Today started off with a boat ride to Enrique to start our first benthic surveys and mangrove prop root measuring. We got to see more diversity in these environments than yesterday and I enjoyed seeing all the new animals and plants. I feel a lot better about my swimming and gear handling skills and it is starting to feel more natural. I still can't get over how beautiful this country is. I love the boat rides to and from our locations so I can see all the green mountains. After changing and lunch, we took a tour with Amanda from ISER Caribe. She is a very nice graduate student and she was patient with us and answered all of our questions. Their main focus at ISER Caribe is coral restoration. Not only the corals themselves but the animals that help out the corals such as the Caribbean king crab and the Diadema antillerum sea urchin. These animals eat the algae that can cover the corals causing them to bleach. Everyone working at the university was so incredibly nice to us. They showed everything way more in depth than just a tour and I learned so much just from the side conversations I had with the biologists. It was amazing to see what the future could hold and how much left there is to restore and discover. My favorite thing from the tour was seeing the singular baby polyp of coral under the microscope.
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