It is so crazy that we have already reached the end of day 5 here in Jamaica! We have been super busy, and the days are just flying by. Day 5 was jam-packed with snorkeling, a scavenger hunt, learning about our new transect project and studying for the ID exam on Wednesday. In the morning, ¾ of my roomies (Jello Jordyn, Hamburger Hannah, and Kiwi Kiyanni) and I went out snorkeling with the goal to interact with the environment more! We touched a donkey dung sea cucumber (Holothuria mexicana), a beaded sea cucumber (Evapta lappa), a west Indian sea egg urchin (Tripneustes ventricosus) and some giant anemones (Condylactis gigantea). It was so cool to feel some of the features these organisms have evolved to have, like the tube feet of the sea urchin.

A picture of me holding a west Indian sea egg urchin! So cool.

After snorkeling freely, we met the class at the dock and were told all the types of organisms we needed to find for our scavenger hunt, including echinoderms, cnidaria (coral and noncoral), algae, sea grass and mollusks as a bonus! My ID group (Kiwi Kiyanni, Avocado Ariana, Guava Gabriela) and I took around an hour but found pretty much everything, including a mollusk, the king helmet snail (Cassis tuberosa). The scavenger hunt was such a great way to practice our IDing skills, as well as remembering the organisms belonging to each phylum. This was much needed since our exams are coming up, so wish us luck!

We are all beyond excited for what’s left to come on this trip, so make sure to keep following along on the blog 

• Lime Liana