March 11th... Night Snorkel!

March 11, 2010
I am dressed head-to-toe in black spandex sitting cheek to cheek with 9 other students on a motorboat being guided only by a 2 inch window of light from a headlight. Disoriented, I don’t know which way is north and which way is south. I felt like I was in outer space- I didn’t know where the ocean ended and the starry night began. I was being lightly sprayed by salt water, but my eyes are used to it now and no longer burn. The only sounds I hear are the boat smacking on the hard ocean surface and the squeaking of rubber fins on the boat floor. “Where is the buoy!?” Dave, our boat driver’s voice pierced through the surreal night. At that moment, 10 lights shone forth onto the black sea and panned rapidly in an attempt to be the first to find the reflecting floating ball anchored in the strong current. All of a sudden silver streaks were skipping across the water left and right and disappearing into the dark ocean beneath us. They were all sizes, some as large at my arm. They looked almost like a needle. They were streamline, and could disappear and reappear as often and easily as they liked. They were gorgeous jumping fish. I have seen them a few times before in the daylight, and even then they seem to disappear in the waves. But tonight they were dancing all around the boat. All of a sudden Dave’s radio crackled and Chelsea, the intern, chimed in on the other line. “I don’t think we can find it tonight, let’s head over to Shark Alley.” Shark Alley… at night!? My heart sank just a little bit. I am not scared of the ocean any more, but it is a different sea at night. No longer do I have the comfort of being able to stand up at Admirals Cove, the dive site we were supposed to be at. Now, there is a rapid current, smashing waves against rigid rocks, and over 15 feet of water underneath me- not to mention sharks. The boat cheered in excitement, but the moment we arrived on site there was silence. Now, I am not afraid of much, and sharks are not high on the small list I do have. However, the fact that right before we anchored a student felt the need to hum the Jaws theme song really did not help. We anchored, and while I waited for comforting advice all I got was “don’t swim too closely to the rocks, don’t swim too far out or you won’t be able to swim against the current to get back, yell if you need me yell and I will try and find you, and have fun!” Lights went on, masks were pulled down faces, and one by one people splashed into the blackness below. My snorkel buddy, Aubrey, jumped in so quickly it didn’t give me a chance to re-evaluate my escape plans. Escape plans may be silly, but are essential to survival! The only thing I had was if Jaws came at me I am knocking it in the nose with my night light. While I type that now, it is pretty ridiculous, but it made me comforted at the time!
I plunged in and there was a rush of cold water starting at my feet and going all the way up to my neck. I turned my light on, and we were off! Within moments I saw what I had wanted to see for a month… His legs were protruding out of his body and moving rapidly as he ran through the water. His eyes were glowing red due to the reflection of my light. He was adorable, he was a shrimp! I put my hand out and he rested for just a moment and jumped off and ran into the shadows. I looked around and it was breath-taking. This snorkel site that I have visited before was entirely new and different. The corals were out in full bloom because they feed at night. You could see each and every corallite extending out and pulling in whatever algae floated by. The sea floor was filled with hundreds of red eyes reflecting from my light. I didn’t have to swim much at first; I just let the strong current take me wherever it wanted. Trying to keep my light steady was the hardest part. While we were out there for our hour of fun I saw over a dozen lobsters taking refuge in rocks and overhanging corals. I saw a two foot spotted moray eel. An enormous crab with legs at least a foot and a half long. I saw Hermit crabs and conch pulling themselves over and around hard corals. I was so wrapped up on the sights that I forgot where I was heading. I popped my head out and above the waves and could not see a thing. All I saw were night lights sprinkled about in the waves. No boat. No Dave. Aubrey swam up next to me and grabbed my hand and pulled me back under the water. It was so reassuring! That was the moment I shed all doubt. It was as if a motor just turned on and I was swimming everywhere! Of course Aubrey and I pushed the boundaries and swam towards and a little past the rocks. When we finally decided to turn back I readjusted my light in front of me, and in that brief moment I saw something move beneath me. When I pointed my light down I saw an intricate, shell splashed with colors of green and brown. There were four little flippers straining to push against the current and then two little eyes peered up towards my light. A sea turtle!!! He swam towards the light, and I could have reached out and touched him he was so close. He just looked at me, stared with his large brown eyes turned his head and swam off into the shadows. That will never happen to me again.
We arrived back at the boat and as I pulled off my mask I had the biggest grin on my face. The ocean never ceases to amaze me.

Pictures by Chris Koppl

Below is a picture of a lobster taking shelter under a rock. We see this guys occasionally, and they range in every size. I saw one that was 2+ feet once! He was enormous. I hope the fisherman do not find him!!

Below is the under-belly of a spotted eagle ray (aetobatus narinari) They are gorgeous, especially when they fly through the water. One thing I learned the other day is that they love to jump out of the water!!! I was hanging out at the dock one night and heard an enormous splash that sounded like someone belly-flopped! I asked my professor later on and he said "Oh yea, that was probably just an eagle ray..."

Flamingos!

March 8th 2010

Our back yard on a gorgeous sunny day! The island that you see in the distance is called Long Cay. We snorkel there as well as do beach clean-ups on the weekends. Some of the students and I plan to swim to a nearby island this weekend and picnic! I will let you know how it goes

March 8, 2010
Hey guys!
Sorry it has been so long since I have updated my blog. This past week was ridiculous! I had three midterms in a period of three days. As soon as I was finished with one exam, I was studying for the next one. The exams were not horrible; they just required a lot of writing. The exams here in general are decent. The ID exams were tough because I was not used to knowing that much information. I was shocked that I retained all of it, and was able to do a great job on the exams. The tests also did not feel like tests. We were flopping around in the water while our instructor pointed out organisms to identify. It was a challenge to write in the water because the current would be pulling you every which way, but it was a great time. I do suggest that if you are coming on this trip or one very similar that you get the biggest slate possible to write on. I have an 8 by 11 and I still feel as though I could use more room.
Besides all the academic jazz, I went to a church concert last week and it was fantastic! It was a very small church, but all the schools were invited (k-12) and the community, and we all found a way to fit inside. People were standing in the isles, along the wall, and outside. There were bishops that were flown in from Provo and performances by the children. It was education week in TCI and each school was performing. There were interpretive dances, bands, duets, and the young kids sang a song about the Lord. They were adorable! Half of them were passed out in the pew before they were about to perform, they could not hold a beat, and they were all looking for the reassuring smiles of their parents. We were there for 2 hours before we had to leave for class again. A typical service here can last anywhere from an hour to 8 hours on a Sunday. Everyone here abides by “island time” meaning things start when they feel like starting.
I went to a Dance-0-Rama this past Thursday at the Regatta. The Regatta was built for the Queen of England when she came to visit many years ago. She came to tell the people of South Caicos how important tourism was and that the community should get involved. Now the Regatta is used for community events. So this past Thursday was a fundraiser for the Iris Stubbs elementary school. It was a $5 entry fee and over 15 performances- Everything from a ballet piece to mainly hip hop. The music was amazing, I’d never heard it before! The locals here are so friendly that one of them, Conrad, gave his ipod to a student to download his music. At the dance-0-rama the MC asked for crowd participation to dance the Macarena. My two friends and I danced. They called us the School for Field Studies crew. Little kids danced with us too, and they killed us! These kids can really shake it! I had my first Conch fritter experience there as well as sweet potato bread. Conch is delicious. Plain and simple. A conch fritter are dough balls that have conch inside. And the sweet potato bread was as heavy as a brick. We stayed for a good two hours before we decided to head back to finish studying.

March 5/6th

This is the nurse shark we saw while swimming

The aerial view of the nurse shark along with her cleaners hanging onto her fins

This is a Falmingo Tongue (Cyphoma gibbosum)

This is a long spined sea urchin (Diadema antillarum)

March 5/6, 2010
On Friday we went for a snorkel and did research on a transect line. We are beginning to get into field research techniques including conch assessment, transect lines, and then our directed research projects! On Friday we went out into groups of four with a professor. We placed a measuring tape down on the benthic layer (or bottom) of the ocean. Then in groups of two we swam within two feet of the line and calculated how many fish we saw; groupers, snappers, wrasses, etc. Then we swam down the transect line again and counted how many echinodermatas (sea urchins), Annelidas (worms) or other (sharks, rays, barracuda) things we saw. I only found one long-spined sea urchin and a flamingo tongue. We spent a good hour or so out in the water and I only counted 3 fish on the transect line, a flamingo tongue, and a sea urchin. It was a rough day. We were told that at the end of all of this we can apply to get our ID cards and they are valid for life. Then we can go out for certain companies, strictly volunteering, and calculate fish populations.

______________

On Saturday we went out for a fun snorkel and saw beautiful things! I saw an 8 foot nurse shark that I got to swim with. She was so close to me I could have reached out and touched her. The way she moved through the water was so graceful, and I was working so hard against the current to catch up. Then she ducked down and hid in a cave. There were very large cracks in the cave and if you looked through the holes you could see her tail and gills. She was breathing so much it was crazy watching her take the air in and then release it. We also saw a beautiful spotted eagle ray off in the distance. There was also a little southern stingray eating at the benthic layer of the ocean. (Again meaning the bottom). He was being followed by yellowtail snappers because while he was trying to find food he was digging up the bottom exposing food for the fish. Right before we got back on the boat there was a school of barracuda. They are so creepy to watch in the water because they just freeze and watch you. There were at least 30 ranging in all sizes. I swam pretty close to them. They don’t attack; they are just territorial and curious. It is so quiet under water that it adds to the eeriness of any situation. So being in a school of barracuda with over 60 eyes looking at you is pretty strange. Still a gorgeous site.

March 1st and 2nd

Myself and the brownies! These girls are little divas

March 1, 2010
It has officially been one month! I cannot believe how the time has flown. It is crazy to think I have been here for 1/3 of the trip! Upon arrival one month ago I would not have expected to be where I am now. I was scared out of my mind, and seeing the blank expressions on the other students’ faces didn’t help either. However, I don’t know if I want to leave! The hardest part for me was getting here. The realization did not hit me until I was here for about 2 days… It is an amazing experience, but going somewhere with other students is a lot easier than going on your own. Looking back, I am glad I did this, and wouldn’t trade it for anything. I am even looking into internships abroad or even the Peace Corps. That is a long while from now; at least I like to think so.

___________________________________________________________________

March 2010
This week I went to Brownies on Wednesday which is the elementary school. This week they asked us to read children’s stories to them. I took “Where the Wild Things Are,” “The Giving Tree,” and “Akimbo and the Lion.” They loved “where the wild things are” and I asked them when the story was all over to make their wild noises, and their sounds filled the classroom and traveled through doors and walls into the other classes! Oops. They are adorable, every time when we walk up to their school they run to the windows and smoosh against the glass waving. They also bust through the doors and run up and hug you or pull you every which way to show you something.
I also went to the bank that day. The bank is only open once a week on Wednesday for 3 hours. The lines are ridiculous, this week it was a 2 hour wait. The guards were in full gear that day, guns and everything. I tried to snap a picture of the one guard but in my attempt to do it without him looking it turned out a little blurry. He also noticed. When I was done with my transaction and walking out of the bank he said “Are you going to print me out a copy of that picture?” Ah, busted…
On our way back to the center my friend Katelyn and I decided to walk by way of the abandoned salt flats and check out the wild flamingos! We hiked through the flats for a good half hour until we were close enough to get a good shot. We also had to be very cautious of the quick sand. My friend Aubrey fell into the quick sand last week after basketball and had to be pulled out by a local! So we walked very carefully! It turned out to be a great success. So all together on the island I have seen wild cats, dogs, falcons, jumping fish, lizards, iguanas, horses, flamingos, enormous spiders, stingrays, sharks… everything but a whale! It is whale migrating season, and the scuba divers have seen them, and I am determined to see one before we leave! Fingers crossed! Thanks for tuning in guys!