Weatherbird II survivor- Laura Dunn

Week four at USFSP was probably my second favorite (sorry, nothing can top the keys).  I have been to St. Pete before, but never for a week and never to see the university.  The highlight of this week was definitely being able to go out on the Weatherbird II and do offshore work.  I knew the day would be long and tiring- but it was a different kind of tired, where your body is ready for bed but your brain is still working.  The lull between stations 1 and 2 was just the perfect amount of time to re-coup and get ready to start identifying more species.  Growing up on the east coast of Florida, I was very fortunate to have lots of exposure to the fishing industry and lifestyle.  Many nights of my childhood were spent shrimping with my cousins off the Titusville coast, and you would think that would prepare me for the massive amounts of crabs brought on board.  Spoiler alert- it didn't.  I was completely overwhelmed and impressed at how many crabs we pulled, and counting them felt like an impossible task.  Identification and taking down data was my job during the second trawl and dredge, so hearing the sheer numbers and species was absolutely mind blowing. 

During the cruise I also got to take data for the CTD- this was another favorite part of the cruise because it allowed me to learn, observe, and use marine science equipment, things we only hear about in lecture and *especially* how much they cost.  Seeing the whole machine go down, then going to the computer to get the data really connected everything I had been learning in the classroom to real field work. 


The most challenging task this week was our small reports, of which my partner and I compared the biodiversity of invertebrates from 2013-2015.  Again, the amount of data we had to sort through and organize for our purposes was overwhelming, however once we honed in on exactly what we needed and how we were going to organize it, the process of analyzing and interpreting came together.  This is another way the course has taught me to critically think, and ties together skills I learned as a sophomore in statistics and calculus.  It is truly interesting to be able to look at work you have done as a student and see how everything in your college career compliments the other, and I think the ability to be in the field is what pulls it all together.  Going into week five I am completely exhausted and cannot wait to go back home, however within that there is a budding excitement to pull together a report of quality for this course and the water samples we have been taking around the state.