So far the SPC Bonaire study abroad program has been so special to me, it has by far exceeded my expectations. I feel so lucky to be given this amazing opportunity. Not many people get to wake up and dive everyday and get to see such a healthy coral reef ecosystem filled with so much life. Just a few highlights of the species we have seen are green sea turtles, an adult male loggerhead sea turtle, a spotted eagle ray, spotted spiny lobster, Caribbean octopus, reef squid, scorpion fish, and bioilluminescent mating ostracods.

Being here in Bonaire and getting to see all the fauna and Flora, and work with the Coral Reef Restoration Foundation and Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire inspires me to do more to work to protect our oceans. Which is why I was so excited to visit Stinapa Bonaire National Park Foundation at Lac Bay today  a few days ago (on 5/16/17). Lac bay is an important part of Bonaire located on the east side of the island. It has the most abundant amount of sea grass beds of the whole island which serves as sea turtle feeding grounds. In Lac Bay sea turtles are able to eat more and grow and mature faster. At Lac Bay there are also protected mangroves which serve as breeding, nursery, feeding, and protection grounds for many marine life species. In the mouth entrance of Lac Bay coral reefs break the strong waves from the easterly winds. This causes the rest of the inside of the bay to be calm and protected. However, there is still a great amount of wind in the area so wind surfing is very popular. While we were there we picked up trash and cleaned up the beach area. We found various pollutants, mostly plastic along with many bottle caps, cigarette buts, fishing lines and straws. It is so incredibly sad to see how people carelessly liter. It causes so much harm to the ocean and marine life. I was happy to help clean up the beach though as every little bit helps to make a difference. I just wish we could get the rest of the world to do the same. While at Lac Bay we also cleaned the buoy lines guarding he sea grass beds. This helped to make them more visible to locals, tourists, and windsurfers, and also prevent overgrowth of algae on the sea grass beds.

This eye opening experience provided by the SPC Bonaire study abroad program is the first of many that I hope to make in the future to learn and help to make a difference in protecting our oceans and marine life. I hope to be able to bring my friends and family back to Bonaire one day to show them what I have experienced first hand.

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