Though only a few left, today was another beautiful and amazing day on Moorea. The day started off with a hearty breakfast of eggs, ham, bread, and off-brand cereal. It was all delicious. This day we had plans to go touring around the island and go on a hike to visit the Afareaitu waterfall. After breakfast was over, we all got in the Mercedes van (I didn’t know they made vans) and the rental car and headed off. On our way, we saw parts of the island that we had not yet seen. Everyone soaked in the new and beautiful views along the way. Almost to the hiking spot, we made a stop by a big statue of a tribal-esque man kneeling. Of course we had to get pictures with it. A nice man offered to take a picture of the class. It turned out that he was the owner of a beach front called Pineapple Beach right behind the statue. We also found out that the statue was of him when he was eighteen (he must’ve shrunk with age because that was a big statue). He decided to give the class a tour of the beach front huts. The view from that beach left many of us breathless. He told us tales of the Tahitian god of creation and told of how he has owned the beach for around twenty years. After a short stay and a few more interesting stories, we said goodbye and were off to hike. Though not as long as the previous hike, it was still just as amazing and beautiful, and it was perfect weather for a hike. We hiked up the mountain for about fifteen minutes until arriving at the waterfall. The falls went very high up. The water at the bottom caught the eye of some of the students. Given most had their swimsuits on, some went in the water to cool off from the hike and some to take pictures of the eels and other life in this small pool.
After the hike, we continued our tour around the island. We stopped at a Tahitian supermarket called Champion to pick up some much needed snacks after the hike up the mountain. People got everything from tropical juice to pizza bagel bites. Once everyone had some more energy from the snacks, we continued the tour around the island. The final stop of the tour was at a beach called Temae Beach. This spot was incredible. It had clear blue water, a white sand beach, and on-water hotel huts. Everyone took pictures of this amazing view.
Once the tour was over, we ate a delicious lunch and the groups all began to work hard to finish up their experiments. The UV group finished all of the fish eye dissections and was ready to start preparing the eye parts to put in the spectrophotometer to test for UV detecting ability. The pair bond observations group finished all of their data collection of pair bonding between Butterfly fish and began with typing the first draft of the final paper. The lizard group also finished all of their data collection with trail runs of geckos on substrates and started working on their paper.
With the end nearing, everyone is savoring their last days on beautiful Moorea and working hard to make the experiments turn our great!
-David Paternite
After the hike, we continued our tour around the island. We stopped at a Tahitian supermarket called Champion to pick up some much needed snacks after the hike up the mountain. People got everything from tropical juice to pizza bagel bites. Once everyone had some more energy from the snacks, we continued the tour around the island. The final stop of the tour was at a beach called Temae Beach. This spot was incredible. It had clear blue water, a white sand beach, and on-water hotel huts. Everyone took pictures of this amazing view.
Once the tour was over, we ate a delicious lunch and the groups all began to work hard to finish up their experiments. The UV group finished all of the fish eye dissections and was ready to start preparing the eye parts to put in the spectrophotometer to test for UV detecting ability. The pair bond observations group finished all of their data collection of pair bonding between Butterfly fish and began with typing the first draft of the final paper. The lizard group also finished all of their data collection with trail runs of geckos on substrates and started working on their paper.
With the end nearing, everyone is savoring their last days on beautiful Moorea and working hard to make the experiments turn our great!
-David Paternite
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