I am happy to report that my body’s thermoregulation system has finally adjusted to the abrupt change in temperature and humidity from New York to Jamaica. But I don’t think my hair will ever get the memo, apologies to everyone who has to see it over the next 11 days, the frizz factor is HIGH. My wild hair and new found friends headed off on our newest adventure bright and early today with our first open water dive, the next necessary step in our open water diver certification training! Our instructors (Camilo and Snow) ran us through skills that we had previously learned in our pool dive sessions. As my brothers know, all too well, I am completely and absolutely terrified of kayaking in any amount of water (most recently screaming that I was going to be swept out to sea in 3 inches of water and not on the ocean) but I was ready, willing, and able to dive 42 feet under the ocean’s surface without hesitation. Experiencing the ocean in such a new way has been dream come true. On our dives I held a sea cucumber (potentially identified using a Reef Creature Identification book as the Harlequin Sea Cucumber or Holothuria grisea). It was much softer and squishier than I expected, its little tube feet on its underside suctioned to my hand with surprising force, and its cone-shaped papillae (“spikes” on its body) were smoother to the touch than I had thought they would be. On our second dive our dive instructor removed an empty mesh concrete bag from one of the artificial reef structures and I picked up a banana chip bag to throw away. Keep your garbage out of the ocean people!

When we arrived back from our dive training, I nearly fell over carrying my gear it’s so heavy, still trying to find my sea legs I suppose. But alas, I made it. Lecture followed diving, and snorkeling followed lunch and lecture. The food is always delicious! My snorkel buddies were Ashley and Daeyla today, we stayed primarily around the mangroves and rocks since the current was a little strong. After searching through the sea grass for a while I stumbled upon a huge Queen Conch (Strombus gigas)

and a little tiny crab found under a rock

We have been instructed to over turn rocks (replacing them when done) and I seem to be having trouble just finding a rock to begin with…I’ll get it soon enough along with the true identity of said crab, don’t worry. Lots and lots of names of critters big, small, and smaller to learn and attempt to collect for wet lab observations! Wish us luck, these creatures either move fast, hide well, or look alike!

Sincerely,
Lobster Lucy
(NOT an indication of my skin’s exposure to UVA and UVB rays)

The past few days here have been amazing. We were lucky enough to get in the water and snorkel our second day here and I was amazed by the beauty that I was faced with. I unfortunately don’t have an underwater camera but the things that I am face to face with are unbelievable. Today, a few of us “DITS” (divers in training) went out for our first open water dive. After scuba diving on our own in the Bay and having some entertaining lectures about the local populations, sponges, corals, and other cool organisms, we were all looking forward to going on our first dive. We went down about forty feet, completed some skills, and did a brief underwater tour when we were done. We saw fire coral (not fun to touch), butterfly fish, and tiny jellyfish! The Tripneustes ventricosus (West Indian Sea Egg) are pretty common here but they are my favorite organisms so far. I love how they can sit on your hands and you can see their projection spines move all around. The only thing better than diving in Discovery Bay is probably the food, shoutout to Ms. Precious and the rest of the galley crew for never making a disappointing meal.

Dragonfruit Daeyla

Today marks the first full day of the course, and with it came our first two snorkeling trips in the bay. The first trip was taken following a short introduction to what organisms we should avoid touching while in the water, and during the swim we split into three groups each led by one of the professors. During this first outing, we were introduced to the different locations and zones of the reef and bay, and we were able to take our first observations on the marine life in the area. The highlights that I saw while on this swim include a ray and an eel. I have not yet been able to determine which species they are specifically, but I plan on being able to identify which each is soon.

Following the intro dive, we had a lecture, lunch, and then a shortened introduction to the wet lab. We were then given our groups for the presentations and released to take observations on our own for the afternoon. During this trip I found how difficult it can be to take photos of fish, with one example being a barracuda that while I was able to see I was unable to take a clear photo of. As for what I was able to capture, in addition to a lot of sessile organisms like anemones and sponges, I was able to take a picture of a polychaete that based off this morning’s mini lecture on dangerous organisms I would assume is a fireworm. [Ed: Yes, it’s a fireworm!]

Overall I really enjoyed the snorkel trips, and am looking forward to tomorrow. In particular I am excited for the open water certification dives I and the other not yet certified divers will be taking.

John

Hi hi! This is Mango (real name will be listed down below). The past couple of days have been a change. My group and I flew out from stormy New York to arrive in a very sunny Montego Bay. Afterwards, we took a bus from the airport to Discovery Bay Marine Lab (abbreviated DBML). Upon arrival at DBML, I saw cats that I shouldn’t have pet, but I still petted them (don’t worry, I washed my hands and disinfected myself afterwards). After that, we had dinner and then a mini orientation in the classroom. By the end of the day, we were all exhausted and hurried to bed!

The next day, January 5, would be the first time I’ve ever been snorkeling. I, being a very inexperienced swimmer (the most I could generally do is float), was struggling to just keep up with the snorkel tour next to DBML. So, I was recommended by Professor Peterson to stay right next to the coast to get comfortable with snorkeling and just being in the water. I feel like that really helped a lot. By the second snorkel that day, I was able to go out 15 meters away from the coast—which was such a vast improvement compared to the beginning when I was struggling to just swim a few paces. After getting out of the water for the second snorkel, I took off my wetsuit and lo and behold: one of the worst tan lines I’ve ever had in my life! To future students of this program, make sure to keep reapplying sunscreen! One layer is not enough!

After looking dreadfully at my legs, I decided to cheer myself up by warming myself on the dock in the sun. As I watched over the bay, people started to come back from snorkeling, and I asked everyone how their time was. Salad (Sandra) ended up bringing back a tiny crab that was green with hairy legs and smooth claws. After some research, I found out it was the green clinging crab (scientific name: Mithraculus sculptus)! The crab was really easy and fun to play with; I would flip it on its back, and it would just roll on to its front and walk around my hand. To not stress it out too much, I quickly put it back into its bucket where it will reside for a short while to be observed.

I will say, I’ve already had a tough time here. I had leg cramps the whole first day from sitting on the cold plane for six hours; I couldn’t fall asleep until 2AM due to the heat on the first night; I had trouble with learning how to properly swim and snorkel for the first time; I have to be up for breakfast by 7:30AM (I normally sleep in until 12PM so this is a change for me). But at the end of the second day, as I’m writing this blog post, I’m glad I went through all of that and expanded my horizons. I will have more unprecedented challenges in the upcoming couple of weeks, but I already know in my second day here, that this was (and will be) all worth it in the end.

-Michelle

It’s tough to leave the cold and rain of New York, but a brave group of students (and much less brave instructors) have risen to the challenge of tackling a 4 credit lab course in the tropical environment of Discovery Bay, Jamaica.

The students are on their second snorkel of the day and have begun the process of learning the names of the myriad of plants, invertebrates, and fish on the reef which is conveniently located about 100 meters from where they eat and sleep. Check back for multiple updates every day written by the students.

Prof Warren

We’re having two informational meetings about our winter-term travel course to Jamaica in January 2020. They are:

Tuesday – Oct 8th – 5pm – Marine Station 215 at Southampton Campus

Wednesday – Oct 9th – 5pm – Endeavor 113 at Stony Brook Main Campus

If you can’t make either meeting, please email bradley.peterson@stonybrook.edu for more information.

By the time this blog posts, all of the students and instructors will have left Discovery Bay Marine Lab, our home away from home for the past two weeks. Prof. Peterson and myself would sincerely like to thank the staff and personnel of DBML for facilitating our experience here. We come back here every year because it’s a great place to run a course and we’ve developed good friendships here. Last year was the 50th anniversary of Discovery Bay Marine Lab (which interestingly enough was established (in part) by a scientist from Stony Brook University – Dr. Thomas Goreau !), and the Adminstration of DBML presented our group with a plaque celebrating our more than 10 year relationship of running the course here.

But even more importantly, Brad and myself would like to thank the students of the 2019 MAR 388 course for joining us in Jamaica to spend a lot of time underwater, learning lots of common and latin names, seeing how field science works (or sometimes doesn’t work), and learning more about each other’s lives. There’s been a little bit of rain and a lot of sunshine (both meteorologically and emotionally), but I think I can speak for all of us when I say, we’re not quite ready to leave Jamaica yet. Most of us also need to try to find where we stashed our pants as NY is about 60F colder than Jamaica so shorts aren’t going to cut it at JFK…

We started this year’s blog with a “before” group photo and we’ll end it with the “after” — same students but a bit more tan, a few sunburns, some scrapes and bumps, a LOT more knowledge about coral reef ecosystems and an ENORMOUS amount of fun memories.

Profs. Peterson and Warren

Yesterday, us Jamaican Seawolves (Ow! Ow! Owww!) took our final exam for MAR 388. After finishing our exam, one of us had the radical idea of jumping into the water. However, almost none of us had our bathing suits on. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. So, we jumped into the water in our clothes. I was a little late to the party, I took extra time to finish my final. I leave the testing site, and what a site to see. I take those 20 steps to the dock, and hesitantly look over. At first, I am somewhat skeptical and question whether or not I should join. Michelle, the honorary Jamaican, looks at me and asks, “When next will you take a final and have the chance to jump into the ocean 20 feet away?” At that moment, I instantly knew I had to jump in; she was right. To paraphrase my response, I said “Yeah, you’re right”, ripped off my shirt, and jumped in. It was great being able to laugh and rejoice with others after a long night of studying for our exam.

Picture this, a group of college kids all laughing in our clothes, in the water. What better time to jump into the water, together than after a long night of studying. We line up, and jump into the water… well most of us. I just laugh as they jump. What comes next will shock you! Another sea wolf, Siobhan joins the party and teaches me how to belly flop. Naturally, we belly flop into the water and had a grand time laughing, enjoying the water, and just taking in the experience. Afterwards, we decided to dry off by spending time with a sea turtle. While were next to the mangrove nursery and we watched the turtle swim around for a bit. The turtle is a little sick, so the nice people here in the DBML are doing their best by catching jellyfish, and leaving these little turtle snacks around the pen.

Overall, we definitely are leaving with more knowledge than we came with. This morning, a group of us decided to stay behind and look though the dock at all the little fish. Today we saw three huge princess parrotfish, adorned with the adult blue coloration. What a majestic sight to see. They swam around a lizard fish who just lazily laid there, as to say, “it’s my day off, don’t bother me”. My favorite site this morning was most definitely the school of juvenile butterfly fish just swim on by- as their eye spots stared back at me. This study abroad has been life changing. I have matured my sense of adventure, and more importantly, my appreciation for marine life and the ocean.

Mi ah guh guh,
Nectarine

All of us have been pretty darn stressed the past few days, but today we took our last exam of the course! Needless to say, all of us can finally take a chill pill and breathe. One by one we stepped out of the wet lab we took our exam in feeling a little lighter…mostly because we were actually floating. First it was Michelle, Andrew B. and myself that decided to jump in with our clothes on to celebrate, and then as we saw people exit the wet lab we called them in to join us. Definitely a great start to the day!

Our day of excitement didn’t end there. We all dried off, ate lunch and then headed to Green Grotto Cave. We had a great tour guide that took us through the crevices of the cave, he even told us of some stories, one being about a little girl that drowned down there back when they did boat tours in the waters of the cave; people claim that she still haunts parts of the cave. He also told us about the escape routes that led down to the sea, and at one point he even turned off all the lights to show us what it really felt like navigating the cave in complete and utter darkness. I have no idea how anyone managed to make it out of there but it was super cool nonetheless.

After the cave, we crossed the street to the Ultimate Jerk Center where we had some good jerk chicken while we all enjoyed each other’s company and shared a bunch of laughs. It felt really good to get away from the grounds and de-stress on one of our last days in Jamaica! Unfortunately, tomorrow is our last full day here, and our last dive for those of us who are SCUBA certified. This has been a beyond amazing experience and I’ve met so many awesome people, if I could do it all over again, I would in a heartbeat!

-Lea

On our second to last day, we reluctantly took our final exam with much stress behind it. After some of us had a quick little rendezvous in the water (see Nick’s blog), we were surprised after lunch with a trip to Green Grotto Cave system! After lunch we hopped on the bus and made a quick ride to the caves.

Most of us were greeted by visiting a boa constrictor in the female restrooms at the Grotto. A fun start to our journey! We all put on our yellow hard hats, along with our tour guide Dwayne, and entered the cave. We first entered an old festival area in the caverns, complete with a stage, bar and picnic tables- all made of stone. As we ventured further on, we learned about the history of the island, from runaway slaves to runaway Spanish governors- and a secret escape route! Emily Richters was chosen to travel along it, but Dwayne chose the wrong person as she actually wanted to go further than was allowed.

We were taken to an underground lake 40 feet below the surface, down steep steep stairs. We learned stories of a girl who drowned in the lake and haunts the cavern to this day, where we saw her poltergeistly shadow on the cave walls. Suddenly- the lights went out! Some of us screamed before eventually the lights were turned back on. We ventured on, tossing Jamaican coins into the Wishing Well cave (most of us not hitting the water- although I did!), and coming back to the original cave of the 3-4 we were inside through different routes. There, we were shown a rock that makes music when you bang on it like a drum. At the end, a few of us ventured into the wild cave, seeing bats flying around and something not so stomach-able that will remain unmentioned.

All in all, it was an eventful, exciting day. We were all glad to be done with our final, and experiencing Jamaica.

-Juneberry Jessica S.