Snorkeling for Research at Maya Key

By Aurora Thomas

This morning started slowly as everyone’s at least a bit sore from the previous snorkels.  We met up at breakfast to talk about today’s schedule and hurried to our brightly decorated “clubhouse” (our newly assigned classroom space) to discuss today’s research expeditions and gather materials.  I had to gather my fish ID card and dive slate, for taking notes underwater.

When getting ready for the morning snorkel, there were a lot more people than usual as another university group was getting ready to embark on their journey as well.  The door to the gear room is heavy and has a significant width that interfered with the hustle and bustle of people getting ready.  I noticed that no one thought to use the hook to prop the gear room open, so I tried to prop it open, but everyone who works at Anthony’s Key must be really tall or 5’ 4” must be short because I kept jumping to try to hook the door until a tall person from Rider university took pity on me.  We all got ready a bit easier after that.  Both the boats shortly departed and went their separate ways as work needed to be done.

The boat ride was bumpier than the last weeks as the wind made the Caribbean Sea turbulent.  After a bit of discussion with the boat captain, it was decided that we would be drift snorkeling, meaning the boat would move while we snorkeled, and then we got our gear together. 

I’m in a group of three researching the interactions of damselfish within their ecological system with Ella and Dominic. I tied a bright orange life jacket to my wrist so that others could see where we were in the water, but I had to come back a bit earlier during the snorkel because the float kept dragging me along with the surge in the water and I needed to return it. I did see several schools of beautiful surgeonfish, sergeant majors, and french grunts and the alluring glow of the queen angelfish on the way back. 

When we were all on the boat, Dr. Parker mentioned that it would be a good idea to shower or rinse off when we got to Maya Key because a few of us (including me) felt little stings of weak nematocysts (stinging cells that are found in organisms belonging to the phylum Cnidaria – jellyfish and corals) when we were in the water.  We then went to Maya Key where we had a little break that I spent in the gift shop.  I got a xylophone and a drum for my seven-year old brother that he is going to annoy my parents with.  

The second snorkel was fun, though everyone was definitely tired, a Needlenose fish decided to poke my head, which felt a little weird.  We all saw some vibrant coral too, which was a pleasant surprise.  Afterwards though, it was nice getting lunch and having a bit of time on the key.  I got to go and see the jaguar I missed from the last time I was there.  It looked pretty happy when a man who was wearing a blue Anthony’s Key t-shirt (so I assumed he works at the resort) came up to the fence because the jaguar stood up to say hi and acted like it was a domestic kitty cat. Then when the man left, the jaguar became stressed, looking out towards the man’s direction while pacing back & forth in the corner of its cage.  It was about time to go to the boat again soon after that.  We all then got to end the day’s turbulent snorkels with a forty-minute not too turbulent, windy boat ride where we could look out and see lots of jumping fish that looked like airplanes gliding shortly out and in the sea.

Rescued Jaguar at Maya Key