Fred Howard Park

The trip to Fred Howard Park took longer to get to than the other parks we visited. It was about a good 30 minute drive. I got a ride with one of the students and helped  navigate to get there. It was very sunny  throughout the whole trip without any rain. Even though we were outside for only a couple of hours, I got a lot of sunburn. At first we started off one one side where we used big nets to take out into the water. We held out the nets and then moved in a circle to try and trap any organisms inside the nets to observe them. It was hard to see but I did manage to observe a group of small fish. There were also some hermit crabs that some students found and were holding in their hands. After a while we went snorkeling on the same side of the park but on the opposite side of the road. I had some problems with the snorkeling gear because some water kept getting in. The water was cloudy but only when walking or just using your feet to move. So the best way to avoid that and keep the water more clear was just to keep your feet up and move with your hands. For the first half I didn't really see much of anything. When I got my snorkeling gear to work a bit better then I noticed more fish. I even saw this huge fish that scared me because I almost thought it was a shark. There was also this striped fish that was a decent size. A lot of the shallow water that we were in had an abundance of shoal grass. This type is usually in shallow waters because of its tolerance and how it's more flexible. The last part of the trip we went on the beach side that had people hanging out there. We learned about the sea wrack which makes the beach look bad because it's dead stuff that washed up. Though it is very important because it is eaten by the organisms. The dunes start behind the high tide line and is technically not part of the beach. Dunes are formed from wind carrying sand closer to land. The beach there looked good to go in but we ran out of time and wrapped it up for the day.