We worked on the mangroves again today! After breakfast, we
jumped in the boat and headed to a small mangrove island. Our goal was to walk
into the middle of the island, although I was very confused about how we would
accomplish that. From what I have seen of mangroves, they are surrounded by an
interconnected web of roots that is impossible to hike over. Turns out, it
isn’t impossible and we walked carefully from root to root until we reached
solid ground. This “solid” ground is composed of all the dead matter and is
extremely mushy, but at least we could walk on it. 
Our goal was to collect mangrove leaves from the base of the
trees and the tops of the trees and compare them. We needed samples from every
15 feet, starting at the center of the island and working our way back to the
edge. Everyone in the group took turns climbing up the slender trunks in search
of leaves. Unfortunately, the trees towards the edge of the island were younger
and thinner, but someone still needed to collect some samples. Of course, I
volunteered to scale one of the skinny trees. I made it to the top of the tree
easily, but on the way back down, one of the branches snapped and I crashed to
the root-covered ground. The best part was that Justin caught the whole thing
on video! He was filming some of the other students singing an “In the
mangroves...” edition of “The lion sleeps tonight” and in the background you can
see me fall out of a tree. The video itself was funny, the fall... not so much, but no worries, I'm fine!
Once we were all back in the boat, we made our way to
another mangrove island so that we could snorkel. This was not a scientific
expedition and we could just merrily swim around and explore the life amongst
the mangroves. From the pictures, it looks like an alien world!
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