Oh Man! (O'War)

Today was fish and coral day. We started with a lecture about coral biology and the corals we can expect to see tomorrow on the reefs. It was a very interesting talk but most of us had a hard time staying awake just because it was so early. Then after a lunch of fajita's (I think they were trying to drown us), we walked back out to the area where we went snorkeling on Friday. We got into Whalebone Bay. It was beautiful.

The beach was covered in trash because Bermuda is in the middle of the Atlantic Garbage patch. It was also a sea glass paradise. I found all sorts of colors: green, blue, brown, clear, and even purple which is very rare.

Sadly you're not supposed to collect any of it. It's considered a natural resource and you can get arrested. Especially for trying to take the pink sand or dead coral pieces. I would never take coral, but shells and sand..... sure, except I don't want to see the inside of Bermuda from the local Jail (Even if it is nextdoor to bios)

That's the Jail.
There were also several dead fish washed up on shore.

We got in to swim around and see what the bottom looked like and what sort of fishes were swimming around. Our group was looking at the number and types of fishes on two different bottom types. We saw a lot of really neat fish and some sea whips and sea fans.

The sand has black streaks from the basalt under the island. It's pretty neat.

We checked out the fish and I found yet another sea hare. I actually got a picture in it's natural habitat. This was the second one I had found today

Today we laid a transect line and swam along and counted the number and types of fish with in a meter on each side. I found some neat ones I didn't know like this guy

Can you find him? I also saw a butterfly fish

And some sea plumes.

And some really neat giant anemones with purple tipped tentacles

Sadly, as I went back to collect our transect and take some more photos, I had a run in with a Portuguese man o war. On the way to the bay one of the girls asked if I had ever been stung by a man o war. I said no. She asked if I thought I might get stung today. I said hopefully not, knock on wood.... but I never knocked. So I'm blaming her for me getting stung. From all the stories I've heard I expected to feel like my hand was going to fall off. It was just kinda like a bee sting in multiple places. I had to get my dive buddy (the same girl who asked if I was going to get stung today) to pull off the tentacles because she had gloves on and I didn't want to sting myself repeatedly by trying to pull it off with the opposite hand. Five of us were stung in total, including two women in the face- so I consider myself lucky because the tentacle was coming straight at my mask. I just thought it was a shred of a tarp, being that we were in the garbage patch... but no... I almost stayed to take his picture, he was just a little guy, but I needed to get the tentacles off my hand. So here's a picture of some of his friends on the shore.

I stepped on them and popped them in revenge but it didn't help my hand at all. It feels fine now, just a little sensitive. We finished up at the bay and came back for dinner. Shepherds pie, one of my least favorite meals... and it was served with mashed potatoes as a side which makes no sense considering shepherds pie is made with mashed potatoes. The Brits informed us, though, that it was cottage pie because it was made with beef and not lamb. Following dinner we went to the lab to look at our fish data. Nothing we didn't expect. Then we hung out at the Passing Wind for a while. In the morning we get on the boats to go to the reef. It will be our last day on the water. Pretty sad. Keep your fingers crossed for good finds. Including a frogfish. But for now, I need to get my rest so I'll be ready to find one.