Day 11: Crunch Time

Today is Day 11 of our time here in Bocas, nearing our travel home on the 19th. With the end of our snorkel trips yesterday, teams have spent most of today finalizing graphs and posters for the presentations tonight. There was a quick break for lunch of baked chicken, pimento rice, and assorted vegetables by Desuze. One of the highlights of this trip, as seen by past entries, is his cooking. One of my favorite dishes he makes is the fried plantains. They will certainly be missed. Theres not a whole lot of action here at the station to report but below are a couple images of teams hard at work editing and revising before presenting.  

Luuan of the Sea (Luke and Owen)

The Urchinators (Hannah and Bennett)

Today during some needed breaks from projects, some people encountered more fauna of Bocas and were kind enough to take photos. It is always interesting to walk around the STRI facility to see what you can encounter. 

Caiman seen by Bennett

Cool Boa
found by Maya S. and Owen

The focus of the day was certainly Posters. Everyone put in lots of time and effort and it truly shows.

The Brittle Boys

Lainie and Alex focused on mechanical and chemical defenses of brittle stars of the region

The Rhiz Lads

Hannah L and Elle focused on how wave action impacts oyster communities growing on mangrove roots 

The Urchinators 

Hannah J and Bennett focused on urchins "hatting" behavior in order to protect themselves from UV

Luuan of the Sea

Luke and Owen focused on life found on coral rubble in exposed and unexposed sites 

Funky Roots

Randi and Maya focused on on the differences in composition of mangrove roots in inner and outer mangrove sites

Le Pez Hermanos

Fox, Jack, and myself focused on the territorial composition and behavior of two different species of reef damselfish

Many students got feedback of what to improve on their posters and will use tomorrow to adjust before turning in the final copy. With the trip coming to an end, we start packing and reflect on our time here. It has been quite the experience learning how to conduct individual research and as Richard pointed out "its all about the journey". Getting to explore the Panamanian waters and be immersed in a world of marine biology has been a treat. I think we will all look back at the photos we have taken here and have fond memories. To all that read this, I highly recommend getting to travel to Bocas to see what it has to offer. 

-Jackson