SCUBA certified

I am now officially an open water diver!!! It was so incredible brething underwater. I thought I would be nervous and freak out because of the equiptment, but I love it!! It is such an amazing experience. I am so happy I went through with the course.

On sunday, Luke and I went bonefishing in Deep Creek with the local bonefishing guide. He is my buddy, we always dance at all the local festivals. He wanted to take us out bonefishing since I have never caught one before. He has been a guide for 60 years. I didn't catch any fish, but we saw some huge schools. It was an awesome day!

Morning Training- June 28, 2011

Today Niels and I decided to do some free diving training. Since he squeezed his lungs last time, he is slowly working his way back to free diving again. The Nurse shark team (Jana, Niels, Zack, and Grace) went over to the boat house around 7:30 before breakfast. We started out with some breathing excercises that Niels showed us. There was this cool one that stretches out your lungs, it felt so cool. Then we went into the water for some practice. We found some cinderblocks under the water. We all had one and ran at the bottom of the ocean. I felt straight out of Blue Crush the movie. It was so cool. There is a film crew here with National Geographic’s filming a project aquaculture is working on, and the camera man saw us out there this morning, so he got in the water and took underwater footage of Niels. Apparently now that Niels and the camera guy are friends he is going to come out with us on Thursday when we tag sharks and get footage of us. After we did our swimming, we headed to breakfast. There is an educational program here of kids ranging from 9-13 year olds, they are awesome. I sat with them for breakfast; they had me laughing this morning.

After breakfast it was out into the field. Zack and I just had to do Paige this morning. We only saw one shark. It is beginning to be the end of mating season, so we are seeing fewer sharks. When I got back from the field I sat in the octagon (which is the common room in between the dorms) and entered data. I sat on a couch that was right in front of a window so I entered data while being touched by the tranquility of the magical sea breeze. Matt, a kid from South Africa, gave me some of his music, most of which I have never heard of before. So I was expanding my horizons and listening to peaceful music while entering nurse shark data.

Today was all in all a great day. I was hyped up and had a lot of energy. This afternoon I went to powell point with Niels. We only saw one shark. After we were done observing we swam for a little bit at 4^th hole before heading back to campus. When we got back to campus I thought it would be fun to do some yoga on the beach. Zack led me, Jana, Grace, and two other girl interns in some amazing yoga on the beach. It was so peaceful and amazing. Then after yoga Grace, Zack and I did a beach workout consisting of 6 minute abs, squats, pushups, lunges, and triceps dips. I took an outside shower after our workout and brushed the dreads out of my hair. Then I went and lay down at the beach in my towel and enjoyed the beautiful breeze.

Dinner time was fun; I sat with the little kids again. They all are beginning to feel comfortable with me. They were having a bon-fire on the beach tonight, and I was invited to attend! We played games around the fire for a while until it was time for them to get ready for bed. After that Zack and I went to the mentor’s apartment to hang out with them. Mentors are Island School alumni who return to help out with the current Island school kids. Then it was off to bed, I have the long haul tomorrow.

Free Diving

Today was a half day of work. Got to the lab entered some data at 7, until it was breakfast time! Today I went out into the field with Grace and Niels. We went to Powell Point and Kemps creek today. It was a good morning; I got to know Grace better. She is a really cool girl. We only saw one shark today, nothing too exciting in the shark world.

After lunch Niels had the idea to go free diving. I always love going out with them because it is so beautiful to watch. They stay under water for over a minute. It is amazing. Niels, Justin, Matt, Zack, Jana, and I packed up the boat and headed out into the ocean. The first place we dove was called hole in the wall. There is a hole about 80 feet down and then there is a cave that is about 30 feet in length. Justin and Matt went through the hole, it was incredible. I always love going to watch them. I haven’t quite figured out how to equalize the pressure, so I can’t go down far. I love going out with them because I always practice, seeing how far I can go down. They speared a few lionfish, and then we headed to a shallower spot. Niels started spitting up some blood so we moved to shallower water to catch some more lionfish. He looked it up later and found out that his lungs got squeezed because of the pressure.

The second spot we went to was so beautiful. There were reefs everywhere, and it wasn’t too deep so I could dive down. Zack and I both finally got the hang of free diving. Zack explained to me how he equalized the pressure, and I finally got it. I experienced the real feeling of free diving today. It was so fascinating. I went down about 35 feet, which isn’t too deep compared to the boys, but I was stoked… baby steps. When you go down you can hear everything, it is crazy. It is such an incredible feeling being in the water and hearing everything around you. I was so happy to have finally figured out free diving!

After the second dive, we decided to head in and clean the lionfish the boys speared. They got a total of 9 lionfish. Once we cleaned the fish, we all went our own ways to get ready for the Junkanoo festival tonight. Matt cooked some of the lionfish, so I stopped by and had a few bites. He cooked it with butter, garlic, and passion fruit on top. It was so tasty. Then we had pizza for dinner. The pizza here is amazing, the bread is whole wheat and they don’t put too much sauce on it. I would have to say it is on my top 3 favorite pizzas!

After dinner we all loaded up in a van and headed to Tarpum Bay, which is another settlement about 35 minutes down the island. The festival was great, it was like all the other festivals I have been to here (conch fest, homecoming, and beer fest). Bahamian music, alcohol, and good vibes. We had to leave at 11 to be back on campus by 12, so we missed the junkanoo, but hopefully there will be another one. When we got back we all went swimming in the ocean!

Matt, Zack, Niels, and Justin going free diving

In my element

All the lionfish we caught

The Nurse shark team at the Junkanoo festival

Slacking... sorry!

Sorry I have been slacking lately with this blog... When I say lately, I mean the past 2 weeks. Hopefully I will get some down time today to catch everyone up! Everything is still amazing, and I am still having the time of my life. My time here is becoming shorter, and I am getting sad about it. Stay tuned for more detail about my past two weeks to come!!

Bonefishing- June 12, 2011

I went for a run this morning with Zack. We both almost died, it was so hot today. I looked as if I had just gotten out of the water, completely drenched. We did a little walking during our run, so we didn’t pass out. Once we made it back to the dorms we headed straight for the water. It was so refreshing. I grabbed a float and lay in the water for about 30 minutes. Then it was time for lunch. Which I was super excited about because that meant that it was almost time for bonefishing!!!!

After lunch, I went back to my room and gathered my bonefishing attire and gear. Then I headed to the boat house to load up. Justin was the captain for the afternoon, he is from Freeport, Bahamas. He works on the flats program, really nice kid. Luke also came along. He is here for the summer interning with the flats program. We are in a competition to see who catches their first bonefish. On our way out we picked up Molly’s dad (the girl who used to be a shark intern here, and came to visit on her yacht) and his friend Dave. It was quite the fishing crew. We took the boat over to a place called Poison’s Flats and started our adventure.

Justin walked with me to help me spot the bonefish and talk my through it if I were to catch one. We walked for about 3 hours and only saw 1 bonefish. He said that there used to be large schools on bonefish in this area. Noone caught anything so we headed to Broad creek which apparently always has bonefish. We saw mud, so we poled over and let Andrew (Molly’s dad) have a cast. There was  a large school of them in the mud, but they spooked and left. We didn’t have a successful fishing day, but it was quite an experience. It was awesome just to be out there and see what it is like. I was able to cast while I was walking, so that was nice. Justin said I had a nice cast, he was impressed. Thanks to my grandpa Pop, I didn’t embarrass myself. Here are a few pictures of the bonefishing experience.

The crew

 This is the Intern Crew (Luke, me, and Justin)

Justin poling us around

After dinner, Andrew and Dave invited us over to the yacht to have a beer since we didn’t catch any fish. So, we all headed over there to hang out. We had a few beers before the rest of the crew showed up. We decided to have a bon-fire on the beach that evening. We set it up right on the point looking out from the marina. It was a fun night, but it wasn’t too late of a night because it was the long haul for me tomorrow. I have to do Plum, Deep, and Broad creek in the morning.



Sunrise Beach- June 11, 2011

Everyone was moving a little slow this morning after a long night of dancing! There were not many people who came to breakfast. We had pancakes and granola with yogurt. After breakfast Niels and I were headed out into the field. I did sites that I have not done before. We started at Kemps then went to Powell point which had 4 sites that we had to observe and take measurements. We didn’t see any sharks, just a few people. Powell point is located by the marina, so there are a lot of people. It was extremely hot today and very humid. I ran out of water pretty quick. We made our way back to campus around 12:30 to catch the end of lunch. Today we had pizza, spaghetti, and of course vegetables.

After lunch we sat around for a while until some of the interns decided to go hang out at Sunrise beach for the afternoon. It was such a good day, we all just laid around under little cabanas in paradise. It was exactly what I needed for the afternoon. After we were there for a few hours we decided to go jump in the cut. It is a little canal type structure that runs through the marina. The tide pushes through pretty fast, so you jump in an float down. We jumped off a bridge into the water. I busted out some of my old diving moves from when I used to dive. I busted out some flips, it was fun. It was getting close to dinner time, so we biked back to campus. Katelynne, Zack, and I ate on the rooftop. It was so perfect, like always it took my breath away. I will have to take a picture from up there next time, so you can see the beauty.

After dinner we hung around the octagon for a bit. I was able to skype my mom! I got to talk to Bo, Gaga, Pop, and the dogs. It was so nice! When I came back all the boys decided to go for a float in the water outside the dorms. It was really buggy outside so that was the only way to escape them. We played with the waboba ball, which is a ball that skids across the water. We also had a mixture of cranberry and rum, also known as “crum.” We were all just laughing and having a good time in the water as the sun went down. The moon was so beautiful, it reflected on the water. It was a bit cloudy, but it was still amazing. An intern was in town that used to work on the shark team. She is very wealthy and came over with her dad on a beautiful yacht. About 10 of the interns rode our bikes to the marina and hung out on the boat. It was air conditioned, so we were enjoying that. First time I have felt air conditioning in 11 days. We stayed for a while, mostly talking with her dad. He was a really cool fellow, he grew up in the Bahamas. The boat was so beautiful. Down below there were 3 bedrooms, one king size bed, one queen, and then a bunk room. Upstairs was the kitchen, and living room. It was so beautiful. It made you feel drunk being on the boat because of the rocking. I eventually got used to it and it started to relax me. Later in the evening we rode our bikes back to school, I was accompanied by Matt and Luke, two boys who live in the CEI dorms.

This is the Mac Daddy, the boat we hung out on.

Table Tennis Tournament Day- June 10, 2011

This morning I slept in a little bit, we didn’t have anything too crazy today, so I stayed in bed until 7:30. All the other girls did as well, it was a slow morning. Not to mention it was stormy outside again. Breakfast was oatmeal and delicious bread. I put peanut butter and raisins in my oatmeal, it was so good, I think it is my new favorite way to eat oatmeal. After breakfast Niels and I headed to Paige creek in the rain. Jana and Zack were doing the long haul to Plum, deep, and Broad creek. I felt bad for them because the skies were black, I wouldn’t want to ride all the way out there on bikes and get caught in the storm. We took our measurements at Paige and walked back down the beach to find a total of 5 sharks. We observed the first two for ten minutes, and collected substrate samples. Then we observed the next 3 sharks. They were not very active today. They rested on the bottom the whole time we observed them. We saw a lot of star fish today in the water. It was the first time I have seen them in this area. In between observations, we played with them! Once we were done observing, we headed back to the lab. I entered the data and Niels worked on our homemade net. After I entered the data, I looked up table tennis rules so I would be prepared for tonight’s event! The invitation is so hilarious that Matthew sent out to everyone. Hopefully I can attach it. Today we had spaghetti for lunch, along with vegetables. After lunch there wasn’t much to do, so I tried to catch up on some blogging and just relaxed in the octagon. After a while I decided to go on an adventure run. I went through these crazy paths with trees all around me, luckily I made it out alive. I did my sit ups/beach workout on the sand and headed for the shower. It is time to get ready for the table tennis tournament.

 The tournament in action

This was the bracket... official

We had a good turnout for table tennis; there was probably about 15 people. It was so fun; they had a bracket written out and everything. It was a double elimination, round robin tournament. We all had nicknames too, mine was Hayden the Maiden. After the tournament we had a banquet to go to, it was the end of the year party. Basically everyone lets loose and celebrates the work they have done for the semester. I got to see the Maxey’s; they were there for a little bit. There was delicious food, they had conch, ribs, chicken, a beautiful fruit platter, and some other things. During the banquet they gave out recoginition to people who were interning and helping out for the semester. Then it turned into a giant dance party at the boat house. It was an eventful evening!

The crew chowing down on some delicious food

The dance party at the boat house

Rainy Day- June 9, 2011

This morning I was going to wake up and go for a run, but I wasn’t feeling very motivated. There were clouds moving in, it was going to be a rainy day. Zack and I got caught up on all the data sheets. We entered in all the behaviors, substrate sample information, and the environmental conditions. We worked on that until lunchtime. After lunch we worked in the lab some more until we got bored. We are in the process of making a net to capture the nurse sharks for tagging them. We talked to a man named Wes Pratt who is doing nurse shark studies in Florida and he said that he specially ordered a dip net to catch the sharks where he is. However, we don’t have money to do that, so we decided to improvise. We made the structure out of wood from an invasive species of tree. It is hard to explain the design, so I will attach a picture, but it is going to be awesome… If it actually works! I am manifesting it will work, and it will be super cool that we made it ourselves!

After we got done with lab work, I decided to go for a run in the rain. Zack accompanied me this time! We ran down to the Marina and around to sunset beach, which is like a 30 minute run. It was really windy, so it was difficult running back towards campus. After our run we did situps and stuff on the beach in front of the dorms. I took a dip in the water then took a shower.

Tonight we have book club. Niels was in charge this week of providing us with the material we were going to discuss. He picked a Ted talk about mushrooms and how they can help save the world. It was extremely interesting. I definitely recommend watching it. http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world.html. After the video the interns decided to play a drinking game with some cards. We all sat around and played together, drinking whiskey and enjoying some delicious pineapple! It was really fun hanging out with everyone. People are starting to open up and be more accepting of us new interns. After our game, we started playing ping pong on the tables that are in the room. This sparked an idea to have a table tennis tournament tomorrow. Some of the boys made an invitation and sent it out to everyone. I was chosen to be the umpire! Haha. After a game of ping pong, I was off to bed.

Finally a morning Run- June 8, 2011

I decided it would be a good idea to run this morning considering I didn’t have to bike ride for an hour and 45 minutes today, along with 3 hours of walking creeks. So I woke up right around 7 and went to our morning meeting in the lab. That didn’t last long because we had everything figured out and ready to go. Today I was feeling super lazy and tired, I don’t know if it was from biking so much the past two days or what, but I needed to do something to wake me up. I went for a run up the island a little ways before breakfast.

Breakfast was delicious this morning. We had granola with yogurt, and I put jelly in with mine, I believe it is my new favorite breakfast! It was so refreshing and perfect. After breakfast, Jana and I were off to observe Paige creek (the closest creek to the dorms). Thankfully! It was dead low tide, so it was an easy walk across the flats. We didn’t see any sharks until after we took measurements at the waypoint. We were walking back to our bikes when we saw 3 sharks. They were just circling around, not doing anything too exciting. After our observations, we headed back to the lab to work on other parts of the experiment.

We have been trying to figure out a way to dry our samples of substrate, so we talked to the head of aquaponics to see if we could use his contraption. It is a solar oven, I will try to remember to take a picture and post it on here. We tested out some wet sediment to see if it would dry and it worked. Then, I worked on getting the spreadsheet organized so that we could start entering all our data we have been collecting. We sat in the lab and worked until lunchtime. I’ve been slacking on writing down what we have been doing the past few days, so I can’t really remember what we had for lunch.

The afternoon was designated to lab time. We got most of the lab work done earlier, so we had the afternoon to wonder and have some down time. I caught up on some blogging and just relaxed. Truly I can’t remember what else we did. Dinner time came along, I was on dish crew, so I helped get all the food out, and I wash the dishes after. We watched a movie in the octagon then went to bed.

Offshore Sharking-June 7, 2011

This morning we had to be at the boathouse at 7, ready to go on the boat. The nurse shark team, Jana, Niels, Zack and myself took a day off and helped out the offshore team. We loaded the boat up and headed out to the wall. The wall is a spot where the continental shelf just drops off hundreds of meters. It acts as a feeding aggregation for fish, so Caribbean reef sharks hang out there. When we got to the spot, we prepared everything to put out the long lines. There were different tasks that had to be done in order to complete the process. The first person had to drive the boat, another person had to take data. Someone threaded out the rope of the long line, and another person clipped on the hook lines to the rope that was going in the water. The fifth person was unhooking the lines from the bucket and handing the hooks to the sixth person to put cut up bonita on the hook. I was the person unhooking the line and handing the hooks to the person who was baiting. After the line was completely out, we went over to the cage and anchored. The cage is a huge cage underwater that contains cobia. We got to jump out of the boat and snorkel around it. I couldn’t go down to where the cage was, because it was too deep, but it was huge! After we sat for almost 90 minutes, we prepared the boat to pick up the line.

On our first set, we didn’t catch anything, we got skunked. The second set we set out in a different spot. Same process as before, however I was the data recorder instead! We anchored in a sandy spot, closer to shore with some small rock structures at the bottom that contained some fish and coral. I snorkeled for a little then took a lovely meditation nap on the boat. I didn’t fall asleep, but I was so relaxed by the swaying of the boat and the warm, perfect sea breeze. We didn’t catch any sharks, but we saw several swimming under the boat. We had a few bycatch this time. I brought in one of the bycatch, the remora! We measure the bycatch and record the measurements. After that, we headed in for lunch.

After lunch, I had to prepare myself for the long haul again… Round 2!! This time I went with Jana. It was a little more overcast today, so it wasn’t as hot. We saw one shark at Plum Creek, it just rested the bottom, nothing too exciting. Like always there was nothing at Deep creek. Then we rode our bikes to Broad Creek which normally always has sharks. We saw 7 sharks that afternoon. I didn’t get to sit down with them today, but it was cool being in a cove with them as they swim right by us. It is so peaceful walking these different creeks, there is nothing around but the sharks, water, and us! So awesome.

After observing for a while it was time to head back to catch dinner. I helped out with some dishes then headed back to the Octagon to hang out with the interns. We watched Ace Ventura Pet Detective before we went to bed.

Mating Sharks- June 6, 2011

Today starts the first day of a long week. We have a schedule and every day this week, we will be going out into the field. We split up into 2 teams. Each team goes to specific creeks in the morning and afternoon. Today Niels and I are going to Paige in the morning, then the long haul to Plum, Deep, and Broad Creek. I will be mentally preparing for this bike ride all day! This morning we met in the lab at 7 am, we discussed a few things and gathered the equipment. Then at 8:15 we were off to breakfast. This morning we sat on the rooftop and enjoyed a lovely breakfast of oatmeal!

After breakfast we were off to our different creeks. At every creek there is a certain spot we have to take measurements. We record environmental data such as: cloud cover, wind speed/direction, and water temperature. Then we record more scientific data such as: Dissolved Oxygen, Salinity, pH, and we record the GPS point. Once we measure all of that at the specific point, we walk along the shore keeping our eyes out for nurse sharks. Typically you can see their dorsal fins in the water because they are found in generally shallow water. Especially the females, they go as shallow as they can to hide from the males. When we were at Paige we saw about 2 sharks in one area so we observe them for 10 minutes. We write down everything they do and the time. Their behaviors usually entail resting, swimming parallel to the shore, swimming deep/shallow, and circling. However when there is a male present they are usually trying to mate so there are different behaviors we look out for. They will bump the female attempting to bite on to the pectoral fin. I only know this because I got to experience it today. There was one female nurse shark and about 4 males, they were all bumping her and biting onto her pectoral fins. It was so neat to watch, I have never seen anything like it. There were two males attached to each of her pectoral fins, they had flipped her onto her back. The other two males were either circling the female or trying to grab ahold for themselves. We watched this process for about 30 minutes. Then the mating process was over. I am not sure the details about nurse shark mating, so I will have to do some research but it definitely was an interesting thing to watch. They just roll around in the water, tails flying in the air. It is so cool. I took a video of it.

After our observations at Paige, we biked back to campus because it was about lunchtime. I forgot what we had to lunch but I am sure it was vegetables, rice, and something else. Niels and I headed out for our LONG adventure to take measurements of the far out creeks. It took us 40 minutes to ride our bikes to the first site. Keep in mind we are riding beach cruisers, with no gears, and all our equipment on our back in the middle of the day. Once we got to Plum creek we went for a little swim before we walked the beaches. Plum creek is breathtaking, so it was worth the bike ride. Deep Creek and Plum are all on one stretch of beach so that walk was a total of 2 hours. We took our measurements in the 2 spots and walked the beach; however there were no sharks present. We made it back to our bikes and got ready to bike to the next creek. The bike time to the next creek was about 20 minutes. We got a little adrenaline rush at the third creek (Broad Creek) because we saw some sharks! The sun was starting to get low, so it was a beautiful late afternoon light. The sharks were so cool, they let us just sit next to them and pet them. It was crazy. This is where my profile picture came from. Once we observed and took sediment samples we decided we should make our way back because it was dinner time. We peddled back so fast so we would make it in time before the kitchen closed. We barely made it! We were so exhausted once we returned.

After dinner we worked in the lab for a little bit then we went to the octagon to settle down for bed. A few of the interns were watching a funny British comedy show. So I stayed awake and watched that. I also got to skype Morgan tonight! Then it was off to bed for another long day.

Day of Rest- June 5, 2011

Today I made my way back to CEI around 11 o’clock. I headed straight for the water as soon as I got home. After lunch Jana, Zack and myself decided to ride our bikes down to sunset beach and relax in the water. There was no one around, and the water was fantastic. There were some hammocks between some trees and I took a little nap. After we were there a bit, another intern named Justin came down to the beach and told us he was going to high rock. High rock is an area that has a little cliff that people jump off of into the  ocean. We all jumped in and snorkeled along the cliffs for about an hour. There were little caves that you could swim into, it was so cool.

After High rock, we rode our bikes back to campus. I headed for the beach outside my dorm and laid in the shade. I took a lovely nap, the ocean breeze put me to sleep. Nothing too eventful happened today. We had dinner then watched some shows in the Octagon with all the other interns.

Research Begins- June 4, 2011

This morning we had a meeting at 7 in the wet lab to gather gear and get ready for the field because we are starting our first day of research. Our meeting went real quick, so I decided to skip out on breakfast and go for a run. I ran down a road that leads to this beautiful beach called 4^th hole which apparently has good snorkeling. There is also a cliff that you can jump off right down another road. I didn’t run all the way down to the beach because it is quite a ways, definitely need a bike for that. After my run I did sit-ups and push-ups on the beach right in front of my dorm and then dipped in the ocean to get the sweat off of me. Then I showered and got dressed for a poster presentation. The Island school students were presenting their semester long research. We walked around that for a bit, asking them questions and looking at what they have completed. It truly was amazing. Their posters were what I have to do for my senior thesis.

After the posters, we geared up to go to Paige Creek (which is the closest sampling site to the school). We gathered the gear and rode our bikes to the destination. Once we got there we walked the shoreline, constantly looking for nurse sharks off the beach. We spotted one within 5 minutes. When we see a shark, we observe it for ten minutes and write down all the different behaviors it completes along with the times. Then once we are done observing we go to where the shark is and measure water depth, estimate the shark’s length, take pictures of a quadrat to see the different things that live in the area, then we take a substrate sample. That completes the process of what we do every day. So we continued that process for 2 more sharks then made our way back to lunch.

We were a little late, but thankfully they still had the food out. We had tacos today! We have had some delicious food. I was supposed to go out on the boat with the Maxey’s however Niels said we had a few things to do right after lunch, so I couldn’t go. But, Jana, Zack and me went on a little adventure. We rode our bikes to 4^th hole and snorkeled for a while. It was lovely. Another intern showed up on his own, he works with the bonefish. I am making friends with them so they will take me out on their project one day! The guys who works with bonefish are cool and they seem to like me and think it is cool I have an interest in the fish. So we all just hung out for a bit on the beach after snorkeling and talked… in paradise. Then on our way home we rode our bikes by the marina. They have a cut that runs to the marina and it is always flowing water through. So we jumped off a bridge into the cut and floated down the cut. Then after a few times of that we headed home to nap and relax before the big night ahead of us. I am going to lie down on a lawn chair outside my dorm on the beach. There is a beautiful breeze, so hopefully I will fall asleep for a little bit.

Dinner time… 6:15. I ate a salad made from fresh lettuce grown by the aquaculture crew, delicious. After dinner we made our way to Chris Maxey’s house for a cocktail party. He lives right on a marina, which is at the very end of the island (it is called Powell Point). There were a bunch of alumni there because they were having a meeting this weekend. It was cool to talk to them and hear their stories. I also met a very interesting man named Philip Miller. He had done a lot for the Island school. Apparently at one point he was an ambassador for China. He is from Crooked Island, which has a population of 300 people. Everyone has left the island. Mr. Miller said that they Island is so beautiful, he wanted us to come visit.

After a few hours at Maxey’s house, we all piled in the van and headed to the conch fest! Everybody was drinking and having a blast. I met a man named Alfred, who was 76. He is a bonefish guide. We danced together for a while! Around 1 or 2 in the morning, we all headed to Ian’s house to continue the party. It was fun to hang out with all the interns and staff, everybody was getting wild. I don’t know how I was still awake but some of us ended up going to a local bar, I think the 6 of us that went were the only white people, it was awesome. We danced there for a bit then headed back to Ian’s to crash.

Getting Organized- June 3, 2011

This morning I was awake at 6 with the sun. I went back to sleep until 6:30, then I decided to go for a run. I put on my shoes and headed for an adventure. I ran down towards the marina where sunset beach is located. It was a beautiful run and when I got to the beach, I did some sit-ups in the sand then went for a swim. I threw back on my shoes and ran back to the dorm. It was a great way to start my day.

Breakfast was at 8:15 like every day… They had French toast, yogurt, fresh squeezed orange juice, and sliced mangos. Right after breakfast we skyped with Edd Brooks, who is in charge of all the shark research here. I met him while I was visiting in December; he is very knowledgeable about sharks. We are kind of running around with our heads cut off because the kid Niels, who is in charge of the Nurse Shark project doesn’t have his project finalized. So, the past two days we have been running around doing nothing. It is starting to make me a bit frustrated, so I have been trying to do everything to start the project.

After our skype call with Edd, we rode our bikes to Paige Creek to see if we could observe any sharks. We walked the shoreline and saw 2 nurse sharks and 3 juvenile lemon sharks. I started to get excited to actually go out and observe and take measurements because I could see the sharks well in the water before anyone else did. After we walked the shoreline we headed back and rode our bikes back to the lab. We were supposed to start getting the gear ready for tomorrow, however the students are doing interviews everywhere so there was no place for us to work. So, once again we are wondering around doing nothing… looking lost.

Lunchtime is always fun. Today we had a baked potato and salad. It was delicious. The Maxeys surprised me and were at lunch, so it was good to see them! They were happy to see me here. We have made plans to have dinner Tuesday night, so that will be nice! Today I ate lunch on the rooftop which has an amazing view of the water. I can’t describe how incredible it is. I will take a picture and try to attach it. I ate with a kid Luke who I met today, he works with the bonefish team. I was talking to him and told him I wanted to go out with them one day and see what they do. He was super nice and laid back. I branched out today at lunch and sat with people I didn’t know, so it was nice to talk and get to know more people.

We have this paper we have to get signed by different people around campus. There are different areas like, medical interview, kitchen rules, risk management, etc. So me and the two other new interns went to the kitchen and one of the ladies remembered me from last time I was visiting in December. It made me feel good! She was so sweet, so now I have an in with the kitchen ladies! Life is so simple, but perfect here. Everybody does their thing and stays busy. This weekend is Deep Creek’s (a settlement, or town, down the road) “homecoming” called the Conch fest. We are apparently going Saturday night, from what I have gathered it is a bunch of drunken people who come in town to celebrate where they came from. All the interns go and drink once the students leave! We have a little down time right not, about 30 minutes, before we take off in the van. You can’t drive the vans unless you are 25, which no one on the Nurse Shark team is, so we had to find someone to drive us. We are going to the different creeks and walking the shoreline like we did at Paige Creek. We will observe what we see and write it down.

So the farthest creek is about a 15 minute car ride, however when we are actually doing the research we have to ride bikes. So, I am definitely going to have jacked legs by the end of the month and a half!!! This one creek called Plum Creek was breathtaking; I can’t wait to do observations there. It was something you see out of a magazine or screensaver, no one was one the beach, no houses, there wasn’t anything. It was incredible! We were able to walk up to 2 nurse sharks, it was so cool. I never knew they would let you just walk up to them. I touched their tails! Apparently the females go into shallow water to get away from males that are trying to mate with them. The males bite them and clench on to them creating scars. We returned for dinner which we had chicken, rice, corn, and vegetables. After dinner we met at the wet lab to gather all the gear and get everything ready for tomorrow’s actual research at Paige Creek.

Once we finished everything, we were told people were going down to the conch fest for an interns birthday. We rode are bikes there at night with headlamps, it was so fun. We parked our bikes at an interns house who lives right down the street from the festival. It was so cool, they had booths set up in a field with food, prizes/games, a big bar, and music. There were talent competitions, dance offs, and all kinds of stuff. It was so fun. Everyone was enjoying themselves and drinking so everyone was very social and friendly. I met a few more people last night. These are definitely my kind of people! Around 11:15 we decided we should start riding our bikes back since it was a 20 minute  bike ride. The stars were beautiful like every night, so clear and so many. We made it home and hit the bed because we had a meeting at 7 in the morning to finalize our gear checklist and project methods.

Nurse Shark Project- June 2, 2011

Today I woke up to a beautiful sunrise from my bed. I got up and took a picture of it, the pinks in the sky over the ocean was amazing. We had our first meeting this morning at 7 in the Octagon going over what the project is about. These are my notes from the presentation which was done by Niels.

Nurse Shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum) Project Presentation

1. Observation

a.      Walk the shore and measure GPS point, DO, salinity, temperature, pH, water depth, tide state, wind speed, etc.

b.     Observe shark for 15 minutes- write down chronology of shark’s behaviors

c.      What needs to be complete: finalize ethogram, create new data sheets, organize equipment

2.     Substrate Association

a.      Observe shark mating event, when finished, flag location

b.     Collect ~1/2 L sample substrate

c.      What needs to be complete: figure out how to sieve (wet or dry sieving)

3.     Capture and Tagging

a.      When observed, radio the available CEI letting them known location, size, number and depth, then you observe for 15 minutes, then people from CEI bring materials

b.     Deploy seine so shark is trapped between shore and seine

c.      3 people per shark- one person measures head, one person grabs the tail and the third person does tagging (about 3 tags- first tag is a number with CEI information, and other 2 are color coded tags) They go in the 2^nd dorsal fin for males and 1^st dorsal fin for females.

After the presentation we just kind of sat around, giving me time to write this! I am pretty excited to work with sharks; it is different from anything I would have thought I would be interested in. I am most looking forward to capturing and tagging the sharks. It looks pretty intense; I am excited to learn how to handle the sharks. Just being out in the field will be exciting; I can’t explain the beauty of this place. I feel at such home and totally in my element.

We had a risk management meeting with Gabe; he just explained rules and stuff, nothing fancy. We had to fill out medical forms and stuff like that. After, the high school kids are doing their first rounds of presentations to practice. I, Jana, and Zack went to watch a few. They are incredible. There was one kid in particular who spoke, he seemed like he was a teacher. He was so confident and personable; it was awesome to hear them speak about the projects they have been working on all semester. After two presentations, we had lunch. It was grilled cheese sandwiches, some type of soups, and vegetables. After lunch, I went and rented a bicycle because for our field work we will be riding our bikes to different creeks to observe the sharks. Now I have a little time before I go get my internet set up on my laptop and my Island School email. They day is beautiful. The clouds look as if they are reflecting the beautiful turquoise color of the water, it is truly breathtaking.

I have made friends with the other two interns working with shark research, Zack and Jana. They are super nice. I have had a lot of time to get to know Jana, she is an incredible person. Since she was 14 she has been doing amazing things like traveling and writing articles for the Bahamian newspapers to share knowledge that she had of destruction of the environment. She has told me some great stories about herself. Niels just told us that we are riding our bikes around to all the different creeks tomorrow! I am super excited about that.

We had a shark team meeting today.  I met the whole crew. There are 7 of us; the biggest crew out of the other projects. We went over expectations and schedules of working, I am getting pumped. We are trying to finalize our specific project for the Nurse sharks now, researching scientific articles and stuff like that. It is so windy and nice outside, so we have a lovely breeze while searching the internet.

Dinner was delicious; we had spaghetti and sauce with very fresh tasting pesto, bread and vegetables! It was soo good, however I have not pooped yet. After dinner Zack and I rode our bikes down the street to a place called sunset beach, it was magical. We went swimming in the beautiful blue water as the sun was slowly setting. Then we rode back to the “octagon,” which is the common room for the interns between the girls and boys dorm. A group of interns were watching a movie on lionfish, which is a very invasive species of fish. They have a “book club” every Thursday night where they present either a movie or scientific article and discuss it. Now we are all just hanging in the octagon doing our own thing because there is no internet in the dorms. I think I am going to head to bed soon, so I can be woken up again at 5 something in the morning by the sun!

First day in Eleuthera

Today I started my adventure with Cape Eleuthera Institute in Rock Sound, Eleuthera, Bahamas. Ian and another intern were waiting for me at the airport along with the head of development, Mary. We ventured our way to campus and arrived around 5ish. I had time to organize my clothes before dinner. I am staying with, as of now, three other girls. Katelyne, a cute blonde who is from New Jersey, she has been here for a while. Jana who is Slovakian just arrived yesterday; she is an intern who will be working with sharks with me. She has been working with sharks since she was 17. Jana is very social, I like talking with her, and I feel comfortable with her. Crystal is a black girl, I haven’t really had time to talk with her yet but she seems really nice.

Zack the intern who was at the airport goes to school at Stoneybrook in Long Island, studying Marine Biology. He is very feminine but we got along well. Niels is leading the Nurse Shark research (apparently I am studying nurse sharks instead of juvenile lemon sharks). He is a cute kid, very tall and skinny, from Illinois. We walked over to the dining hall all together. We had some rice, some type of vegetable soup, and fresh delicious vegetables. The tomatoes were so delicious. I ate dinner with Zack, Jana, and Niels. Then we walked around the School doing the tour again.

After we got back into our dorms, I spotted some lounge chairs right by the water. Our dorm is literally 2 Meters from the ocean. I grabbed my book and headed down to the water. I was reading alone for a little while then Zack joined me. It was actually a bit chilly; I had to put on a long sleeve shirt. Once I was done reading I went back to the dorm and startred typing this blog. Now I am going to brush my teeth and put on my pajamas and hopefully talk to the girls and get to know them.