Today was a bittersweet end to our stay at South Water Caye. We had an incredible day and we are all sad to leave this paradise. This morning about half of the group got up early to watch the sunrise from Bruce’s cottage porch. The sunrise was beautiful and peaceful, it was slightly obscured but the clouds and sun created a beautiful panorama of light and shadow on the horizon. The serenity of the sunrise didn’t carry over to breakfast where, as usual, we queued up to attack all of the food available. After breakfast we met to talk about our morning snorkel as well as the projects we are working on while snorkeling. We have been doing a coral watch project as well as a Damselfish behavioral study.
The sun rises behind clouds on our last day at South Water Caye.
The morning snorkel was a great one to end on. We wend to Coral Gardens Reef. The corals there were more brightly colored than many we have seen so far. The reef stood out in enhanced detail. The water was shallower than some places and the sun was shining so light penetrated all the way to the bottom. We got to see some interactions that we hadn’t yet. For example some people got to see a trigger fish predating on a smaller damsel fish, another group saw a Queen Conch eating another snail, I was excited to see an anemone eat an small fish! The big excitement of the snorkel was the sighting of Green Sea Turtle. The turtle posed for us for a while then disappeared into the reef with surprising swiftness and agility. Eventually we returned to the boat, exhausted but invigorated but yet another incredible experience.
A green sea turtle poses before darting away from our group.
We also continued our “Coral Watch” and damselfish surveys from yesterday during our snorkel this morning. The coral in this reef seemed vibrant and healthy for the most part, although there seemed to be less healthy branching coral than in previous years. We evaluated the health of each surveyed coral based on its color, with paler colors showing unhealthier coral and bolder colors showing healthier coral. Groups not conducting Coral Watch surveyed seven damselfish species (dusky, threespot, yellowtail, longfin, cocoa, beaugregory, and bicolor) and the morphology of the coral territories they defended (branching, plate, smooth boulder, and fissured boulder). In this survey, we determined that the dusky damselfish was the most abundant and that none of the species within the surveyed area were habitat specialists; all coral morphologies were potential territories for any of the seven damselfish species we surveyed to defend.
In the afternoon, our desks were clear and we enjoyed our last full day at South Water Caye by kayaking, basking in the sun, playing volleyball, swimming, and playing pool at the bar. Happy and exhausted, we all congregated at the dock to watch the brilliant yellow-orange sun plunge behind the clouds over the horizon right before dinner.
Group Photo with Russ, Bruce and Peter and off the beach at South Water Caye.
This evening we took some time to reflect and thank our incredible guide, Peter. After dinner we surprised Peter with a thank you cake and some words of thanks for everything that he has done for us. Peter has done an incredible job of making sure everyone was safe and satisfied while also showing us so many of the incredible things in this country. His knowledge of the ecology and history of Belize is incredible; it would have been a much less enhanced experience without him. At our after dinner meeting everyone in the group shared their favorite experience from the island part of our trip. This was a good chance for us to reflect on the amazing week we had and all of the new experiences. Some people mentioned the details they saw in the reef while others were excited about all of the flagship species we got to see. In spite of some challenges such as illness and interesting weather this was one of the best weeks of my life, and a week that we will all remember as a highlight of our college experience.