On the foggy morning of Saturday Feb. 21, Diablo Valley College oceanography students from both San Ramon and Pleasant Hill campuses came together in Antioch for a research field trip on the Sacramento and San Joaquin Delta.

Sixty students, professors Joe Gorga and Valerie Greene, and science instructors Hannah Towne, Naomi Deal, Chris Throm and Stephanie Weiner boarded a boat at 9 a.m. and departed the pier soon after students were oriented with safety demonstrations by one of the instructors.

Joe Gorga said the students collected and analyzed samples from local waterways. They collected and examined organisms and fish and measured water quality.

“It is a hands on experience for our students to act like an oceanographer,” he said.

Students were divided into four groups and were assigned to each experimental station. The water testing station tested student collected samples of water from the delta and identified the oxygen level, density, sanity and temperature. The plankton station retrieved live plankton specimens from the delta and students identified the various types.

At the mud station students collected mud from under the water and identified what kind of animals were in their samples. The fishing station was where students used a net to catch fish and classified each fish they caught.

Students spent 20 minutes at each station and then rotated so everyone got the chance to complete all the experiments.

Although they had to spend their Saturday doing school work, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves in the nice sunshine throughout the whole trip.