The final week: UNF

UNF was a great place to begin and end this 5 1/2 week journey. I loved getting to experience the Atlantic Ocean and seeing how different it is from the Gulf of Mexico. The East coast has greater wave action and greater tidal influence which is what we studied during our 24hr observation. I really appreciated watching the tide come in and out over the span of a full day. It forced me to pay attention to the patterns that happen every day and realize just how dramatic the difference between high and low tide is. We did water quality tests every hour and pulled seine nets every 3 hours and were only allotted a 3 hour window for sleep! It was exhausting but super cool. The only thing I'm a little bummed about was not catching more animals, most of the seines yielded around 20 animals and most of them were brown shrimp (what I'm measuring on the right). Overall I feel like it was a good representation of what I would actually experience in the field when I begin my own research. You may not have the opportunity for breaks if you want good science.

 
The rest of the week was blurred with exhaustion but packed with information about oceanic influence on inlets and human's efforts to keep inlets from moving like they do naturally. This week was great for seeing the big picture of what is going on with our coasts. Dr. Hackney especially emphasized the average person's point of view on the water. Marine biologists see it as something to be saved but many people see it as their source of income. It was nice to hear the other side of the story and really think about how we could find some middle ground.

This entire trip was amazing. I am so thankful that I decided to do this course instead of a different class at UWF. I learned more than I thought I could, both academic and practical knowledge. The instructors were so knowledgeable and helpful when it came to any question I had. No lecture/lab course can compare to what this field studies course did for me. I'm inspired and more convinced than I have ever been that I chose the right major. The biggest thank you to everyone that made this possible.