Ohhhh the oceans you’ll see, the challengseas you’ll face By: Dana Dragon

Ohhhh the oceans you’ll see, the challeng(s)e(a)s you’ll face

By: Dana Dragon
USFSP week 4

Another week in the books, another exceptional week of experiences! This week at USFSP was set up a bit differently from other weeks with only spending one day on the water this past tuesday. It was, however, a long day worth our while with the Weatherbird II FIO crew! I have had previous experience working on FIOs Hogarth vessel performing some of the tasks we did on tuesday, but this ship had new features to it and new once in a lifetime experiences! Our lead professor, and might I had only professor for the week who did a phenomenal job, Dr. Judkins made it possible for the ROV Defender to be onboard! On top of that, each of us had the opportunity to pilot the ROV for a couple minutes! I mean... HOW COOL is that!!

Each of us gained great experience handling the different pieces of equipment on board such as the neuston net, bongo net, CTD with niskin bottles, otter trawl, and dredge. Both in offloading and onloading of the equipment, as well as specimen sorting from the trawl and dredge, all required a great deal of communication and efficient working for everyone involved! This did prove to be challenging at times, but nothing we couldn’t handle and quickly resolve! The challenges weren’t specific to the field day, but i’m glad for them because they were all learning experiences that helped build our skill set! 

It’s bittersweet to think this upcoming week is the last week of the course and at the same time surreal that this is the end of our 4^th week! I couldn’t have asked for a better group to have spent these past 4 weeks traveling around the state of Florida with! For the course itself, I am thankful that it was created and that I've had the privilege to be a part of it! It has given me not only a new perspective on our state and how different our water can be, but how diverse the field of marine science is! I know for many, including myself, each week has helped us understand what aspects of marine science we enjoy and those we may not want to work in. All in all, we gained something from the experience and have become better for it.

 

Shout out to the wonderful Denny who sadly got his head cut off in this picture!

But a great action shot of our whole group really showing that we had all hands on deck!