Bermuda Day 2- July 6th
- Jul 7
- 2 min read
Today our day consisted of a variety of activities, from dives to visiting an aquarium. The day for us students started at 7:45 with breakfast before we met at 8:45 wearing our class T-shirts for a group photo. We took the photo and headed onto the bus for our first field trip of the trip, the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo.
While at the aquarium we saw many of the fish native to Bermuda, including French Grunts, Ocean Surgeonfish, and Foureye Butterflyfish, some of which we had seen on our dive the evening before. We got there just in time for the seal feeding at 9:45, where they talked about their three seals, Calico, Ariel, and Pebbles, who are all over 30 years old. There was also a zoo, which was immersive, allowing you to walk along a path inside a bird enclosure with a Cattle Egret, Blue and Gold Macaws, and a Nene Goose. There were also reptiles, lemurs, and several other species of birds. The zoo led into a small museum that explored Bermuda's geographic history and the island's conservation efforts. After visiting the aquarium gift shop, we left and returned to BIOS in time for lunch.
Once we finished lunch, we had a quick turnaround, getting changed and preparing for our next dive. We all met at the docks behind BIOS, where Alex, the education coordinator, gave us a safety briefing before we boarded the boat and set off. We rode for about 45 minutes to our next dive location, Snake Pit, a sandy-bottom reef where coral rose about 40 feet off the seafloor. We saw many large fish, including several Rainbow Parrotfish, a few Trumpetfish, and a few Bar Jacks. We spread out to cover more of the reef, but on our way back to the boat, we noticed something large moving across the sandy bottom. As we got closer, it turned out to be a Spotted Eagle Ray. We returned to the boat and drove about 10 minutes to our second dive site, which was still at Snake Pit, where nothing too eventful happened. We returned to BIOS and had about an hour to relax before dinner.
After that much-needed hour of relaxation, we met at the docks once again for a plankton tow. We all got on the boat and set off. We dropped a very fine mesh net with a collection bottle attached to the end, dragging it behind the boat for about five minutes before pulling it back up. The water in the bottle looked cloudy with the amount of plankton we had collected, which was exactly what we were hoping for. We drove back to BIOS and went straight to the lab, where we viewed our plankton samples under the microscope. Most of what we found was zooplankton, which feed on other plankton or phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are microscopic organisms that use sunlight to produce their own food, similar to plants. Afterwards, we regrouped in the classroom to work on our journals and upload our surveys for the fish while watching the World Cup!
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