16 Jan PM – Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming

Today we started off our day with a trip to Dunn's waterfall which was awesome, I’ve never felt so sure-footed in running water, but I guess that’s because they scrub the rocks so algae can’t form. The waterfalls were so picturesque; it was like looking at a postcard. Walking through freshwater was a refreshing change from the seawater we snorkel in everyday, refreshing as in does my laundry for me with the bathing suit I was wearing. I wish we had more time so that I could’ve gone up it more; I only got to climb it twice.

Dunne's group photo

We made it to the top!

Afterwards we went to Ochos Rios, where we were allowed to roam the town and pick up some souvenirs and have lunch. I had a burger, as a true American would, I couldn’t resist especially because I knew if I didn’t have it then I would be craving it until I got home. It was okay, definitely not up to Bobby’s Burgers or Five Guys standards, but it did the trick. After lunch we walked around the shops for a bit, very touristy, and then we walked over to the straw market. That was definitely an interesting experience to say the least. I’ve never been very good at haggling because I always feel too bad, but I think I did a pretty good job with getting away with some good deals, it’s funny how quickly they’ll lower their price to yours once you start to walk away. I kinda felt like vultures were attacking us as soon as we walked in. It was obvious that we were tourists and everyone wanted us to look in their tents, most of which had the exact same things in them but some were more willing to lower their prices than others. I spent too much time at the market though and forgot to get after bite for my 50+ mosquito bites, nobody seems to have as many issues with mosquitoes as I do, but by this point in my life I’m used to these stupid insects sucking out my sweet blood, hm maybe I should stop eating so many sweets…

Mosquito bites

Ooh yum, mosquitoes just love me too hard, unfortunately for them I don’t really reciprocate their love.

When we got back I took a nap, had dinner and then Breeanne and I worked on our research project, which has to do with sea urchins and the competition between the same species and the competition between 2 different species. We had to go out and night snorkel to get some algae to test their preference for food so we collected turf algae, green grape algae, dictoyta, and turtlegrass. We put one sea urchin per tank and 2.5 grams of algae of each kind per tank. In the morning we’ll see if there is a difference in the weight of the algae after feeding time (urchins are nocturnal feeders). Hopefully our experiment goes as planned (:

Tank

This is the tank set-up that we’re using, glass tank, a partition in the middle, and covering the tank with black siding stuff to emulate night time so that they feed quicker.

Urchins

These are our urchin buddies, from left to right Variegated sea urchin (2), and West Indian Sea Egg.

– Kaitlyn

2 thoughts on “16 Jan PM – Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming

  1. Very interesting. I love the way the sea urchins look. I know, looky but no touchy. I hope those little buggers didn’t like anything that you fed them and will stop being so happy eating everything in sight-not so lucky.
    Your legs look so pretty:)

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