Exploring Marine Ecosystems and Native Plants: Insights from Coral Reefs to Backyard Gardens
I got my Padi Advanced Open Water certification over the weekend! Overall, it was a great experience! I feel more confident in the water and I finally have over 30 dives! I've been trying to hit that goal for a while now and it's exciting to finally be able to check that off the list ... now I just need to move to South Florida.... But the MOST exciting thing I want to share here is that we finally brought our underwater camera with us scuba diving.
I've read about manatees before but never really knew much about them. They always seemed like such an exotic and bizarre animal - the kind you have to travel around the world to see. Now that we live in Florida, how could I possible not go swim with these amazing, gentle giants?
From the Grand Canyon, we made our way to Cosmic Campground International Dark Sky Sanctuary (CCIDSS). This campground is the first International Dark Sky Sanctuary located on National Forest System lands. We were excited to try taking some long exposure photos of the night sky and the best place in the world to star gaze is an International Dark Sky Sanctuary - a designated place with low light pollution and exceptional or distinguished quality of starry nights.
We got up before the sun and made my out the the Bright Angel trailhead to watch the sun rise. I hiked 1.5 miles down the trail to the mile-and-a-half rest house and back. Those 3 miles I hiked at a botanical pace - which is to say, very slowly, taking plant pictures and canyon every few feet. Even with the short distance and slow pace, I have to say that that hike was harder for me than most of the hikes I done to date. I am really, really not acclimated to altitude.
"We're moving to Florida", I say. "Florida! ... but why?" Is what I keep hearing in response. I understand the confusion. It's hard to find a more distant and different place from the Pacific Northwest than Florida. But I know this is the right choice. There are a number of reasons for this move, but the simplest and most important one is this: there's coral in Florida and I want to study coral. I'm working on getting a Marine Science degree and this is part of that process.
Erica Lauer Vose 