Final Thoughts

Getting ready this morning, the groups presented their research presentation. Through out this whole week, i think that i have learned valuable information that i will be able to use in future research with the help of pete and rich. Not to much that it was alot of fun.

-Kenna Guinn

During the time at Summerland Key I have been having a lot of fun with the groups and the presentations, also learn a lot that I never thought I will learned in my entire life. Good people and good thoughts from the trip, also very good presentations with lots of fun and learning.

-Maria Sanchez

We presented our final presentations for our research today. In all this trip has been memorable for us all. The research gave us a valuable experience that we will all be able to use to enhance our careers. One presentation wiser, and one ear deaf-er, we're off to Key West to spend the afternoon, then everybody (but me) is back to the van for the hours back to Ohio. ;)

-Aarin C. Allen

This week has been a blast as I expected! We have worked really hard on our research and really buckled down to get our presentations done last night- but have still managed to fit in fun things such as diving and even a night snorkel in the channel last night. It has been a joy getting to know everyone, and I've learned alot. Today we go to Key West to add more highlights to my growing list for this awesome trip. Even though I won't be able to hope to see sharks or an eagle ray at home, I am hoping that the weather will be somewhat similar to the wonderful sunshine we've had here the entire trip!

-Brittany Heflin

I had a great week down here on Summerland Key, Florida. I got to experience so many sights underwater. There were sharks, rays, eels, and a large number of fish species. The boat ride out to Looe Key took about 40 minutes. I also experienced a bit of lizard hunting in th Botanical Gardens for about an hour. Everyday down here was a fun filled package!! We always started around 8am and continued are lab work sometimes til midnight or later. I also learned so much about the research part as well. I got to spend time in the lab and out in the field, giving me a great experience all the way around. Today the gang cleans up the stations where we stayed and then ventures down to Key West. I leave this trip with a great experience and new friends.

- Colin Ott

Best class ever!!! I got a chance to see real species in nature, not from the textbooks. Way better to learn something. We had a wonderful week. We played hard, and we worked hard. Everyone is awesome, and we always have a great time together. My favorite part of the whole trip was the fish printing, thanks to Rich for introducing that new technique to everyone. Just in one week, I learned alot more than I think I could learn throughout a whole semester through lectures and textbook, and I made great friends with every one, including my temporary-new-BFF Kenna. I would suggest more field study classes to everyone. Totally worth it!!!

P.S. I found the knife!!!

-Tho Huynh

I had an amazing time in the Florida Keys, but it went too fast. We learned a lot about fieldwork and adjusting our ideas to fit time constraints and issues. Working at the Botanical Gardens was beautiful and we had fun chasing anoles around. My favorite part was scuba diving and snorkeling. The visibility was great and we saw many really cool animals, including spotted eagle rays and moray eels. Night canoeing and snorkeling was awesome and a little bit scary. I made a lot of friends here and I hope that we keep in touch. This was by far the coolest class ever!

-Danielle Pund

This week was long and very exhausting but is probably going to be best week I'll have all summer and summer has just started. There was a lot of fun that was had, lots of hard work that was done, new friends being made, and many new learning experiences. Everyday was full of things to be done and we all worked tiredlessly. Field work is much more difficult then you can imagine unless you go out and do it yourself. I had a lot of fun scuba diving, reseaching, and getting to know people better. If you weren't planning on going on any field study classes, I highly recommend taking a class for the experience and the fun.

-Tim Shultz

Hmm...everyone said they enjoyed the trip, so I don't want to disappoint! I loved working in the field and playing with lizards, so this trip was rather exhilarating (and exhausting!)! I don't think we ccould have asked for better weather (not too hot and not too humid). Everyone was in great spirts and got along well making everything that much better. I don't know what else to say that hasen't been said, so peace out......word

-Stephanie Lopez

Well it was a good time, probably sounds cliche by now but what else can you say? We are in Florida after all. Perhaps a little warm, but the beautiful weather and all the cool wild life you see hardly make it a bad time (even if certain brown lizards do bite and relieve themselves on you). All the people were really cool, and its a good experience for anyone to do. It is kinda a vacation, but you can learn so much and its almost a shame its only a week, but lets face it, i do need my burn to heal.

-Jarrod Flinn

We didn't hit the water... but we did see a shark!!!

No water action today!!! The wind was blowing strong, and the waves were hitting the top of 5-6 feet high, so the snorkeling and diving trip was cancelled. Instead, the fish group went hiking around Blue Hole for some alligators and Key Deers, and we did see a small alligator and a deer, together with some exotic fish and a dry dead lizard (If Pete was there he'd CHEO- cry his eyes out). The lizard group went again to The Botanical Garden, caught some more poor lizards, and set up a fight for the male lizards to fight for a female one. Classic!!! After everyone got back, we went back to our projects and tried to finish up for the presentation tomorrow. Cove came back with a whole bunch of Mahi Mahi for Rich to disect and get some samples of the heart and the brain. Dinner came from Brit and Steph with delicious chicken and rice with some bread. When we sat outside and chilled after dinner, we saw a 3 feet long nurse shark being attracted by the Mahi Mahi heads that Cove threw out in the water. Kenna did try to jump down and attack the shark with a wooden knife, but, good thing for the shark, we were able to stop our action girl from killing the poor hungry shark. Natural history today represented Steph, Danni, Kenna, and Jordan. We plan to do some night snorkeling tonight. Hopefully the shark will be gone. The rest of the night will be on some last minute preparation for the show tomorrow. Good luck everyone.


-Tho Fo $ho & @.C. The one-ear listener.

Fishloads of Fun!!! wednesday May 14th, 2008

After waking up, Tim made breakfast for everyone then we were on our way for our eventful day. We set off in the van to Strike Zone for our daily snorkeling and scuba diving session while members of the lizard group went to the Botanical Gardens to catch lizards. On the boat, the weather was a little cooler and the water was choppy but we had fun. We saw many barracuda, blue tang, and eagle rays. Dinner was prepared by Kenna and Maria. Maria gave us all a taste of delicious, Puerto Rican cuisine. After dinner Jordan attempted to teach others to play the wonderful game of Euchre, which was an absolute disaster. Rich enlightened us with his skill of fish printing. Many group members printed shirts with a real Mangrove Snapper. Around 9:00pm Colin, Brittany, Tho, and Aarin graced us with their Natural History presentations, and then both groups returned to the lab and returned to working on research. The fish group was busy with calculating averages and other data entries and the lizard group tested adhesion on the anoles that they caught earlier in the day. Both groups continued to work vigorously through the night putting the final touches on their research.

P.S. What did the baby corn say to the momma corn?

Where is pop corn?

How is that for a "corny" joke?

-Kenna & Jordan-

We're in the Florida Keys, and you're not... How does that make you EEL?

Day 3 began well into the night of day 2. As the fish group, and those others who could burn the midnight oil fished well into the early morning of day 3 catching Grey Snapper, Lutjanus griseus for our research. Upon a retreat to bed, we got up the next day to eat breakfast and split up into 2 groups (those doing fish research and those doing lizard research). The fish group continued on to Looe Key National Marine Sanctuary to continue to examine the fish, and fauna that inhabit the reef. The divers descended 20+ feet for a great view from below, and saw several awesome fish including a moray eel (pictured above), trumpetfish, and another Carribean Reef Shark among the other common grouper and snapper that have been similarly seen on the previous days. The snorkelers were able to enjoy similar views of the scenery in the ocean, while the lizard group headed out to round up their specimens for their research with their nooses. Upon return, both groups headed into the lab to work out their data from the specimens they collected. After hours of research, we headed back for a lazy early evening at the complex. We ate a phenominal dinner made by Dr. Rich Londraville, and Mr. Hockey himself, Pete Niewiarowski. After dinner, and some more down time, we headed into the lab for enthralling natural history presentations from Tim, Maria, and Jarrod. After the presentations, we continued to conduct the research for our projects, where we remain here still, now. :)

-Aarin C. Allen



P.S.: What part of a fish weighs the most?

-The scales!

Day 3 in the Florida Keys

Day 3 was a very tedious day for both the lizard and fish groups. We were split apart in the morning to do our projects. This is the day when we put our hypothesis to the test. The fish group headed out to sea, while the lizard group went to the Botanical Gardens. The water was much calmer today, yet it was colder. Both divers and snorkelers saw an abundance of different species today, including an Eagle Ray, Caribbean Reef Shark, Nurse Shark, Barracuda, Moray Eel, Goliath grouper, and much much more. The lizard group saw different species of butterflies, Iguanas, Woodpecker, Egret, Roosters, and the 24 Anoles they caught in just 2 hours. They spent their entire day in the field. Both groups return to the field station to continue their projects and some started their research for their Natural History Presentations. From here, we broke for dinner, made by our professors. They even went to the extent of getting desert as well. After the delicious meal we returned to the lab. Some people gave their presentations tonight. Afterwards everyone worked late into the night on their projects.

After a good nights rest, we all got up bright and early to start our day. The first part of our day we all went to Looe Key to play in the water. Half of us went snorkeling and the other half went scuba diving. The main goal of the trip was to test our ideas about our fish research. Besides research, the divers saw 4 eagle rays, a green moray eel, a sea turtle, and 5 spiny lobsters. And not to leave the snorkelers out, they saw a Caribbean reef shark. Besides for the few unfortunate who became sea sick, everyone had an enjoyable time. After this dive trip, the fish group realized they might need to re-work their experiment ideas. A welcomed lunch followed our dive trip shortly followed by brainstorming from the fish and protocol test from the lizard group. Only 40 minutes in the field and the lizard group managed to catch 6 brown anoles, 1 green anole, and a juvenile house gecko. While the lizard group was catching lizards and testing protocol, the fish group traveled to a near by canal to do some net seining, eventually returning with about 60 bait fish! Colin and Aarin prepared a delicious Cajun meal of rice, red beans, and kielbasa. Fat and happy, we all continued our research well into the night. The fish group caught mangrove snappers for analyzing the ctenia on the scales. Ctenia are finger like projections on the back of the scales that are used for smoother travel through the water. The lizard group finished their testing for the night, they released the lizard back to their habitats......word

P.S. How do you catch a tame rabbit?

- Tame way, unique up on it!

Day One, Summerland Key

So, we finally arrived... The drive was long, and no one was allowed to pee. Even after sleeping through most of the first half of the trip, everyone crashed early at the hotel and we got back up at 5:30 AM to continue the trek. At 3:00 PM, we pulled into Mote Marine Laboratory and checked out the awesome view. After unpacking, we split up to go grocery shopping and snorkeling. While snorkeling, we saw many large parrotfish and lots of sea urchins, as well as a jellyfish. After we returned, Tim cooked a delicious chicken dinner with the bum oven. After we filled our bellies, we started work on the research projects. As you can see, the fish group is hard at work creating their model fish masterpieces, breaking the saw in the process. The lizard group tossed around a bunch of ideas for protocols, but that amazing group came up with the perfect plan (no bias, of course). You can see how happy everyone is to be working late into the night. We wake up tomorrow to embark on another eventful day.

P.S.

How do you catch a unique rabbit?

Unique up on it! (Cheesy jokes to be continued....)