By Ronica Stromberg
Lindsey Chizinski and Rene Martin, faculty members in the School of Natural Resources, took 14 students to the Bahamas January 9-16, 2025, in a study abroad on marine ecology. In this second trip to North and South Bimini islands, they again saw sharks, stingrays and sweet success.
"Rene and I said after our first year that there was no way another trip could top the experience. We were wrong," Chizinski said. "The energy and excitement of the students was overwhelmingly positive both times.”
The Nebraska team safely viewed bull sharks up close from inside a cage suspended from a dock. They fed southern stingrays on the Honeymoon Harbor sand flat. At high tide, they viewed sharks like the Caribbean black tip and black nose in seagrass. At low tide, they checked out crabs, octopi, starfish, eels and fish in tidepools. They snorkeled at coral reefs, mangroves known to be popular with young lemon sharks, and shipwrecks and plane wrecks.
"One of the most awe-inspiring trips is a snorkel over a sand flat where endangered great hammerheads gather to feed," Chizinski said. "We’ve been lucky to see these incredible fish on both trips and also an abundance of nurse sharks."
Follow the rest of the story and see more photos from the trip at
https://snr.unl.edu/aboutus/what/newstory.aspx?fid=1225
Read a companion story about one of the student participants, Keegan Dunn, who combines science and artistry in photography
at https://newsroom.unl.edu/announce/snr/18455/100425