The past week at St. Pete was really informative about the open ocean and all the various organisms that live there. I found all the deep-sea organisms we saw in the specimen jars to be really cool as well especially the angler fish and the octopus/ squids. Before this week, I didn't know much about the open ocean and had never been far offshore. One thing I was nervous about for the cruise was seasickness, as I'd been on many smaller boats throughout my life, but was unsure about what being on a larger boat out on the ocean would be like, especially with no land in sight. On Tuesday, I prepared myself with Dramamine and never got sick on the ship, and after being in the sun for a while with all the gear on I started to feel a bit bad, but after drinking some water and getting to the point where we could take the gear off I instantly felt better. In the future, I think working offshore would be really interesting, but this cruise definitely showed me how challenging and exhausting a day can be out there. Over the course of the week, I also appreciated learning about marine research in general, and all of the different instruments used for water quality, or biodiversity count. Using them on the vessel also helped a lot to understand the machines more. I've noticed that my idea of a scientific instrument when I learn it from a lecture and PowerPoint is entirely different than when I see it in person and am able to see how it is used. Overall, having known previously very little about the open ocean before this week, I have learned a tremendous amount about the sea life that lives in the Gulf, and definitely feel it has made me understand its importance and how it works more.
April Thomas
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