Getting into the Island Rhythm

These last few days we've been snorkeling and setting up our experiments in the bay.  Tiphaine and Darla have been documenting flamingo tongue presence on sea fans and I've been marking elkhorn coral colonies to track their location and also so that when I go collecting before dawn that I can find them easily.

[Elkhorn coral on the left, and sea fans to the right, along with one of my flags]

Along the way we've had the pleasure of seeing other organisms in the bay, including a green sea turtle.

Unfortunately we've also had to deal with jellies, who can't get through our wetsuits but have been pretty successful at stinging our hands and faces.

Still, the amount of diversity here is incredible.. I think we're all creating mental schemes of how to stay here as long as possible.