It’s always fun to compare the “after” group picture to the one at the start of this year’s class.  Some sunburns, some odd tan lines, and a lot of great smiles and friendships.

By the time this entry goes live on the blog, we will have (barring any travel hiccups) left the Caribbean and returned to the (much) less warm Northeast US.  If the 60F temperature drop isn’t enough to remind us that Tropical Marine Ecology has ended, we will definitely mess the energy and enthusiasm that this year’s class brought to Discovery Bay.  Having taught this class for more than 15 years, some of the things that happen here in Jamaica have become a bit routine for the instructors.  So it’s incredibly rewarding to see how excited these students are about being exposed to in situ marine science first hand.  Both of us spend a lot of time “in the field” for our research programs, but we too were once in awe by how amazing the undersea life in the ocean can be.  We’d like to thank this year’s class for a lot of great memories, some [ahem] interesting stories overheard on the bus, and for making our jobs here relatively easy.  Until next year…

• Profs Warren and Peterson