Day 4 - Under the Sea

Last night's night hike meant a late arrival in Key Largo so everyone was sent quickly off to bed.  Wake up was at 7:00 giving everyone a chance to sleep in a bit.  We started today with a kayak trip through a mangrove forest and then after lunch took a boat out to the coral reef for our snorkeling adventure.  Another great day on the water!

John Penekamp Mangrove Forest ~ by: Jordann S.

Hiya family, friends, children, pets! I'm Jordann and I'll be writing about our adventure kayaking and "learning" about Mangroves!! I'll start with some spoiler alerts in case you don't feel like reading my whole written speech:
-we saw a manatee
-we saw red, white, and black mangroves
-we had a race in our kayaks
-I sat with Mrs. Sutterlin

Photo by Veronica S-P.

-we saw some upside down jellyfish

Photo by Veronica S-P.

Photo by Veronica S-P.

Photo by Veronica S-P.

Okay, so first we decided our partners! I sat with Mrs. Sutterlin a little intimidated because she was an obvious professional at kayaking. Then we met our leader Emily and she talked about safety and rules we should follow. She was super energetic and fun! Now, we are in the water passing through boat channels trying not to get hit (pretty successful being as we only lost two people... Just kidding we were all fine). What I learned about mangroves was that there are three different types; black, red, and white. They have these names because of the color their bark or roots turn when wet. The most common mangrove I saw was the red. Oh and Mrs. Sutterlin told me that there was a story spread that there is a sacrificial leaf on these plants.This means on every bunch of leaves there was one dead leaf. And the story goes as this: because it grows in salt water this leaf collected all of the filtered salt throughout the plant and "sacrificed" itself so the other leaves could live. But researchers found out this is not true at all. There is actually no known reason for this strange occurrence. More about mangroves is they create barriers for hurricanes, the provide protection for baby fish/ organisms, and act as natural filters.
Oh oh oh we saw a manatee in the mangrove river adventure!! It came out of no where and we followed it for 15 minutes! It was odd because Emily said manatees are usually not seen on these trips! I guess manatees are just naturally attracted to our group :)
To wrap up my blog post a couple people went for a swim while we had extra time to chill. After a little swim we headed back to the mainland and dragged our (heavy) kayaks on land.
Thanks for reading my blog post I hope it was enjoyable for you.
Farewell Ohioans... Farewell
~Jordann R. S.






Coral Reef Snorkel ~ by: Emma G. and Josh M.

Photo by Dakota M.

Photo by Veronica S-P.

Photo by Veronica S-P.

Photo by Dakota M.

Today we went to go see the Molasses coral reef. Coral reefs are important to Florida, because they act as a natural barrier for hurricanes. They also house millions of species some still believed to be undiscovered. Despite coral reefs being extremely important to the ecosystem people still do not fully understand how they work, and how to protect them. Along the coral are hundreds of polyps that have a symbiotic relationship with zooxanthellae (zoox) that live inside them. The Zoox photosynthesize which creates food for the Polyps. In return the Polyps provide shelter and access to sunlight. This structure allows for protection and food for other animals in the ecosystem. We arrived to investigate this mysterious ecosystem. We rode in the Sundiver III for thirty minuets arriving seemingly in the middle of the ocean surrounded by nothing but blue waters and coral. Upon jumping in we were greeted by hundreds of different species of fish. Just looking straight down under the boat we could see Sargent Majors (see right image) collecting under the shade of the boat. After some time in the water we were able to see the many different types of Parrot Fish eating at the rocks. Side note on Parrot Fish they eat Algae of the coral, and they poop out the bits of crushed coral which becomes our sand. We also had the luck of seeing two sea turtles and a stealthy Nurse Shark hiding under the coral and a reef shark (bottom image). We saw fire coral which gets its name from the fiery burning you feel when you touch the coral. Along with the fire coral we saw many others including Tube Coral, Brain Coral, Sea Fans, and much more. Just sitting on the surface we were able to see the balance of the relationships of the ecosystems as fish swam by and jellyfish floated along and coral provided shelter. With my personal experience (Emma), I found it to be extremely relaxing and stimulating at the same time. The warm water was clear as the fish moved methodically through the coral, but the extensive diversity in the fish was fascinating. I loved watching the parrot fish crunch at rocks and the schools of Sargent Majors moving in tune. I even saw fish fighting over territory as they pushed each other out of the area. My experience (Josh) was incredible. I was able to look at my feet as I was wading and fish were just swimming right along my legs. I also came very close to Great barracuda as well as a Nurse shark. I also did some diving down into the reef to be able to get a closer look at everything. While I dived I had to be very careful not to touch the coral. Any little scrape or bump could have damaged and possibly killed the coral. I was able to wittiness nature working right before my eyes. Everything we learned about this week to appreciate and protect I was able see and experience right before my eyes.