We started off the day with a delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast, before quickly diving into our second lecture. Joe taught us the differing distribution and limiting factors of coral reefs, as well as their growth and formations. We took a quick break to take a tour from Scarlet around the grounds, all getting to experience [ed: go inside, but it wasn't turned on] the hyperbaric chamber without forking out $4,000. After getting all our information in, we were finally able to jump into the lagoon. A quick snorkel trip was followed by more lecture, then lunch. It was then Brad's turn to teach us about coral reefs, giving a very helpful lecture about how to never touch anything ever (or at least not the things that can sting us). We got to snorkel again in groups before a quick lecture from John and dinner. All total, we finished two snorkel trips and four lectures in one day, impressing ourselves with the amount of energy and learning we could fit into the hours. I don’t know about the others, but my room has in fact planned on an early night, and an early morning, to continue our time in Jamaica as well rested as possible!

Figure 1: Midday picture of the cove

Figure 2: Making friends with the local puffer fish 

– Tangerine Taylor

On Thursday 1/9/13 I spent the day taking in the new environment of Jamaica, specifically Discovery Bay. We started the day off with delicious breakfast with some of the most delicious fruits which led right into lecture. Afterwards we got a tour of the facility showing us the mangrove growth area and the hyperbaric chamber. The hyperbaric chamber was awesome yet frightening at the same time and we got to go inside of it. Then we got to go snorkeling in the lagoon. I saw corals and many times of fishes and plants. It was a really cool day!

The picture is of a territorial fish, defending his home in a sunken cinderblock.   

Salvatore Caldarello

Today was my first time snorkeling in Jamaican waters and my second time snorkeling in my lifetime. It was quite a thrill to say the least. It was incredible to learn about the marine life we do not get to acknowledge on a daily basis, especially for me since I am a Psychology major and do not learn about this world often. I witnessed the beautiful coral reefs swaying with the waves and several fish that I have never seen before. During lecture after my snorkel, I got the opportunity to learn about the various fish I came across in the water in order to be able to identify them throughout the next snorkel. As a class, we decided on groups that would work together to find items to contribute to their wet lab tank so that we can study these items further collaboratively. The Discovery Bay Marine Lab trip so far has proven to be one of the most riveting adventures I embarked in, and I am looking forward to learning more stimulating facts about the tropical waters.

 Classmates are getting ready to start their collections for their own wet lab tank.

I was curious as to what I looked like underwater.

Many sea cucumbers were found close to the bottom of the water. This one caught my eye because of its blue tint.  

– Farnaz

I'm sure the student's will be  posting lots more underwater photos shortly, but here are a few things from this morning's snorkel.

Right next to the dock area is large mangrove forest. When you try to take a half-in/half-out photo, sometimes things get a little blurry.  But the brown things below the green things in the "air-side" of the photo are mangrove prop roots which go down into the water.

When you go underwater, things come into a bit more focus. The prop roots serve as habitat for a variety of algae, bacterial mats, and (as seen above) thousands of small fish (probably silversides similar to what we have in the bays of Long Island back home).

Also in the mangrove area are a lot of dusky damselfish. These fish are territorial and will "charge" at you when you swim over their turf algae areas.  They are very small, but will occasionally bonk your facemask.

Stay tuned for student posts starting tomorrow.

Prof. Warren

The first student blog posts are due this evening (Jan 9th) and will be posted throughout the following day. But today, we get another faculty post while the students are figuring out what they're going to write about.  Breakfast was this morning and one of the true highlights of teaching this class (other than working with all the great students) is the giant urn of fresh, Blue Mountain coffee in the cafeteria in the morning. There's nothing better to start your day especially when you're going on a pre-breakfast dive (as some of us are doing tomorrow).

Yummm. Coffee.  Breakfast was also delicious (fresh pineapple and mango amongst other delights).

Then we continued our lectures with an introduction to coral reefs.  After that the DBML (Discovery Bay Marine Lab) Dive Safety Officer (Mr. Scarlett) gave a safety lecture, everybody filled out paperwork, and took a tour of the dive locker and waterfront.

The red tape that has to be dealt with before hitting the water.

And then we got in the water.  I'll refrain from mentioning that the water felt somewhat cool (as opposed to Great South Bay which was covered with ice when we flew out of JFK yesterday). We divided the students into groups and led them around the reef lagoon area where they got see ~ 100 different species of plants, invertebrates, and fish.  Now they just need to start learning the latin names of all those organisms!

Snorkelers popping out of the water for a photo. 

Prof. Warren

After a long day of travel and a pleasant 60F change in temperature, the 17 students and two instructors in the 2014 edition of Stony Brook University's MAR 388 Tropical Marine Ecology course have arrived at the Discovery Bay Marine Lab.  We just finished dinner and the first lecture has begun.  This is the "before" photo of the group upon arrival at the lab just after the sun set this evening.  After breakfast tomorrow, we'll be getting in the water and the students will start posting blog updates roughly 2-3 times a day. So please check in regularly, post comments (we LOVE parent comments on the blog!), and keep track of what's going on down here in the course.

Profs. Peterson and Warren

At the edge of the dock at the Discovery Bay Marine Lab, 7 hours and 60 degrees warmer than when we left NY.