Five hundred and eighty days have passed since this adventure started. It seems like yesterday when we took that ferry for the first time, saw all the destruction left by the Hurricanes and began this journey that has let us discover some of the wonderful secrets of this island, its reefs and its lovely people. Outstanding data, a working team that will collaborate for life, and fantastic experiences make the memories of little inconveniences and difficult moments fade in the light of almost two years of absolute success. This trip marks the end of a great field experiment and the start of the exciting period of sample and data analysis, and integration.
Almost all of the main participants of this experiment were able to make it to this final trip: “El profe” (Dr. Sabat), who came to almost every trip even when all his students predicted that he would come only to the first (indication of how great this has been); Chema (Dr. Eirin-Lopez) with a similar situation, and even added a frequent visitor and active worker, Ana; Juan and Ivanna, our golden undergrads that have taken so many responsibilities and have always responded; and Alex, the champion that has missed only one trip and is the last one out of the water with me.
We missed some great people too, Claudia, Carlos, Sammy, Jaime, and many others that came and lend their hand and their knowledge to complete this experiment. Big THANKS to all that helped us in this endeavor, our success is due to all of you. We left Culebra with the certainty that we will be back sooner than later for another several hundred days to discover the many secrets of its reefs and continue the work to protect and restore it for future generations.