lt of the oil spill, the Cedar Key Dolphin Project has decided to collect soil samples from the Gulf's muddy bottom. We are collecting core samples in 27 sites to check for any contaminants. It is unlikely that there are contaminants in the soil already, but as Cedar Key will be Stefanie's permanent study site, she will be able to check in future years how the pollutant levels change. This mini-project, while fairly simple to do, will be extremely useful in monitoring contaminants that could potentially destroy the town's livelihood.Collecting core sampling in Cedar Key water is difficult because of the murkiness. I was solely responsible for the loss of two cores because I simply lost sight of them underwater. The overall task of collecting a sample is less-than-pleasant. The water itself is (as I stated before) very murky, and it is at a whopping 95 degrees! Ew. It is not fun to be in water that is nearly the same temperature as your own body. It feels like you're swimming in spit! It is also very difficult to get footing in the muddy, mushy sea-bottom. I still feel, though, that I had the best deal of the three of us. I was responsible for all of the shallow cores, and Stefanie and Emily were responsible for the deep dives, since they are both diving certified. Apparently, diving in this water is a bit on the creepy side because it is so dark. It is hard to tell which way is up, down, left or right, but the water is at most 4 or 5 meters, so there is never a chance for real danger.
The best part of the core sampling day had nothing really to do with core sampling! As little nature lovers roaming the waters, we often stop and pick up any trash or leftover fishing gear in the water. On this day, we stopped to pick up a bobber, and to my surprise there was fishing line still attached. I p
ulled it in and pulled it in for quite a while (there was at least 100 ft of monofilament attached to this float) and just when I was starting to get impatient I felt the line pull back, away from the boat - something was still on the line! So I pulled harder, careful to not get cut by the line, and found that there was a shark at the other end! Just in time for shark week, hehe. We decided to pull it in to unhook it, but it broke free just as we were about to get it. Goodbye little sharky! It was nice meeting you :)So that was my first fishing experience. My first time fishing and I caught a shark, without a pole. Not bad if I must say so myself. I didn't leave the site totally unscathed though, because in the process of getting sharky out of the water the monofilament cut my arm - proof that I am a hardy fisherman, indeed.
