Today was the day when we did our final presentations. I was in a group with Erik and Jacob and we worked on analyzing the data loggers placed last year by Dr. Parker. There were some challenges with it as some of the data loggers were corroded and many were missing data. Still, we managed to find various trends and see evidence of conditions that would cause a bleaching event. We also compared it to similar locations and nearby NOAA buoys to see how they matched up with the longer-term trends. In future years, I hope the data can become more comprehensive and result in us seeing longer term patterns that clearly point to global warming. I think the presentation itself went quite well; I even managed to say Wee Wee Cay without laughing. 

Afterwards, our afternoon was free. I spent it snorkeling near our key, where I managed to spot a barracuda in shallow water. We both were spooked to see each other. Afterwards I paddle boarded to where the dolphins were to watch them one last time. At dinner time, we each gave each other awards. Nick gave me an award I deeply appreciated. I gave Jacob the award for best cinematographer for his awe-inspiring edits. After dinner, I went to West End for a little bit of fun with our trip buddies, where I sang karaoke, and ran into a couple of employees from the resort. Overall it was a fun last day on Roatan.

- Cadet Luca Sartori

Professors Stephen Kielar and Ariel Setniker contributed to this blog entry.

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