Today was a sad day indeed as we all packed up to leave CEDO. It was an incredible week jam packed with learning and amazing experiences. Staying at an institution completely dedicated to the conservation of marine life was amazing all on its own. There are so many efforts being aimed at educating fishermen and locals about what can be done to protect endangered species. The people at CEDO are extremely passionate about oceanic life and can't help but do everything they can to spread conservation awareness.
Here are a few more pitctures and videos of some of our adventures and the organisms we fell in love with along the way.
On the left is the Decorator Crab. Their survival is based on their ability to cover themselves with other ocean organisms. Kudos- they can be tough to spot!
On the right is a snail with the operculum protecting it from us. Snails have a muscular foot they attach to this "shield" that they draw in when tides are low so they don't dry out or get eaten by predators.
Here we have the flat worm on the left. We found quite a few of these tidepooling and really came to appreciate their beauty in the water. Not only do they have awesome coloration, they move like little dancers with their almost pleat-like bodies.
The octupus find was huge for us! We actually found two of these pigmy octupuses that morning in the tidepools and could hardly get over it. So fascinating to watch their tube feet attach to the glass (or your hand!).
The sea lions were everything I had hoped for. I was lucky enough to go diving at Bird Island and they are absolute teases in the water. A big group of them would come up and surround us, watch us, and get within arms length only to do a sly twirl away with a kick of their fins.
The sea turtles at Cet Mar were a major part of what I was looking forward to on the trip! There were five of them in a large pool that would swim right up to you and let you pet them on the head and feel their shells. Dr. C rounded up some food for them as well that just so happened to look like human fingers. We were careful with that :)
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