Back to New York!

     A look back into our trip.

Our final picture in Puerto Rico.

This is such a beautiful island. We don't want to leave but we have to go back to school tomorrow.
Thank you Puerto Rico for a wonderful experience. Everyone treated us with such loving care.
A special thank you to Dragonfly Tours and the Grand Melia Hotel.

Our last meal before leaving the hotel.

Sleeping Beauties!

This is our last day here and these kids have been working so hard. This is what the entire bus looked like at the end of each day.

William is showing off the seashells he found on the beach.

The Arecibo Observatory

We visited the largest Radio Telescope in the world today.  It measures 1000 feet in diameter.  This telescope was originally built to study our atmosphere but later scientists learned that it can also be used to study other objects in space.  The students in the picture are observing how clouds are formed.

Observing the elements chart.

           Here we can see Xing, Mengi, Ashley, and Elided working on the bus.  Everyone was required to take notes during the tours, complete assignments, and update their journals after each activity.
                       
           Some couldn't keep up!

The Camuy Caves

The Rio Camuy Cave Park is the third largest cave system in the world.  Made up of natural limestone, it was once in the Caribbean Sea about 160 million years ago.

This is Cueva Clara.  We rode a trolley to the entrance where we then walked through several caves 

filled with stalagmites and stalactites.

Walking by stalactites at the entrance to the caves.

                                                   Here we can see the Camuy River.

The Bioluminescent Bay at Laguna Grande.

These Red Mangroves are found along shorelines , bays, and lagoons.  It is important to protect these mangroves because they sustain a variety of species that are threatened or endangered.

We saw microscopic dinoflagellates that lit up to a blue-green color when they felt movement in the water.  It was incredible!  Laguna Grande is the best place in the world to see them because this is where they are most abundant.  There can be up to 750,000 dinoflagellates in 1 cubic foot of water.

    We had a quick lesson on proper kayaking, then headed off into the Bay.

This was after one of the groups went on the bio-bay tour.  

Fauna in the Rainforest.

Below is a slug that we saw on a leaf.  Next to it are her eggs.

Flora encountered during our rainforest trip.