Bermuda Day 2

After the first day of Bermuda I was very impressed, but after the second day, I was absolutely blown away. During the course of the day, I learned (hands on) about dozens of different species of fish and other aquatic animals and plants, as well as hundreds of other land organisms. One of my personal favorite things we have done so far is cave-snorkeling. Though we didn't see too many animals or plants, we learned that there are seventy-nine different organisms that live in the caves in Bermuda's cave system, and very few of them are endemic (native to an area, and they are only found there, nowhere else in the world) to Bermuda. Another interesting fact we learned was that the average depth for Bermudas huge cave system is eighteen feet below sea level, and therefore a lot of the caves are filled with water, something which pictures can do no real justice. These caves also collapse due to erosion from water and plants and form small pools all over the island. The caves themselves were formed in layers of sedimentary rock, which is also unfortunately why they collapse. Some of the layers of rock do not bond well with others, and allow water to easily erode the walls and ceiling of the caves. During the second half of the day we helped to get rid of invasive species of plants and replant native species on Coopers Island. My group ripped many Mexican Peppers (known as Brazilian Peppers in the rest of the world) as they are a very invasive species, and are very hard to get rid of. We then planted a Buttonwood tree that we named "Mahogany Johnson". The last part of the day was a free swim where my partner Chris Brennan and I saw many different species of fish and coral; the most interesting of them being a lion fish, a very venomous though non-aggressive fish, in a small underwater crevice. We also saw a lot of different species of Parrot Fish, Angelfish, and many other species. The only part of the day that was troublesome were the quizzes that we endured at the end of the day, proctored by none other than our very own John Roy, Rebecca Gratz, and Jeff Alpert. Needless to say, they were much scarier than any of the insects, fish, or other animals we have seen so far. I can only hope tomorrow will be just as eventful.