Thank you Puerto Rico for another amazing adventure!!

 Well that is almost a wrap for our Summer 2026 Puerto Rico course adventure! 

We had another great experience in La Parguera, Rincon and San Juan, PR. We learned about Queen conch from folks that are involved with the project from NOAA including researchers from Galveston Dr. Jennifer DoerrKristen MaplesKaitlin Buhler, Brandon Jorgensen, Dasha Barach and from University of Puerto Rico including: Dr. JJ Cruz-MottaAliyah Chabrier Alpi, and Manuel Olmeda. In addition to hearing from all of these folks on the project we were able to help collect a bit of data for their project as well! How cool!! 

We learned about sea urchins and coral restoration from Dr. Stacey Williams, Amanda Prieto and Hunter Howard at ISER-Caribe. Hunter even provided an opportunity for the students to collect some of the sea urchins to be outplanted this month. Such an amazing effort for our students to be a part of, so thank you!!

Our boat captains were integral in our success as well! Big shoutout and thank you to Captains: Frank Lazu, Nebu and Orlando!! Even when the winds were not cooperating, you got us on some great sample sites!

Thank you to all of our University of Puerto Rico - Magueyes graduate student guest speakers! Lizmar Luna, Paola Barbosa, Marissabel Gonzalez, Idalmis Santos Echevarria, Amanda Prieto, Joe Townsend and Amanda Melendez. 

Big thanks to Phil Matich as we continue on this crazy teaching adventure together! Your experience in the field makes these courses an even better experience.

Once again, we had an amazing group of students that trusted us to go on this experience! I have tried to tie one to two key words to each of them...

Adam - Burger

Ava - Ready

Ally - Bioluminescence

Izzy - Resilient

Jose - Connections

Jason - Sharks

Macey - Adapt and pivot

Ryan - Limes

Sam - Patient co-pilot

Travis - Birds

The students will be giving their final presentations this Friday and anyone is welcome to join the Zoom to learn more about the science side of our adventures!

Thank you for tuning into our blog and following along on our adventures!

Until next year, 

Jamie



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