Participants and staff on the beach at Masonboro Island.

Water sampling was done in marshes...                              

... and in estuaries, as well as upstream in residential areas.

Mapping of sample sites with GPS and topographic maps kept everyone on target.

Water samples were analyzed at the Sedimentology Lab of UNCW's Earth Sciences Department.

...and sample points and land cover were overlayed with GIS at the Spatial Analysis Lab in UNCW.

Elevation profiles of the beach were measured at several sites prone to beach erosion.

Core samples of the beach were collected...                       

Core samples showed signs of hurricane overwash and beach renourishment. 

We took time out, to visit the Carolina Beach State Park to see the carnivorous plants, such as the Venus Flytrap shown here.  They are hard to spot at first, but once you get the search image, you are surrounded!

A friendly Karate lesson was always likely to pop up, wherever we went.  We were the safest and most scientifically savvy group around!

Everyone was able to get their feet wet with water quality analysis and GIS, not to mention that they really got their feet wet, too!