Transects, transects, transects (SCIENCE!)

Friday was probably the only day we actually did some legit science the whole week! We got up bright and early for a reef transect at Tia’ia, which is near the (evil) golf course. Our students were bright eyed and busytailed, and I think a lot of them enjoyed seeing the sunrise on the ocean!

We got to work right away, surveying the flora and fauna along the reef and the shallow lagoon.

It was really fun in the middle where the current was so strong that us short statured types couldn’t really hold on. Jere (pictured) and Pat sure had fun snorkeling around and helping identify corals and algae and snails!

In the afternoon we did a stream transect, which was considerably less, uh, aesthetically appealing. Many of our students were less than thrilled about the murky water, and even asked ‘is this a practical joke?!’. Indeed, no, it was not a practical joke, but an exercise in the realities of fieldwork. Did you think this was all going to be pretty snorkeling? It might also involve some mud snorkeling! Katie sure seems down for some mud snorkel!

As we drove further up to the more clear and open waters, enthusiasm grew, and we were quit thrilled to find a few eels amongst the creepy crawlers we collected. There were definitely some attempts to catch the real big ones, but they managed to elude the students.

All-in-all, a great day in the field, doing some real SCIENCE!