The Final Hoorah
After recovering and recuperating from our amazing trip the Florida Keys, my heart aches. As I retold my stories of swimming with nurse sharks, kayaking with manatees, and watching dolphins swim with our boat as the sun set, I realized how sad I am that our time in Florida has come to a close. Looking back on the field research we did, I realized just how amazing this trip was for me and everyone else involved. We gained hands-on research skills as well as knowledge that will definitely never leave my mind. Although we laughed our way through the trip, with jokes that were absolutely terrible and not even close to funny, I took every second of it seriously. Each opportunity we had I made sure that I dove in and gave it my all, as I'm sure everyone else did. For our very last night on the boat with Captain Slate's, we had the chance to look at the stars and identify constellations, as well as try and throw grapes into each other's mouths (Mike can't catch a grape in his mouth while the wind is whipping us in every direction). I realized in that moment that I never wanted this trip to end. We all talked about how amazing it was to see the animals and plants we spent months memorizing and testing ourselves on. To me, it wasn't the destination, but the people I got to be with (even though the destination was kind of amazing). I'm terrified of the open ocean, but during our night dive in the middle of nowhere, I felt at peace. I can only assume this is because I was with some of my closest friends doing what I want to do for the rest of my life. Thanks to Stockton University, Tropical Marine Biology, Dr. Z, the most amazing people I've ever met, and this amazing trip, I gained more confidence in myself. So, with this post I leave words of wisdom for anyone reading this: every now and then, stop and enjoy the sunset. Make sure you enjoy the people you surround yourself with and hopefully, just like me and my amazing team, you finally feel confident in your major and with yourself. See you soon, Florida.
To learn more about Captain Slate's, click here: https://www.captainslate.com/
To learn more about Stockton's Marine Science program, click here: https://stockton.edu/sciences-math/marine-science.html
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| The sunset as we rode to our location for the night dive |
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| The Tropical Osprey's last hoorah aboard Captain Slate's |
Not gonna lie it feels so weird coming back home. I've been bored all day it's like theres nothing else to do where as when we were in Florida everyday was something new to explore and do. Really missing it and the trip and stories will remain in my memory for years to come. I think we should all team up again and go back. This time for a longer trip!
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