Brains!

No, not my brains (although we all know that I have plenty) and not zombie gastronomy, either. Brains as in neurobiology. 

I visited a family friend's lab at Salk Institute yesterday. Soon Ok works in the peptide biology division at the institute. Her lab is currently examining the long-term effects of adolescent drinking. In short, you get the rats drunk repeatedly and then examine where certain products have built up in the brain. Not only did I get to learn about Salk and working in a research institute like it, I got the chance to actually try manipulating some of the cross-sections of brains that are mounted onto slides (an experienced lab technician makes this look deceptively simple) in order to stain and examine specific regions under a microscope. I also have an aptitude for putting together "the hardest puzzle no one ever wants to solve" (as described by one of the lab staff). On my very first try, I was able to correctly sort over 30 thin slices of a brain into the correct order. All the same, and as interesting as the results of the research are, I don't think I'll be switching my focus to neurobiology any time soon.

Two of the main lab buildings at Salk. The institute is perched up
on the bluffs of La Jolla near UCSD. Absolutely gorgeous location.

The results of my work sorting sections of a brain and
mounting eight slices onto a microscope slide.

Tea, a drink with jam and bread

According to the clock set for Cape Town still up on my computer, it's now around 0730 in South Africa. Funny to think, that means that just a week ago I would most likely be leaving or about to leave campus for work. Chum will have already been on the water for an hour (if not three), any fishing and dolphin survey will probably be loading into vehicles, and aqua people are probably just rolling out of bed and investigating the thought of breakfast before leaving at 0800. Even stranger to think it's been only a week since I got home. Despite telling people about what I was doing almost every day, it starts to seem farfetched in my own mind that just over a week ago I was standing on a boat with a Great White Shark not much more than a meter away. 

So what does an aspiring biologist do when no longer serving as a field researcher? Why, what other than attend an afternoon tea? And, of course, what better conversation between bites of mini scones with lemon curd than the recently conducted research on sharks? However, detailing the severed fish heads and chum is possibly ill-advised. (Just working on a hunch, though. I didn't actually give this a try. My apologies for the incomplete data on tea time conversation.) 

First time since starting school that I've been home
 for the church's annual Ladies' Christmas Tea.

Home for the Holidays

Home again and this time it's a little more permanent, at least as far as remaining within the U.S. is concerned. Now just adjusting to being back at the home with a timezone opposite South Africa and plunging into winter after about six months of more or less perpetual summer. Oh, and my Facebook account still seems to think it's in SA. Not quite sure what's up with that. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying things like Straight No Chaser concerts and listening to Sarah (sister Sarah, again) regale us with tales about her photo course adventures in New Zealand and Fiji. 


Now for your viewing pleasure, here is a little video I put together with photos and videos from the last two months. It's basically the quick version of everything you've been reading about here since October--a snapshot of life working at Oceans as an intern. Or course, that life is never in danger of having all work and no play. Just follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nton6flbGU. Enjoy!

T.I.O. and Goodbye Africa

Here in Africa, we've got a saying: TIA. This is Africa. It's usually used when something strange or unexpected or unusual or just plain bizarre happens. Shuttle shows up either a half hour early or an hour late consistently? TIA. Internet is down because the router needs to be reset but the person with the key to the room is at home? This is Africa. We've added another phrase even more specific to us--TIO. This is Oceans. It usually crops up when we have instances like the other day when we sat at the harbor after chumming for two hours because a vehicle broke down. However, as I come down to my last blog post in Africa and look through some pictures taken last night, I come up with one other instance where I feel it fits: 

TIO. This is Oceans. 

Back: Natalie, Dorien, Dan, Elayna, Braham, Kurt, Megan, Brian
Middle-ish: Eva, me, Jackie, Caitlin, Sarah, Emily
Front-ish: Kasandra, Natasha, Alex
Kneeling: Tammy, Jason, Noah, Johan, Ezra

These are the people I've lived and worked with for the last month (two in many cases). I've learned a lot of new things, many related to field research, many not. Somehow I feel like my courses in Ecological Physiology and piano lessons, as much as I'm looking forward to them, are going to have a hard time holding up against playing with sharks. And all through, I've gotten to make new friends who live all over the world. Besides that, I've picked up some new vocabulary like "heaps," "sunnies," and telling the time the "right" way (according to British friends). 

But one more picture. Because maybe THIS is really Oceans. It's certainly an accurate depiction of the real personality of any marine biologist I've ever met. 

Best Tug-of-War Ever

Just two more days in South Africa! Today was the last work day for those of us leaving. This month's interns are giving their presentations tomorrow and then I head for home on Saturday.

Today started bright and far too early. I got a final chum trip, although I think I might have enjoyed it slightly more if it hadn't come after getting off the last chum trip only 8 hours before. We're towing the decoys again so yesterday afternoon's trip ran from 13:30 to 20:00 while this morning's trip set out at 04:30. No breaches on the decoys either last night or this morning, but I got to skipper Lamnidae during the evening towing which was fun. Lamnidae, you ask? Oh yes, we're back on Lamnidae. Poseidon, or maybe whoever is in charge of ships, hates us and when the tracking crew tried to leave yesterday morning, Cheetah's engines wouldn't start. 

Anyway, it was a good last couple of trips with a total of about 18 sharks between the two chum shifts. I got several bait heads stolen from me, although I like to think I put up a good fight for the bait. At least they made for some good photos (courtesy of fellow intern, Natalie) and I did manage to put on shark into tonic. (With the bait, of course. Don't worry, Dad, I myself was still a safe distance from the shark). I've been told I can now officially call myself a shark researcher with that accomplishment under my belt. 

The shark going into tonic.

Playing tug-of-war (and losing) with the shark. 

Jason, me, Caitlin, and Dan following one of the fights
(a very splashy battle, as you can see) with a shark. 

Last Few Days

We're down to the last week in South Africa. Actually, we're practically half-way through that last week and I think it's something everyone's trying to avoid thinking about. Beginning of the month seemed like I would be here forever. Ok, not forever, but another month was seeming long. But this month has gone by incredibly quickly. So, savoring the last few encounters with the sharks and trying to figure out which clothes I don't mind throwing away so those can be the ones that get fishy and then left behind. 

We've been trying to find a shark with an acoustic tag so we can track but, so far, we haven't had great success. On Saturday morning, towards the end of our seal survey shift, we stuck the hydrophone in the water and heard signals from two sharks however, in the last two days, the tracking crews haven't been able to find them again. We'll give it one more go tomorrow and will possibly tag a new shark if we can't find one of the old ones. So far, I've been scheduled for middle of the night tracking shifts (which, of course, haven't been happening) so I've been doing normal work routines--chumming, aquarium, fishing, you know the drill by now. 

Chumming!

Yesterday's chum trip. We lost the buoy... A shark bit the rope and we watched our nice yellow buoy float off. Johan and Jackie pulling up the anchor to go fetch the buoy which is somewhere roughly where the arrow's pointing.

African Sunrise

I've decided there is nothing quite like sitting on a boat, on an almost perfectly calm sea, watching the sunrise. Last night, we did a seal survey at Seal Island. Because most of the seal movement on and off the island takes place at night, the survey is an all night deal. One shift of interns went out from 18:00 to midnight and then I went out with the shift from midnight to 06:00. Since there were six people on each shift, we broke the six hour period into three, two hour shifts. That meant when you weren't on survey, you could sleep--a very nice prospect around 2 am. It was actually incredibly comfortable just lying at the front of the boat, rocking back and forth. 

How do you see the seals when it's dark? Listening for splashing as they swim is the first clue. Once you've heard them, you can locate the group fairly easily and get a rough count of how many there are and whether they're heading towards or away from the island. It also began to get light fairly early in Emily and my 4-6 am shift, so that made it even easier. We also got to see the gorgeous sunrise! 

Mossel Bay at night from the water.

Good morning!

Emily bundled up in the crow's nest.

Phenomenal Sabbath sunrise over Mossel Bay.
Counting my blessings every day I'm here!

South African Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! Of course, here, it's just another work day. How was my unique Thanksgiving spent, then? Trapping in the morning and chumming in the afternoon. Trapping didn't catch anything, unfortunately, but the chumming trip was one of the best I've had. We had a total of nine sharks. At several points, we had two to three sharks all circling the boat, taking turns going for the bait. As Emily pointed out, we are probably currently in the only job where having three sharks circling your boat is considered a good thing! We also saw the second largest shark I've seen here. She was easily as large as Fatty, but lost in the size competition because she wasn't quite as fat. 

However, I wasn't entirely without the good ol' American tradition of aiming for an early death due to overeating. Together with some of the interns at White Shark Africa, the cage diving operation here in Mossel Bay, we had a massive Thanksgiving dinner at Kaai 4. Sean, the owner, kindly cooked up a bunch of dishes special for us so after work, we cleaned up and headed over to the restaurant. We feasted on roosterkoek (bread cooked on a grill, a staple of braais), cauliflower in a white cheese sauce, mashed sweet potatoes, and mash with green beans. Everyone who wasn't vegan or vegetarian also enjoyed ox-tail stew and chicken and declared them excellent. 

Thanksgiving trapping. Emily and Natalie pulling up a trap.

Thanksgiving chumming. Emily and I in the crow's nest
on lookout.

The big shark.

L to R: Caitlin, Noah's nose, Brian, Kasandra, Jason,
and Natasha at Kaai 4.

Thanksgiving dinner at Kaai 4.

Just another average day...

Another day in South Africa. I can't believe I'm already in my eighth week here and only have a week and a half before I head for home!! This morning was spent editing a video of a release of some of the baby sharks from the aquarium. The afternoon was a chum trip which also involved towing the orca and seal decoys. We were out late (the sharks are most active and so more likely to breach at dawn and dusk) and got to see a gorgeous sunset over seal island. 

Cheetah's back, all shiny and pretty!

I match the bait rope buoy

Crow's nest also makes a great dance floor

Sunset over Seal Island

Animal Encounters

Had land dolphin survey this morning and aquarium in the afternoon. However, you've heard about both of those before. The excitement of this morning was the non-aquatic animals we saw. At the first survey site, a cat and her four kittens were hanging about. Emily managed to lure one close enough to grab it, only to have it bite her. Yup, came to study sharks and the only animal related injury we've had is a bite from a kitten mad at being picked up. At the second site, the lighthouse on the Point, we found a dassie sitting on the deck eyeing us. Dassie is the South African name for a Rock Hyrax. We see them fairly regularly on the rocks at the Point near the aquarium, but I haven't managed to get a good picture of one before. 

Emily luring in a kitten.

Gorgeous view from the Point today.

A Rock Hyrax, aka dassie, hanging out at the lighthouse.

Walking With Lions

Yes, that's me and yes, that's a real, live lion. We went to the Zorgfontein Game Reserve for a lion walk. The lions we walked with were siblings, Layla and Mufasa, and about 2 years old. The walk was different from the cheetah walk in that the lions were not on leashes so we generally weren't quite as close to them but, as you can see, we did get to come plenty close to them. And since I know the question will be asked if I don't answer it, the sticks we're carrying are simply to serve as a visual barrier to the lions. They're trained to not come closer to a person than the stick. So if one of the lions began coming closer than you were comfortable with, you just put the stick out between you and the lion and they'll stay that distance away. 

Watching and waiting for the lions.

First view of the lions.

Mufasa greeting the ranger.

Mufasa, two year old male

Layla, two year old female

Walking with the lions.

Clown Car

This afternoon, we added two new roles on the chum boat. Today, interns filled the roles of bait roper, data collector, photographer, chummer, DJ, and tourist. Two of these things are not like the other...  

The lookouts in their personally reassigned roles
as tourist and DJ.

Following chum, we pulled both Pixel and Lamnidae out of the water. Pixel is returning to storage and Lamnidae will be out of the water over the weekend for maintenance. The chumming and trapping crews then helped pull everything off the two boats and load them into the van for transportation back to campus. In the end, we had lots of rope, buckets, lifejackets, gas canisters, and 12 people inside the vehicle and Pixel on a trailer behind. The stares we got were probably justified. 

The portion of the vehicle in front of me...

The portion of the vehicle behind me...
(yes, those are my boots)

And towing Pixel behind!

Oh, what a beautiful morning...

This morning was absolutely gorgeous for being out on the water. I was trapping and this time, we actually caught a shark! In other news, although Cheetah's not back just yet (she should be in the water again tomorrow if things remain on schedule), we're no longer using Pixel. According to the harbor police, an entirely deflated front pontoon equals a vessel that is unseaworthy. One of these days all the holes will be found and patched!

Welcome to Lake Mossel! The bay has been perfectly
flat for the last week.

Recording data about the trapping location and shark.

Tagging the Puff Adder before release.

Lazy Evening

The lounge area on a quiet evening.

Today was fairly relaxed. I had recreation (free time) in the morning and then a chum trip in the afternoon. We saw six sharks but they were fairly lackadaisical about going for the bait heads. 

This evening, we've been left to our own devices, as trivia was canceled. Instead, some of us learned a new card game, some people are working on research proposals to present at the end of the month, many are online sending emails home or updating blogs, and pretty much everyone is watching the TV on and off. We really only get two channels, NatGeo and Discovery, here on campus. That means we've watched, in the last few weeks, lots and lots of MythBusters, Body Invaders, Dynamo: Magician Impossible, Dirty Money, and Border Patrol: Australia's Front Line. How these end up on NatGeo and Discovery (well, except for MythBusters), I have no clue. However, that's what we've got to watch, so we watch it when things are slow. We've even reached a point where we'll start referring to a situation as likely to land someone on an episode of Body Invaders or Border Patrol. Maybe we should learn a few more new card games...

Open Water Free-diving

Uneventful weekend overall. Most people were gone on various trips so it was quiet on campus. We did have a slight mishap of a Spiny Dogfish that arrived at the aquarium on Wednesday disappearing from its tank (it got into a pipe, unfortunately) which added some excitement to my Saturday morning (I was recruited to make the emergency trip to the aquarium to look around the tank for it). 

Today, Johan, Jason, and I went to Santos Beach with Dylan to get some practice using our free-diving skills in open water. There's really not much difference between dynamic apnea in a pool and in open water except that, since you're moving vertically instead of horizontally in the ocean, you have to bother with equalizing. However, that proved to be a simple technique to add for all of us so we spent most our afternoon swimming around the coral reefs where we fish. Didn't see any of the benthic sharks but we did pull up a lot of fishing line, sinkers, and hooks. 

Another gorgeous day in South Africa.

Breathing up on a line so we don't drift off.

Me during one of the first dynamic apnea runs.

Getting ready to hop into the water near the reef at Santos.