Lalomanu, Marine Ecology

After departing Faga, we made our way to the last leg of our journey, the southeastern side of the island of Upolu in a village by the name of Lalomanu. Here we would stay for the next several days studying the marine ecology of the area. We met up again with Brian Stockwell, our professor for the course from the Philippines. Brian was as stoked as ever, and with him we spent some nice time studying the reef fish, seagrass beds, and mangrove forests. Students were challenged to grasp a number of biological concepts, identify several families of reef fish, and understand the difficulties and purposes of reef, mangrove, and seagrass bed conservation efforts. But it was helpful to the students' understanding to be walking through, swimming in, and snorkeling about what they were studying in lecture.

Days were sunny and beautiful, despite this being the wet season in the tropics. Between our day trips to visit soft coral reefs and the mangrove and seagrass beds, our time was spent in the waters in the crystalline lagoon that sprawled to the breakers defining the darker blue waters of the Pacific, which in its own turn unreeled to the horizon.


This is a picture of a study break from morning class.
I'll call this: "A Regular Afternoon."