Foxtrot 1 & Sierra 1 Day 14: Fish Physiology & Mangrove Conservation
Written by Foxtrot/Sierra mate, Emily Graf
July 7, 2017
Today, we got to sleep in a little until 8a.m. and woke up and made a yummy hot breakfast of pancakes. We ate our breakfast quickly so that we could get to the shops to buy souvenirs for our friends, family and loved ones and some neat things for ourselves of course, too. After some shop time, we did a great de-docking and headed to Great Dog island.
When we got to Great Dog, we had a marine biology lesson on Fish Physiology. We learned how to identify the various species of fish that call the Caribbean their home, and after, we jumped in the water and snorkeled at a site called the Chimney. We did fish diversity surveys and collected data on what types of fish were in the area and how many there were. Then we made some meaty and veggie sandwiches for lunch and got back on our way.
We happily got our sails up and set our sails for the North Sound for the evening. We sailed past Mosquito Island and Necker Island, Richard Branson’s Islands, on our way! We grabbed a mooring ball at Saba Rock. Once we were on the ball, we swam to shore at Prickly Pear Island, which was right next to Saba Rock. We sat attentively for a lesson about mangroves and how important they are for our ecosystems on land and in the ocean. Then we did a trash pick up to help clean the mangroves.
Once we were done with the trash clean up, we headed back to our boats and had some time to relax, swim around, and dive off the back of the boat. We made some burritos for dinner, cleaned up the boat and headed to Saba Rock for a social on shore. We all got frozen drinks or sodas and hung out for a while, laughing and enjoying ourselves among such close friends. Then, we headed back to our boats had a nice boat meeting and headed to bed for another sleep under the stars.
