Our first full day in Brazil began a bit later than planned as we had some difficulty waking up after our long travels. Nevertheless, once the day began, the activity and adventure was non-stop!!We were welcomed aboard our vessel, the YANK-I, by our new friends, Professor Bruno (formally Dr. Scott's student at Santa Ursula University in Rio) and his three brilliant graduate students, Rodrigo, Oliver and Samantha. They are doing research and are staying at a home owned by Santa Ursula University just up the road. They have been kind enough to take some time out of their busy schedules to share their expertise with our students, And what experts they are!! Their specialties include coral conservation and seahorses. Best of all, their enthusiasm and passion for marine biology is evident and that passion certainly impacted us today!!
Our class quite literally jumped right into learning - complete with scuba masks and flippers - the girls looked extremely aquatic! And the day was absolutely gorgeous -around 85 degrees - warm, clear and sunny! The water was somewhat cool but not cold so it was about as close to perfect as one could imagine. There were so many thrills ... but the ones that were HUGE thrills came during our second stop
... First, the students found a seahorse and quickly placed it in our little aquarium for observation. We all touched him and were so surprised to discover that the seahorse is a tough little creature - not at all squishy and fragile as we had mistakenly imagined. We then had a short lesson about water temperature and salinity and discovered that water coming down from the mountains is a lot colder than water in the ocean (and, of course, it has no salinity). And then, to our AMAZEMENT, some local children ran up to the beach announcing that they had seen, yes, it's true, a penguin!!! In Brazil!!! Poor little guy was obviously beyond lost but seemed quite happy when we saw him for just a couple of flashes peep out over the water. This shocking sight gave Dr. Scott the opportunity to teach us about the effects of global warming which change the water currents, which change the swimming patterns of the fish, which influence the routes of the penguins searching for food, etc. It was a completely fantastic way to kick off our class! Other marine creatures observed and collected today include crabs, sea stars (they aren't actually fish), a puffer fish and sea cucumbers.
After a wonderful Brazilian seafood lunch, we set sail again and the students explored an area known as the "Green lagoon." It was a rocky area perfect for seeking out all sorts of marine life. It was here that the sea cucumbers and coral were collected for observation back at the wet lab at the St. Ursula house. Tomorrow we will go to the "Blue Lagoon" and will compare the marine life there with what we observed today.Tonight we enjoyed Morgan's presentation on mariculture (fish farming). She gave a wonderful overview of fish farming and then presented information specific to Brazil. Her presentation serves as the introduction to the Scallop lab that we will visit tomorrow morning.
Our late evening tonight consisted of Pizza, Guarana (Brazil's favorite soft drink), bananas flambe with ice cream (prepared by Professor Bruno) and marine life observation at the Santa Ursula house and lab - All in all, an extraordinary day!!!
What an awesome experience for all of you! Morgan, you will have to tell Brooke all about your trip, as this is something she would be highly interested in. She loves snorkling and exploring marine life. In fact, she just got an aquarium a couple of weeks ago. Have a great time, and learn all you can! Aunt Dodie
ReplyDelete