Just about a year ago, my seventh grade class took a trip to Pigeon Key, FL to spend two days at a Marine Science Center. My school encouraged every student to go on the trip and after hours and hours of driving, we were greeted by many enthusiastic staff members excited to take us on the boat to Pigeon Key. When the boat arrived at the dock, I was immediately overwhelmed by the gorgeous scenery. Water wrapped around the island like a blanket, leaving only a small space for the buildings. At the time, there were a small amount of buildings on the island, housing a museum, multiple sleeping quarters, a small kitchen and outdoor dining room, a classroom, and other tiny structures. Almost immediately, we engaged in activities. We began by testing our swimming …show more content…
Through the classes, labs, and outdoor missions The Marine Science Center, in Pigeon Key, was just as it was advertised to my class: a Marine Science camp. We participated in several animal based adventures including tide pooling, which was my favorite animal-based adventure. I loved walking around the edges of the sea looking for small, oddball invertebrate. We worked in small groups and it was almost like my group was creating an extremely large collection of them. After an hour or two of intense searching, every team was called to a small tent to input their findings into the pool of invertebrates. Our groups best find was a couple of brittle stars, other teams found giant hermit crabs, sea slugs, and sea urchins. The most interesting animal was a large red starfish the staff members found previously, which I held. It was a bit larger than both of my hands put together, and was rough to the touch. After holding the starfish, I moved on to other sea creatures, each one more bizarre and attention grabbing than the last. At one point I actually kissed a sea cucumber (it’s said to bring good luck), which turned out to creepy and uncomfortable as I