Today we woke to a beautiful day in Bocas del Toro, the birds singing in the trees and a troop of howler monkeys traveling along, some carrying little babies. Our fantastic chef Desuze provided us with three beautiful meals today, starting with eggs and toast. After we all ate, we got ready and headed to the docks to go on our first boat trip.
We slip into two boats named the Scarus (captained by Sabastian) and the Pavona (captained by Caito). We made three stops at three different reefs, the first being STRI Point. It's incredible how warm and clear the water is here the sea floor is beaming with life. There were mostly soft bottom plants such as turtle sea grass with the occasional coral at this location. Along with sponges of every color imaginable, from deep blue/purple to bright red fire sponges. The bottom was also dotted with huge black urchins the size of soccer balls. Small fish swam among the grass and corals, and a plethora of invertebrates, such as brittle stars, worms, and snails, decorated the floor and sponge. We also found a massive decomposed turtle shell and a whiptail stingray. After exploring, we all shimmied back to the boat and headed to our next destination.
Next, we went to Hospital Point, which was even more incredible than the last. This spot had many more corals of all kinds, anemones, and tons of fish. There were damsels, parrot fish, wrasses, butterfly fish, tangs, and much more swimming effortlessly past us as we explored the reef. We were also lucky enough to find a few Christmas tree tube worms ( my personal favorite :) ).
Our last stop was at Mangrove Point, where we got to get a little closer to the mangrove habitat that covers a large portion of the island's coast. Several rows of old pilings were located right on the edge of the mangroves and were covered in life much like all the other sights; sponges, corals, crabs, fish, etc. We only spent a short amount of time here, and some of us helped Richard collect mangrove tree roots to look at during lab later in the day.
After a delicious lunch, we all headed back to the lab. Richard gave a lecture about mangroves, teaching us more about what they are, how they survive in such a salty environment, and how they can form complex communities of organisms within them. We then took the roots we collected and tried to ID and count the number of species present on the roots. We found an abundance of oysters, sponges, and other invertebrates, giving us a sense of the diversity of life that use these roots. Before dinner, we had a chance to show one another the pictures we had taken out in the field today and share our individual discoveries with the class.
Finally, after dinner, we all returned to the lab for one last lecture about corals and coral reefs. Richard told us all about how different reefs have arisen over different time periods and the different corals we use to determine how coral reefs may have looked thousands of years ago and see how they have changed as a result of environmental changes such as sea level fluctuation.
Overall it has been an absolutely amazing day full of learning and exploring. It has only made me fall in love with the ocean even more. Can't wait to see what other discoveries we make in the coming days.
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