From Pine Trees To Florida Breese: growing anticipation for practical application

After all of the anticipation of getting to Florida and hearing more about what we have planned, I became even more excited to be able to dive into the practical application of the knowledge we all spent so much time learning during the spring semester. It got me wondering what everyone else is the most excited about. 

I am thrilled to hear that we will be participating in beach cleanups, kayaking, scuba diving, snorkeling, hiking, and more! 

The aspect I look forward to the most is being able to dive again for the first time since the pandemic came, and now that I can identify organisms, I will be even more appreciative and engaged with the experience. I hope to see organisms with neon blue such as a bar jack, neon goby, or blue chromis. I also hope we run into lots of sharks since I find their faces adorable. What do you hope to see?  If you need to brush up on what we learned, try this Quizlet.

Personally, I am the most excited about the opportunity to do a night dive. I love walking around in the woods behind my house or on beaches in the dark and getting to experience the changes an ecosystem undergoes between the shift from day to night. It always felt it was incredible hearing the different insects that amplify their activity at night. I am curious to see how this shift will manifest in an aquatic ecosystem as nocturnal organisms emerge since the minimal light from the sky will likely not get very far and sound travels differently in water. After reading one of the discussion board posts, I am curious to see if we will hear any of the fish clicks. Hopefully, we will also get to see some bioluminescence!

If you are still feeling unsure about the night dive, I found an article with some quick tips that are worth the read. A lot of it might seem intuitive, but based on my experience, doing things hypothetically before getting into the field can help relieve some anxiety. This is true for any of the activities, so if there is any activity you heard about today that has you more nervous than excited, try doing some research first.