Port Royal Marine Lab and Boat Tour

On the last Sunday of October I went on another monthly trip with my friends in the One Love photography group on Flickr. The last trip was at the end of July when we went to Somerset Falls in Portland, Jamaica. This trip though was a little closer to home within Kingston’s city limits as we went on a more educational trip to the Port Royal Marine Lab. It was good to take a break from the long-haul trips into the country as Port Royal is just a short drive from my house.

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there was a Jamaica Coast guard naval base nearby

We were invited to join another local group focusing mostly on birds and their habitat called the Birdlife Jamaica who are not as active on Flickr but have frequent meetings and an existence dating back man decades. This trip was as uch about learning than it was about the photography as I learned so much more about mangroves, fishing, corals, fisheries, habited protection and so much more. Kind of reminds me of the trip to Black River a few months back but instead of mangroves along a river the ones are saw were along the coast and there was a hundred times more birds and boat ride was more relaxing without the crocodiles 😉

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Very interesting and educational presentation on the importance of mangroves

The Port Royal Marine Laboratory was founded in 1955 by Professor of Zoology, Dr. David Steven and was then sited at the Old Naval Dockyard, Port Royal. The present facility was built five years later by monies given to the University by the Commonwealth Development Welfare Fund.

This lobster was busy bouncing around in a tank

The Laboratory is ideally situated at the end of the Palisadoes Tombolo and within easy reach of a number of habitats and interesting research areas.  The Port Royal Cays and the Hellshire coast provide coral reef, seagrass and mangrove habitats in relatively pristine conditions.  The Kingston Harbour and the Port Royal Mangrove area has mangrove forests and lagoons and seagrass habitats in areas of high productivity.  The water column of these areas also provide opportunity for study of planktonic communities, fisheries etc.

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Inside a section of the lab there were various tanks and educational charts
The coolest thing I saw for the day – a Sea Anemone. Its an animal not a plant!
Heading out on the boat tour of the harbour – a section of Kingston in the background
my turn on the boat!
Wish I had a longer lense to get more bird shots
Second coolest thing for the day – a super speedy herbivorous mangrove dwelling crab

Port Royal Marine Lab – official site

[jamaica]

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