On Tuesday, the second day back at USFSP we prepared for our
12-hour journey on the research vessel known as the Weatherbird. The tasks at
hand were CTD, Water Quality, Neuston, Bongos, Otter net, and dredge. The class
was divided small groups each taking on one or two tasks per site. My group was
the best it included Tiffany, Lana, and myself. The two sites consisted of
offshore 18.25 miles and inshore about 2 miles from Skyway. The tasks that my
group were responsible for was Neuston and bongos at the offshore site 1. At
the inshore site 2 my group was responsible for the CTD and Otter net. Despite
each group handling their assigned task all groups were responsible for sorting
and identifying the specimens and contents harvested in Neuston, bongos, otter
net, and dredge. The process of sorting
and identifying was by far the most time consuming, frustrating, and fun
experience. The food on this boat was provided by chef Tom and in my opinion
was one of the best meals that we had so far. The task that my group did that I
enjoyed the most was the Otter net because I love seeing all the corals,
vertebrates, invertebrates, and algae’s that we collected. The only sad thing
was a lot of times the specimens collected would die during the sorting and
identifying process but when we were able to we returned some alive. Overall
this was an invaluable experience and I love all my classmates, crew members,
and wouldn't change any of them for anybody else.
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