Your FAQs Answered!
By Anne Hill
As the Program Coordinator for MarineLab, I am the person most people are in contact with on a regular basis. It’s usually teachers and administrators, but parents will also reach out to me on occasion, and I enjoy speaking with and helping them to prepare their child (and sometimes themselves) for their adventure. To that end, we thought it might be helpful to have a blogpost featuring some frequently asked questions and the answers!
1. Where will they sleep?
MarineLab has ten dormitory rooms ranging in size from the smallest accommodating just 4 people (usually assigned to chaperones) to our four largest rooms, each accommodating up to 16. All rooms are air-conditioned and have air filtration systems. They are furnished with twin-size bunk beds. Rooms are segregated by school and gender, so a female student will share a room with her female classmates. Some schools require a chaperone of the same gender in the dorm rooms and others require chaperones to have rooms separate from the students. We follow each school’s guidelines. Our housekeeping staff work hard to keep the dorm rooms, restrooms, showers, classrooms, and common areas clean and disinfected.
One of the best parts of staying on our campus are the amazing sunrises over our beach every morning!
2. Can you accommodate special diets and food allergies?
Yes, we commonly provide gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, and vegan meals, to name a few. Our food service director does a great job of serving special meals similar to the regular menu so that those trays look a lot like what their friends are eating. For example, gluten-free pasta on spaghetti night, Vans waffles for breakfast, or Daya pizzas for lunch. He even makes special trips to the grocery store to pick up milk substitutes or lactose-free products. Uncommon allergies, like those to specific preservatives for example, are more difficult and we suggest that those guests may be more comfortable bringing along their known safe foods. Chaperones have access to a refrigerator for storing perishables or meds that need to be kept cold. Read about our amazing kitchen staff here.
Our kitchen staff, Andrew and Jeanette, work hard to make sure no one leaves our cafeteria hungry
3. How deep is the water?
Florida Bay, where most of our mangrove and seagrass excursions take place, is a relatively shallow body of water. The average depth is 4 to 5 feet. The coral reefs are on the ocean side of the Keys and several miles offshore. The reefs we frequent are generally less than 10 feet from the water’s surface, with the sandy bottom maybe 15 to 20 feet from the surface. At some sites, the reef is so close to the surface that you can’t snorkel over the top of some sections! Read more about our sites here.
4. Do they have to get in the water and snorkel?
Nope! But we do encourage everyone to give it a try. After all, that’s what makes a MarineLab trip special! All our field instructors are also Red Cross certified lifeguards. They are happy to give extra attention and encouragement to a nervous first-time snorkeler and have a great track record of turning even a timid non-swimmer into a confident snorkeler. But if anyone is completely against giving it a try, we are happy to outfit them with a life vest and let them enjoy the boat ride and watch their classmates in the water. (They cannot stay on campus unsupervised.) Read about our commitment to boat safety and water safety here.
Our staff is here to help any snorkelers, whether they’re mermaids in disguise or first time swimmers!
5. Are there fish in the water? (This is one of my favorite questions!)
Yes, and they are BEAUTIFUL! Many are vibrantly colored, and they come in all shapes and sizes. Florida Bay is a natural fish nursery, so we see many very young fry and juvenile fish amongst the mangroves where they can safely live and grow until they are bigger and ready to venture out toward the coral reefs and deeper water. Of course, we can’t guarantee what they will see, but it isn’t uncommon to encounter sea turtles, manatees, eagle rays, and dolphins (they like to play in the wake of our boats!). Read about why we love all of our critters here and here!
Snorkeling our reefs is like visiting an entirely different world!
I could go on and on, but space is limited! If I didn’t address the question(s) on your mind, please contact me! My email address is coordinator@marinelab.org or you can speak with me by calling 305-451-1139 extension 1.
Also, if you haven’t explored our website yet, you can learn a great deal about MarineLab there, read past blog posts, and even watch a video of what a typical MarineLab program looks like!