Mangrove Adventures

After learning about mangrove and seagrass meadows the other day, we went and spent the morning exploring these habitats. We began our adventure at the Mangrove Information Center where we met up with our kayak tour guide. We were given a quick brief of what we were going to be doing since we did not have to do an overview of what mangroves are and their role in the ecosystem. One interesting thing we learned that was not directly related to mangroves was that the mural used to talk about mangroves had a 3D effect. So, we were given 3D glasses to see this effect. The brochures even were 3D, which most people do not know.

Following the briefing, we headed to the kayaks to explore the mangroves. Right off the bat, we entered into a tunnel of mangrove roots, which was slightly difficult to maneuver because the paddles were a bit too big. However, we managed to work our way through the tunnel into an open area. We continued to go through narrow passages to different open areas. So by the end, we were efficient at navigating through tight spaces.

After an hour or so, we reach a small bay, Puitu, to go snorkeling. We tied up the kayaks and snorkeled through a narrow passage to the small open bay. During this time, we were looking at epiphytes (i.e. plants that grow on other plants without harming it) and marine life. We saw a lot of juvenile fish species given that mangroves act as nurseries. A new species that we saw today were Cassiopea (upside down jellyfish). An hour later, we swam back to the kayaks to head back.

Shortly on our journey back to the center, we got into kayak wars. This was occurring throughout the whole trip but hit a high when we were leaving. We were trying to tip each other out of our kayaks, with some being more successful than others. I was on both sides. My kayak buddy and I tipped one of the groups, which in turn got us shortly after with the help of another group. Overall, today was a very fun day!

Kayaking with Heidi

One of the many narrow passages

Cassiopea