There are two definitives of the human psyche that exist outside the realm of age and ability. The first is the gnawing need to feel a sense of purpose or be useful. The second, one fewer people will admit to, is an undeniable urge to play. Although as we age, we are gradually tapered off the latter, the section of our brains devoted to it remains unchanged. We are simply socialized to ignore it. The activity that myself and my classmates participated in today was a rare one, in that it stimulated both of these.

In the early afternoon, with our stomachs still full of the day’s lunch, we were given an agenda. However, this agenda surpassed expectations when we were told its’ form: a scavenger hunt. The rules were simple. We were split into groups, given a sizeable list of aquatic organisms, told to take pictures (or when applicable, take the physical creature back to the nearby wet lab) and identify them. At the end, a winner would be selected, and a prize would be given. With that incentive in mind, we had a task to fulfill, our need to feel purposeful, which can often be intensified by the relaxed “island time,” was quickly being fulfilled. On the other hand, our often childlike nature was immersed in the game like setting and the competitive nature of it all. That being exemplified by the first question that echoed through the dining room, “What’s the prize?”

With no definitive answer in mind we headed down to the water where we spent the next hour collecting our data, diving down into the clear blue to get better shots of our organisms. Even though I emerged from the water freezing, I was also laughing. And I saw quickly that I was not the only one. As my group sat in the shade flipping through pictures and fish identification books there was a sense of unity that was unparalleled. We finished a mere five minutes before the deadline and quickly hurried off to our lecture.

When we presented our information, as the day turned softly to night, I knew for certain that this would be one of the memories I would handpick when I wanted to look back on this trip. Although I no longer cared who won the mysterious prize, I was given a chance to slip back into feelings that I, and I am sure many of my classmates, have missed out on for too long a time.

Study abroad programs are characterized as an opportunity for the monotony that has become higher education to be challenged, if only by a change of scenery. Although Jamaica has provided its setting as a beautiful backdrop, my classmates and I have discovered in situations such as these, the setting is equally as important as the ability to convey information in a way that speaks to us all, to our most basic levels of humanity, to the children that we have been, and the adults we are, and will continue to be.

The early morning sunrise the next day provides a perfect opportunity for similar forms of self-reflection.

-Gillian (Grape)

The DITs (divers in training) can finally call themselves certified divers. We woke up at the crack of dawn to embark on our last portion of the open water dive test. The previous morning, we put our skills to the test to prove we were capable of completing essential dive procedures. Today’s dives would give us confidence in venturing out on our own aquatic adventures. The dive instructors, Mr. Trench and Mr. Oneil, were pumped to get us out on the water to explore Eco-Reef.

As we slowly descended to the depth of 60ft for the first time I spotted a Sand Diver. He tried to remain completely motionless as he watched the ten of us loom over him. The sand diver’s labored “breathing” was an indicator he was feeling quite uncomfortable with all of the attention. I can’t blame him, we should have told him we were dropping by.

Photo of the Sand Diver (Synodus intermedius).

We all succeeded in completing our certification and took a group photo at one of our safety stops. It was quite difficult to balance ourselves to stay still long enough for a photo. We must of looked like a bunch of teetering bowling pins. I am excited to encounter more tropical creatures on future SCUBA dives and put my certification to good use.

Group photo of the DITs taken by O’Neil.

-Siobhan

Today us DIT’s (Divers in Training) finally completed our PADI Open Water Certifications! The morning began with another sunrise at 6am, and training and tests at 6:30. This morning consisted of our third and fourth dives to 60 and 40 feet, respectively. All went well, and we came back to shore water logged and proud.

As great as the bottom floor is, so is the reef itself. Later in the day, some of the class ventured to the reef barrier for a look. Tropical reefs are hotspots for biodiversity all over the planet, harboring life from microscopic algae to hammerhead sharks. After diving with air, it was time to start free-diving… And take some really amazing pictures! All thanks to the reef itself of course.

Exploring the outer reef of Discovery Bay!

The reef was covered in fish of all shapes and sizes, as well as algae, sea urchins (Diadema antillarum), numerous corals, as well as a friendly balloonfish (Diodon holocanthus). I have grown up in a family of fisherman and divers, but never have I had the opportunity to see such a diverse reef. It really is amazing to see a few of the things this ecosystem has to offer up close and in person, like octopi and sea turtles. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the week has to bring!

-“Starfruit” Sascha

Hello from Discovery Bay Jamaica! Yesterday on the 9th I was officially SCUBA certified and able to fully explore the underwater world. My first breath underwater in the ocean was truly “breath taking.” It’s hard to describe the actual feeling, but it is almost as if you feel like you are an astronaut in outer space. Both the equipment needed to remain underwater and not having -the best- control over my body and buoyancy, really did make me feel like I was not on Earth anymore even at 60 feet below the surface. Although I greatly enjoy snorkeling, something about the ability to remain at a location and not have to surface for breath is very convenient.

Red mangrove roots (Rhizophora stylosa) that are unique to the plant with algae growing on them among many other various organisms.

Aside from being certified, my favorite experience thus far was snorkeling in the mangroves. To the left of the docks there are red mangroves and corals and the diversity in them is astounding. Learning as I go, I realized it’s much better to explore in small groups – just me and a partner- so there are not so many disturbances in the sediment and fish aren’t frightened. Because the water is so shallow it is difficult to navigate but after some practice I was able to really explore and venture over corals and through narrow coral pathways. I went into an area that I was able to see cave/tunnel like structures and found both a juvenile and parent blue tang swimming together! I am looking forward to exploring the reef and mangroves again on my remaining days.

Both adult (blue) and juvenile (yellow) blue tangs (Acanthurus coeruleus) with other various reef fishes. It is interesting how the bright yellow juveniles change to be a deep blue in adulthood, which is a common example of many reef fishes change through adulthood.

Kayla

My exhaustion from both morning and afternoon dive training, lectures, meetings, and snorkeling finally hit me last night, but the species of sea life that I have been able to observe these past few days on my adventures to the lagoon, down to the blue hole, and the Eco-Reef were priceless. I was extremely horrified about diving yesterday because I had some trouble finishing my training and after breaking a part of my snorkel, my fin, and scratching part of my eye on a tree. Thus, I thought my first open water dive would end in either vomiting, nausea, or death. I’m not the best swimmer so I prepared myself the night before by refreshing my memory with the PADI dive training videos, but even then, I was extremely nervous. Luckily, I had the best roommates, dive buddies, and instructors to make me feel more comfortable on my dive yesterday morning.

Yesterday at 6:30am was the first open water dive for all the “DITS” or what Professors Warren and Peterson call “Divers in Training”. All eight of us woke up yesterday at 6am and we all made our way to the dock to gather our BCDs, Regulators, Air Tanks, and scuba gear while we watched the sunrise. After our gear was all set up, we walked to the picnic tables to go over a lesson on the hand signals and tasks we would be performing under water for open water dive #1. Then we finally made our way to the two boats which would take us to Eco-Reef, but unfortunately one of the boats wasn’t working so we all shoved into one boat which delayed our trip. Once we finally all got onto the boat, we took off with the sun beaming on us around 7:40am. The gorgeous scenery of aqua/green colored water was breathtaking and got my mind off the fact that I would be diving into the ocean at 45 feet doing exercises that I struggled with in a 6ft pool during dive training. After jumping into the water at 8:10am, we did some exercises above the water and then again around 10 feet under water before slowly progressing to 45 feet down the reef. It was difficult focusing on my surroundings while trying to master the exercises, but I did see some awesome corals and fish that I had not seen snorkeling. After getting down to 45 feet, it didn’t feel as deep as I had thought and my only issues were clearing water out of my mask, equalizing the pressure from my ears, and controlling my breathing so that I would not float back up to the surface (at one point I ended back up to the water surface because I was breathing too quickly and had separated from the group). I was proud of all of us “DITS” for surviving our first dive today and doing so well. After our first dive finished at 8:45 am, we rushed to breakfast and then quickly jumped back in the water for open water dive #2. We were definitely more confident the second time around and were able to focus on the sea life more; some of us touched sea cucumbers and a couple of other students accidentally got close to a stingray and saw angel fish.

The sea cucumber we had learned was Hollothuria mexicana.

After our final dive for the day, we headed back for a quick lunch then lecture where we had our first quiz. Then we had a couple of hours to study or snorkel before out next quiz and lecture. I had been extremely busy these past couple of days with dive training on top of our other activities, so I decided to spend my free time catching up on lectures to cram for our first quiz right beside the water.

The view I had while studying.

Finally, to end the day, we enjoyed fish, chicken, salad, and ribs for dinner before our final meeting to fuel us for today for our open water dive #3 and #4 which we will be completing today at 6:30 am again. I hope all goes well today because we will all finally be certified!

Name: Sydney
Fave Food: Pizza

As we’ve learned in class, corals are very important for building habitats for numerous species. This makes them very valuable to an ecosystem. One of the many contributing factors to this reef building process is a very important mutualistic relationship that coral has with zooxanthellae, an endosymbiotic phytoplankton. Coral are living organisms that have hundreds of corallites which contain polyps that obtain food via suspension feeding. Zooxanthellae reside within the corallites of lucky corals. Through this relationship, zooxanthellae receive shelter and nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus from the coral which help to efficiently photosynthesize. In return, coral receive a local oxygen supply, which is important in maintaining and growing its exoskeleton, carbon, and amino acids.

It has been shown that corals possessing zooxanthellae grow faster and are much healthier. However, when corals experience temperature stress, they expel their zooxanthellae. This phenomenon is called coral bleaching. When this happens, corals grow much slower, are unhealthier, and many times do not survive. Due to climate change, coral bleaching events are occurring more frequently and are having disastrous effects on ecosystems. These problems must be ­­­­­­­­addressed and mitigated immediately.

This is a photo of staghorn coral, a branching coral which possesses zooxanthellae. This photo was taken by me.

Hello from Jamaica! The weather today was a nice 80 degrees and it’s been a much needed break from the cold, muggy weather in Buffalo, NY. This has been an amazing experience so far, especially since it’s my first time outside of the United States.

Shoreline at Discovery Bay Marine Lab

Today was also my first time snorkeling. At first, it was a pretty daunting experience being under the water yet still able to breathe, but after an hour it turned out to be the experience of a lifetime. One of the best parts about snorkeling is the ability to pick up certain wildlife and hold it in your hands. Today I held a Variegated Sea Urchin which is also known by its scientific name as Lytechinus variegatus. I was so scared that I was going to get stuck with the barbs, but after holding it the urchin just rolled across my hands and tickled me. I can’t wait to see what else I encounter on our stay. Keep tuned!

My first time snorkeling!

– Andrew

Snorkeling is the absolute best in the early morning. Since we were all up for breakfast at 7:30, going out to snorkel at 8:30 was no big deal. By 9:45 it felt like midafternoon and we were all still full from breakfast with tons of energy and motivation to identify and spot marine life. Due to the fact that we all were in the water well before 9:00, we were able to see many more fish of all different varieties. This included coral, eels, puffer fish, barracuda, needlefish, jellyfish, and sea stars! Our lecture of that same day included some initial identifications of marine hazards in the water to be aware of. This included many scientific identifications of certain marine plants, invertebrates, and fish. That being said, during our morning snorkel we actually saw phylum porifera, Cassiopea frondosa, Polyplacophora, Strombus gigas, Linckia guildingii, Ophiocoma paucingranulata, Diadema antillarum, and Holothurian mexicana.

Fay holding a sea star and a sea urchin. Also known as a linckia guildingii and a tripneustes ventricosus.

The complexity of these scientific names is definitely one aspect of this study abroad that will be of specific challenge to me. In fact, as a group of us were studying these scientific identification names, it almost sounded as if we were casting spells. It is reassuring that all of us on this trip are in the same boat and therefore each have about 18 other students to help each other study. Part of the cooperative studying today included a small group of us heading out to the water. While by the docks some people went in the water and others stayed on land. People in the water were responsible for spotting fish, giving a description of the fish to people on land, and the people on land were responsible for identifying and providing the common and scientific name of the specific organism. This was a very useful studying method because we were able to enjoy the water and the weather while also learning about the things we were seeing. I look forward to continuing the learning here, and I know I will need all the time possible to practice these complicated, “Harry-Potter-esq” names.

– Fay

So far, it has been an adventure here at Discovery Bay Marine Lab, Jamaica. From arriving and seeing the sites, to finding a Crested Gecko in our bathroom, already this experience has been unforgettable. Today, we started what we all had been waiting to do since arriving on the island: snorkeling. With our class, we finally entered the water to see all the marine life located here. After, a couple of my friends and I went out by ourselves for the first time since we were so excited. This second trip was exhilarating as it was the first time in the water on our own, within bounds and regulations of course.

Me with the Cushion Sea Star at the end of our adventure. Credit to Siobhan. 4:00 pm 1-7-19

During this snorkel, we found a few fun organisms, including a Queen Conch, Strombus gigas, and a Cushion Sea Star, Oreaster reticalatus, towards the end of our swim. Holding the sea star in my hand and feeling its tube feet on my hand was incredible. Although these are ‘typical’ organisms one would think of when searching the waters of a tropical island like Jamaica, finding these animals and holding them in our hands was such an amazing experience and it definitely made me excited for the next two weeks.

-Ann Marie

So far on this lovely Study Abroad Trip, I am having quite the experience here in Discovery Bay Marine Lab. I have as of this writing been in the water a grand total of three times, and that number is sure to increase by the day. I have had wonderful experiences with my new friends here, and have seen many wonderful creatures in the ocean. However, there seems to be just one problem: my mask keeps fogging up, more often than it usually does. This seems to be every time I clean it once it leaks underwater, and this leads to me not being able to see much for a solid few minutes. This even prevented me from getting a more than decent look at a juvenile Spotted eagle ray on my checkout dive yesterday morning! I did see it for maybe a few seconds, but it is quite unfortunate I didn’t see it any more. I will look into what I can do with the mask today and tomorrow when I inevitably go out into the ocean to have even more fun!

A visual representation of the inside of my mask at times.

Andrew (Asparagus)