1st Observation-Oceanographic Center

This morning at around 11 am, I visited Nova Southeastern's Oceanographic Center. It is located in Dania Beach and the John U. Llyod State Park is present in the area as well. The "OC" is as far back as you can go on the trail and resides right on the water. I got a mini tour of the center. When you first walk in, there is a lounge and classrooms. I immediately noticed a huge skeleton of a manatee. Since NSU has just recently received $15 million in federal stimulus money to build the country’s largest coral reef research center, there was a model for the new designs of the center. Classrooms were also in the OC, such as many labs. They had a plankton lab and a sponge lab. There were also turtle shells and skulls on display. Finally, outside of the OC in the back, there was the marina. NSU had many boats with the logo on it and were used for all types of research out in the field. I also found out that Lance Robinson runs all of the dive programs from the OC and is the Harbor master.