Today started off with pancakes and then we went into the water for a dive at Dancing Lady. While we were still at the surface, I finally saw a spotted eagle ray, which I have been keeping an eye out for since the beginning of the trip. During the 40 minutes underwater, we were all keeping an eye out for lionfish- an invasive species that has lots of negative impacts on the reef- and Dr. Warren brought his spear so we could collect them and hand them off to the kitchen to be cooked later

Dr. Warren has been spearing as many lionfish as we can find.

I also saw a black spotted nudibranch, which I had never seen before! Visibility was great, and it was nice to be able to relax under the waves, especially since our next dive will likely be focused on laying transects and gathering data for our research project.

Seeing this guy was a great way to start the dive.

We had planned for our lab practical to be after dinner, so I spent the late morning and early afternoon going over the lecture material, but after hearing it was postponed we were able to slow down and hang out in the sun looking out over the water. Then after an incredible dinner of jerk chicken, a small group of us ended our day with a night snorkel and we got to see a Caribbean reef octopus! Today was another amazing day at Discovery Bay Marine Lab and I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Definitely my favorite part of today’s night snorkel.

– Maddie