Located just south of Miami, the florida keys are a wonderful archipelago that is bustling with life and chemistry. In August of 2022 the Group, in collaboration with the Keys Marine Laboratory, had the privilege to do a sampling trip on the waters of the Florida Keys Marine Sanctuary.
Over the weekend, the team dove a total of 7 hours and reached a maximum depth of 91 feet.
After the team got to the first sampling site, our four divers (Stine, Dr. Baker, Sam and Ben Meister) plunged into the waters to collect invertebrates and cyanobacteria for new projects.
Down here it was easy to lose yourself in the beauty of the reef. Once rubble, these artificial reefs now form some of the most spectacular and biodiverse ecosystems in all of florida.
After six hours of diving, collecting samples and sea sickness, the team headed back to the Keys Marine Laboratory to process the samples of the day. Benjamin and Sam handled and identified the samples, while Sarah annotated. The samples were then passed off to Ezequiel to photograph and finally on to Sefat who made individual vouchers for each.
After the Sampling and processing had come to a close, a visit to the stunning beaches and a quick look at the Florida Keys Deer was all that was needed to wind down.
Special thanks to all the people at the keys marine laboratory who made our trip possible, as well as Ben Meister and Sam Affouloss for shooting these amazing pictures
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