saving grace, The Shortstop! 


Thanks for tuning in!

Sophia & Paola








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