Surprise Sun!

Today was an exciting day with a little surprise sun in the middle! The Leatherbacks spent their day learning about coastal habitats and fish identification. Their day started with a visit from the MANG organization (buy one. plant one.) who taught them about the important of mangroves, showed them how to use a refractometer, and gave them some sun guards! Later they learned, with some help from Mr. Ray (from Finding Nemo), the zones of the ocean. They listened to a fish lecture co-given by Ms. Jenifer and Ms. Savannah and then used this information to make their very own fish and explain why they chose those adaptations. The Leatherbacks were also able to learn how to feed the fish in our front tanks and even took turns feeding the fish themselves!! Despite the morning rain, the Leatherbacks found some time to make it to the beach! They had a great time jumping over waves and digging holes (that they filled afterward to make the beach available for turtle crawls)! The next group, the Loggerheads, also had a great day! They played food web games to demonstrate how the food web works. These games included educational aspects like learning about how each species is important for the entire food web and how individual harvesting and poaching can effect everybody in the ecosystem. After that, Ms. Vanessa showed the campers how to do a plankton tow and they took these collections and looked at them under the stereoscope. Ms. Gillian then gave an awesome presentation on Predators of the Sea, with an emphasis on Sharks and Rays. The Loggerheads then did their own fossil dig and made shark tooth necklaces afterward. They ended their day learning about invasive species. Last but not least, the Greens had their trip to Jonathan Dickinson State Park where they learned about the vegetation and wildlife of the Loxahatchee River. While they were there, they went on the observation tower and saw mainland Florida and the barrier island. They also practiced identifying plants of the Florida scrub and performed a scavenger hunt to explore the educational center, with a little help from Ms. Megan and Ms. Nicole. Even though it was raining for most of the day, the campers were able to still spend plenty of time outside and learn a lot about marine biology.

Tomorrow the three groups have more time to spend together! Due to the anticipated rain, we canceled our planned trip to Dubois Park. 😦 Although the trip was canceled, we have some educational actives planned and the campers will be able to have a more relaxing movie day! The whole day won’t be relaxing, however! If the counselors spot a time where the rain goes away and the sun comes out, we will be rushing the kids down to the beach to spend as much time outside as possible (taking time to apply sunscreen first of course 😉 ).