The End of a Trip

 The end of any kind of trip always brings different emotions like sadness, excitement, or even confusion. Someone may feel sad to leave their vacation, excited to go home, or confused about what to do next in their life. The ending of the weeklong trip to Florida for the Tropical Marine Biology field research section excited me because I could not wait to go home and tell everyone what happened. I was also sad and a bit anxious because our flight home kept getting delayed. I also flew for the first time without my parents. I tried new food like Cuban and Caribbean food. It was delicious, and I might miss the local fresh fruit. After that long week of early mornings and late nights, I learned so much about tropical marine biology. My favorite lesson was to just be a sponge and take everything in. You never know who you will meet, what you will be doing, or what you will learn. It is simply great to soak everything in. The Keys and the Everglades were a bucket list destination for me, and it was amazing to be able to view wildlife in their natural habitat. LINK I also was able to do 2 daytime dives as well as a night dive. I am a newly certified scuba diver and the dives at Hens and Chickens was amazing. I got to see many fish swimming in the coral reefs as well as bioluminescence for the first time. I got to watch alligators and birds in the Everglades. The tropical ospreys also did two service projects at Crane Point and Bahia Honda State Park. LINK We helped locals with tasks such as beach cleanup. We went shark tagging in Fort Lauderdale with a research team, sharks4kids, and a local Girl Scout troop. I thought that it was super cool for those young girls to be out on the water learning about sharks up close and personal. I was excited to be able to touch nurse sharks, it was like I was a kid all over again! It was also cool to be able to talk to them about anything and everything (when I was younger, I used to be a Girl Scout). I liked how everyone on this trip was able to learn something new or try something different. As I return home to New Jersey I am excited to be able to take all these lessons with me and be able to share them with friends and family. I am also glad that everyone on this trip was so nice and overall, a wonderful experience. I would totally recommend this class to any marine science major at Stockton University. LINK

Hens and Chickens. Photo by Mackenzie Briggs.

Scuba Diving at Hens and Chickens. Photo by Mackenzie Briggs.

The Everglades. Photo by Mackenzie Briggs.