Halfway Point!

Welcome to Day 6 of a full day of adventuring from hiking in the mornings and snorkeling in the afternoons! On this bright and sunny Saturday, we first headed to East Beach this morning where sadly it is known for its excessive amount of trash along the coast. We were tasked with identifying five pieces of washed up trash which I included in my journal as a Parkay Butter Container, one Croc, a rope fishing net, a piece of clothing fabric, and a Bacardi Vodka glass bottle. We learned that trash from all over the world gets circulated into currents in the Atlantic Ocean that eventually makes its way to the Bahamian Islands and washes ashore. This day trip coordinated with the information we learned in our Marine Biology lecture the previous night about why currents are formed and how circulation is key to where trash ends up. In lecture, Dr. Weese explained that temperature and salinity affects the flow of the ocean water. If the temperature of the water is colder it becomes more dense, but if the temperature becomes warmer, the water becomes less dense. The amount of salt present in the ocean affects currents as well due to the fact that saltier water is more dense while non-salty water is less dense. The surface water is pulled in to replace the denser, colder, and saltier water that creates a cycle of deep ocean currents. There are various currents located in almost every body of water on the Earth.

In the afternoon, our group headed down to Manhead Cay, which I like to call Iguana Island. Our afternoon consisted of snorkeling to an island to see the different types of plants and iguanas that inhabit the lone island. The swim was a tad tedious due to stronger currents pushing against us on the way there, but they helped make our swim back a little easier. Once we got to the island, there was an iguana sunbathing on the rocks that had a length of about a foot and a reddish-brown color. It ran away once everyone started getting to the island and joined its mess (group of iguanas). Along the edge of the island coastline, we identified four-toothed nerite and beaded periwinkle snails that were positioned on the gray limestone rock. One of my favorite finds was a Sally Lightfoot Crab and Dr. Weese pointed out that you can identify the difference between a male and a female based on the width of its tail engraved in the shell. Overall, today was very exhausting, but worth it being able to see native animal species!