Great Barrier Reef Expedition 2020 - Day 3. Student highlights: Sophie White.

Meet Sophie White! She's one of the students joining us as we survey seagrass and coral habitats from Brisbane to Cairns. Sophie started the trip onboard Velella and will jump off when we reach Gladstone. This is her SEVENTH time with Science Under Sail! She loves marine conservation and will be attending JCU next year to do marine biology. Day 3 blog We woke at 5am and motored North. We tested our surveying gear whilst sailing through Hervey Bay. We used our new Trident drone to attempt to see the ocean floor to survey for seagrass. We definitely need a little more practice with it though. It was particularly challenging with 10-20 knot winds. We then set up the sled and were able to sample a few coordinates. We found seagrass! Around 5-10% of Halophila spinulosa. Once we got the surveying completed we motor sailed to Bundaberg to meet up with another one of our crew and meet tomorrows students from Bundaberg Christian College. We gave the students a safety briefing and said goodbye until 5am tomorrow morning! We then enjoyed some sundowners in the marina before having a great nights sleep!. Music: Bensound Video editing & footage: Anai Fien