Hey everyone! this is a joint blog from Elizabeth and Abigail. We did a lot of exploring today! Everyone is exhausted and sunburnt* but we are still eager for more tomorrow. We began our day looking at the Hannah Bay member of the Rice Bay formation, the youngest rock on the island being only 420-3500 years old! We saw Karren features and we took samples of sediment that we later observed in the lab under microscopes. Next we headed over to the North Point member of the Rice Bay formation and saw older rocks that were about 5300 years old. There were cerion (snails) everywhere, it was hard not to step on them. There were hermit crabs, regular crabs, a white tailed tropic bird, and several polyplacophoram. We then took a drive to Columbus' landing site when he discovered North America (supposedly). After that we went snorkeling at Lightpole reef (Fernandez bay), a patch reef. A lot of the coral was washed up onto the shore by the hurricane last fall. Overall we had a great day and we are ready to get back out tomorrow!

-Abigail and Elizabeth

*Elizabeth was the only one who did not get sunburned but a nice tan is starting to develop :) 

P.S. From Elizabeth: The conch shell I found was really heavy but super awesome so I'm going to have to figure out a way to fit it in my suitcase and not go over the weight limit on the way back home. 

 Candice holding a tiny gecko

 Where Columbus supposedly first landed

 Checking out North Point

 Abigail and Samantha

 Candice with the snails..watch your step!

 More snails

 Laminated cross bedding. Field book for scale.

 Karren, a karst feature. Field book for scale.

 The huge conch Elizabeth found. Found while snorkeling.

 Hannah Bay member of the Rice Bay formation. These are the youngest rocks on the island.

The world's worst classroom.

North Point exploration!

Dr. Ruhl loves rocks!

Elizabeth, Ryan, and Jurnee at the North Point member of the Rice Bay Formation

Polyplacophoram!