Bugs!

If you know me very well, you probably know I'm normally not very bothered by bugs. For the purpose of this discussion, we won't be using the scientific definition of bug (ie, a special group of insects displaying certain qualities that make them "true bugs"). Instead, we'll be using Dr. Zoolittle's* definition which, if I remember the spiel correctly, is, "Anything that makes you go, *shudder with appropriate accompanying noise.* It could be your brother, your mother-in-law, your ex-boyfriend." So, not really bothered by bugs (or my brother, incidentally. You'll have to wait on my verdict about the other two as I currently have neither.) For example, I woke up last night on the beach to find a decently large spider sitting on the stump near my head. Not bothered by it. Instead, I wished I had a camera handy so I could take a picture of it. 


I do, however, take issue with biting bugs. I don't mind bugs like spiders which will bite if you threaten or provoke them. I mind the ones that bite for the purpose of sucking my blood. I especially mind if they hurt while biting and even worse are the ones that create an itchy welt. Overall, the Mosquito Bite Counter has gone down since getting back to Utila. I've had a few random bites, but nowhere near as many as that first week. On the beach, the worry is sand flies. Up till a couple nights ago, however, we had a steady breeze all night that kept bugs away. Not tonight, though. The wind cut out around 2 am and the sand flies promptly arrived and proceeded to feast upon Lindsey, Robyn, and I. With bug spray working depressingly poorly, we decided to leave the beach at 3 am. I've never seen us pack up so fast! 


*Dr. Zoolittle was a character who gave an animal show at the San Diego Zoo. I believe they still have the show, but, last time I saw it, they'd changed the actor and it just wasn't the same.

Picky Turtle's Return

On the 3 am walk, Chel and I found turtle tracks. We could tell, via the flipper tags, that she was the same turtle that false crawled (came onto the beach without nesting) last night. Tonight, or rather this morning, she actually nested. When we found her, she had already dug out the hole and laid most her eggs. Since she was already tagged and photographed last night, that cut down on our work and, thus, the total amount of time we spent dealing with her. She laid 133 eggs and we collected the rest of our data without incident. Well, mostly without incident. We had some trouble getting our field scale to cooperate. When it finally gave us a reading, we realized that, in pushing buttons randomly, trying to make it work properly (this is, of course, the highly scientific and approved method of dealing with faulty/annoying equipment when the usual recourse of smacking the stupid thing is ill advised), we had recalibrated the scale so that each egg was reading roughly 1/5 of its actual weight. 


The work tonight, though, raised some other questions that have come up each time we see and interact with a turtle. The Bay Islands Conservation Association (BICA) has the unenviable job of trying to enforce conservation practices in Honduras. Honduras has some laws in place to protect endangered species, such as sea turtles, but laws are only as good as the enforcement and there is nearly a complete lack of such follow through. That is why institutions like BICA are important. BICA has volunteers during the day and night during turtle nesting season. A volunteer, like Chel, may be on the beach six nights a week. They certainly earn my respect for doing this with no real return. The issue we have run into is when some of these volunteers make themselves self-proclaimed turtle experts. 


We've been working with two people, specifically, who have some erroneous ideas. There are also a few practices we've observed that indicate the data that BICA has reported may in incomplete/inaccurate. The first problem we ran into was that Chel had not been informed of what Lindsey would be doing with turtles. When they first encountered one together, Chel freaked out because Lindsey started moving to place a satellite tag on the turtle, dug up the nest to weigh and measure eggs, and was using white light. They also had a disagreement on when a turtle should be flipper tagged and, so, the turtle left the beach with a sat tag and no flipper ID tag. Turns out, BICA's policy is to only tag during the nesting trance (a state the female experiences during laying) while the most current scientific opinion is that that is the only time the turtle should not be tagged. White vs. red light is also slightly contested among the scientific community but the majority say that white doesn't bother the turtles too much as long as you wait until it has begun nesting so you don't startle it off the beach before then. Since then, the professor has informed BICA of our full data collection process but the information never got all the way down the chain of command to Chel. Another man who volunteers on the beach, has expressed concern about making sure we are far enough away and downwind of the turtle so that it doesn't smell us and get scared off. First, as a marine reptile, it's likely sea turtles don't have the best sense of smell. Second, if they can smell, it's likely a turtle wouldn't be too worried by the scent of a human. Anyway, it is an interesting situation and one that is not simplified by some language barriers. 


I have some pictures of both sea turtles and the Rescue Diver course but have not yet had time to edit and upload due to the crazy schedule we've had for the last few days. We've been going to the beach at night, of course, coming back and sleeping for a few hours, then getting up and promptly leaving for the dive center, getting back just in time to leave for the beach again. However, the course ends tomorrow so I promise pictures very, very soon!

Picky Turtle

Let me tell you the story of the picky turtle. For the purposes of this story, Chel (the BICA worker) and Lindsey will be referred to as the Head Honchos. Robyn and I comprise the Lowly Undergrads. Collectively, we are The Researchers. Slight details have been modified from the original to fit this format. And now, Once Upon a Time... 


Time
6:30   The Researchers arrive on the beach and settle down in their usual spots. 
7:03   The sky threatens rain on The Researchers and those on the beach quickly pack up and head for the tent. 
7:20   The rain ends and The Researchers move back to the beach. 
8:00   The rain recommences and The Researchers pack gear again and move to the tent. 
8:12   The rain comes down with a vengeance and The Researchers in the tent discover that the rain fly (actually a tarp strung between trees) has some structural issues causing rain to enter the tent. 
8:51   The rain ends.
9:03   The Head Honchos, walking the beach, find a turtle in the act of digging a nest. 
9:10   Head Honcho C and Lowly Undergrad A settle down to watch the turtle finish digging the nest hole. 
9:20   Lowly Undergrad R and Head Honcho L arrive. Lowly Undergrad A's foot is asleep and the turtle has decided hole site #2 is no good (hole site #1 was abandoned before The Researchers arrived on scene). 
9:33   The turtle has decided hole site #3 is no good either. The Researchers wait.
9:36   Digging begins at hole site #4. The Researchers wait.
9:40   The Researchers know that turtles sometimes dig multiple holes before finally settling on a nest site but they are unsure of how many nest attempts are normal...
9:55   The turtle is dubbed Picky Turtle. She joins the ranks of 10 O'Clock Turtle, 3 O'Clock Turtle, and Ninja Turtle. 
10:02 The Lowly Undergrads trek back to the tent for their forgotten rain gear as the sky lets loose yet again.
10:12   Hole site #4 is, apparently, not good enough for Picky Turtle. 
10:13   It becomes evident to the Head Honchos that Picky Turtle is not going to nest and motions begin to flipper tag her before she makes it back to the ocean. 
10:14   Lowly Undergrad R becomes a turtle wrestler. 
10:17   Flipper tagging is complete and The Researchers step back to wait. 
10:21   Picky Turtle has finally found her way out of the bushes and is making tracks towards the beach. 
10:27  The Researchers bid Picky Turtle, "Adieu," and begin erasing the tracks she made. 
10:31   It is discovered that hole site #1 was actually more likely hole site #3, adjusting the holes The Researchers witnessed to hole sites #4, #5, and #6. 
10:40  The Researchers load equipment onto ATVs to return to their real beds.  

Anti-Ninja Turtle

Ariana and I woke up the other morning to find this note from Robyn. I believe it is fairly self-explanitory. We finally had a non-ninja turtle! (Yes, that is what the disappearing turtle has been dubbed: The Ninja Turtle.) This was actually a female which laid just a few weeks ago on our beach. At that time, Lindsey was able to put a satellite tag on her but, due to a disagreement with BICA personnel over when to tag the turtle (during or following the nesting trance), the turtle had left without any identifying flipper tags. So Lindsey was also extremely happy to be able to finally have flipper tags on the turtle which had been wandering about with her high-tec satellite tag on its back. 

Robyn and I are embarking on a new adventure called the PADI Rescue Diver course. I, of course, have already taken the course but am helping on the course she's in as a DMT (divemaster in training). The fun part of Rescue Diver is all the scenarios which you do to learn how to deal with various diving emergencies. The fun part as a DMT is that we get to be the divers in trouble and make it as difficult as possible for the students to rescue us. Stay posted; I'm sure there will be some good stories and pictures.

And now, enjoy a couple more pictures from another beach outing Robyn, Ariana, and I took this afternoon. 

Yes, envy us. We're spending our summer on a tropical
island with 82 degree water.

I promise, we really are working hard!

Beach Day

I guess, technically, every day we work is a beach day but this particular day was special. Ariana has come over for a few days during a break from her work in Cuero so we get to show her around our little island.  

Miracle #1

My backpack has returned!!! On Friday, my backpack was stolen while we were profiling the beach. We were a bit puzzled by the occurrence since we were on a deserted road, had only heard one vehicle pass (it hadn't stopped), and were never more than 20 m from the spot where three different bags were sitting. Nevertheless, when we took a break after a couple hours, the backpack was unquestionably gone. Most disappointingly, Robyn and I both had our iPods in the pack, along with Robyn's camera. The rest was water bottles and an assortment of gear like sunscreen, some rain gear, and my knife. Today, however, my backpack was returned. Not sure where or how it was found, but one of the BICA workers had promised to make inquiries after it was taken and had located it. The bag was definitely sifted through and, although most the gear was returned, the electronics and knife are still missing. However, we're viewing just getting back as much as we did as a blessing. 

I have officially completed one more phase of my divemaster training. I have now assisted with an Open Water course. Three observations from this experience:
-First, the new divers will improve by leaps and bounds. I'm talking drastic improvements in skill and confidence in the space of a half hour surface interval between their first and second open water dives. 
-Second, they will have any and every problem you have ever and never considered or even dreamt of. Things that never worried you for an instant will appear as a matter of life or death to them. 
-Third, when setting up kit/gear, expect to run with an answer like, "There were four weights on my belt yesterday," and translate from that and your own memory how many pounds each student in the class of eight needs. That, or they'll come to you holding a belt you know to have the right number of pounds and say, "I think I have too much weight, I only had three weights yesterday."

Heading to the third open water dive with a full boat of
new divers. 

The final festivities of Carnival on Utila.

Another observation, holding a parade on a road just
wide enough for two golf carts to pass, may not be the
best idea every.

This week was also Utila's carnival which wrapped up yesterday with a parade and, I believe, an island-wide drinking party. I made the mistake of trying to leave the dive center just as the parade was in full swing. Took me 15 minutes to make it from UDC to the first road where I could cut up (usually long enough to walk all the way home). Honestly, I'm not certain which direction the parade was actually moving since some trucks and floats were heading one way but horses and a drum corps were going the opposite...

Stand back, I'm gonna try science!

Kids, always remember that science requires dedication, precision, accuracy, and above all, tools tuned to a high degree of both accuracy and precision. 

Robyn cutting PVC pipe with a handsaw.

Or that is the ideal of how science is supposed to work in a lab. Or work in a first world, well-run lab. Not so much field work in a third world country with no lab to speak of for miles. In the field, in situations like ours, improvisation is the order of the day. Also, cutting PVC pipe with a handsaw will apparently bring the downstairs desk worker up at a run worrying that someone is destroying the building. 

Today we began beach profiling. After four hours of work, we had moved an astounding 75 meters from our starting point. However, that does amount to 13 individual transects of 20 meters long each and it was going much faster than profiling had at Cuero. Robyn and I are also going to be starting an examination of the pollution on the beach and hopefully will get a chance to study if and how the junk impedes the movements of hatchlings. 

In other news, I'm starting a new phase of my divemaster training by helping with an Open Water diving course. Tomorrow morning we get to take them out for their very first open water dives!

Robyn with some of the implements of
profiling.

Getting ready to set up a transect to
measure the slope of the beach.

A dedicated grad student follows the transect line
wherever it leads. (also entitled, Lindsey Enveloped
by Bushes)

Looking down the beach from our campsite.
The beach is actually quite pretty during daylight hours. 

Aren't my toenails pretty? And appropriate?

Disneyland Utila

What with the vanishing turtle last night, we hardly needed more excitement already but we got it. We had been on the beach for barely an hour last night when the clouds above us began lighting up and we heard thunder quite nearby. Electrical storms are the one reason we leave the beach so we quickly began packing up. Not ten minutes later, we were loaded onto the ATVs and ready to leave. As we began driving, the rain was already starting. In the dark, especially with the rain, the dirt road we use to get to the beach turned into our own version of the Indiana Jones ride (or Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, but my roommate already claimed that as a post title). Maybe tonight we'll be back to a normal schedule of boring night patrols. 

Returning from the beach on a non-rainy day.

Our "campsite" on the beach.

A section of the beach we are patrolling.

Robyn and I on the beach last night,
before the rain hit.

The Mystery of the Disappearing Turtle

We’re beginning to settle into a routine here on Utila. While we’re essentially doing the exact same work as at Cuero, the mechanics of it look very different. Instead of walking the beach for 6-7 hours each night and covering around 8 miles, we sit--literally--on the beach for 10 hours. The main stretch of beach that we’re monitoring is all of 30 meters long and takes a grand total 2:16 minutes to walk (yes, we timed it). There is a longer stretch of beach which we walk twice a night, usually, and takes about 15 minutes to cover. We bring out sheets to lay on and iPods and Kindles to entertain ourselves and sit on the beach thinking up everything one could do with 10 free hours if they weren't in the middle of the night on a beach in Honduras. 

Now, on to the subject of the titular turtle. Yes, we had a turtle last night! It crawled onto the beach around midnight last night and alerted us to its presence by creating a ruckus in the woods near our "camping" spot. We quickly got data loggers and sheets ready and watched quietly while the turtle dug a hole for a nest. Then, it appeared that the turtle had given up the idea of nesting and was going to crawl back to the ocean (a behavior which is called a false crawl). We began looking to stop the turtle so that we could put a flipper tag on her before she left. That was when the turtle, easily a 100 pound female Hawksbill, disappeared completely. Yes, as far as the poor researchers are concerned, this particular sea turtle has vanished from the face of this earth. As Lindsey said, this was a development we weren't expecting.

Cuero Journal

Today, you get an extra long post detailing my adventures in Salado Barra in Cuero y Salado, complete with pictures. The text is journal entries I made while we were in the refuge.


July 6, Friday 
Arrived yesterday morning at Salado Barra (a barra is a sand bar). Tiny community but it does have a church and school (recently expanded to three rooms). No electricity=candles at night (not too bad) and no fans or AC (not so good). Utila will feel plush after this! 

The old fruit train which is now used to get people
and supplies to Salado Barra.

No electricity means reading your e-reader
by candle light.

Last night was spent walking the beach. We were out for about six hours total with about three hours of sleep in the middle. We walked, best guess, around eight miles over the course of the night. 


Today was lazy. Beach profiling was on the schedule but got canceled due to a concert, among other things. Angela, very excited about the electric cello, had spread word that a concert would be held at 5:30 that evening and alerted Robyn of her plans around 2:30 pm. 

Tonight we actually get to sleep since tomorrow's Sabbath. Then, it's back to patrolling the beach tomorrow night. 

The electric cello which has accompanied Robyn to Honduras 
and inspired the name of her blog, "Have Cello, Will Travel."
(http://sciencerobyn.blogspot.com/)

This little girl, sitting on Ariana's lap, insisted, in Spanish I
couldn't follow, on carrying Robyn's music folder for me.

July 8, Sunday
Last night was spent back on the beach. No turtles again and none of the nice wind of Thursday night. We were only able to do two teams for the first shift as only one military guy showed at 2 am. I'm happy to note it was much easier to stay awake this time, though. 


Yesterday afternoon, Angela hired a guide and we went canoeing on Rio Salado.

The professor, Ariana, and our guide.

We saw bats, an assortment of birds including Anhingas and parrots, White-faced Monkeys (including a little one still holding onto mom), and Howler Monkeys (mostly just heard these). We also got entirely and thoroughly drenched by a series of rain showers. 

White-faced Monkeys are much crisper in person, I promise.

We're supposed to head down to the beach in a little to start profiling. Then it's back to walking in the dark again. 

Working with the GPS for profiling.

The portion of West Beach near the entrance.

Fishermens' huts where the trail runs onto the beach. The best
sight since, in the middle of the night, it means bed is only a few
minutes away. 

Using a transect line to determine variation of
the slope on the beach.

Ariana, Angela, and the professor (L to R) work on
 measuring the hight of the line above the sand.

July 9, Monday 
We are sitting in the midst of a tropical storm, in all its glory. Driving rain since an hour ago, thunder, lightening, and wind. Consequently, beach patrol has been canceled. Pause a moment to let the beauty of those words sink in. Actually, we were already going to be skipping tomorrow night so we could do some profiling so we're just switching which is the off patrol night. Still, as the rain drips into our room and each peal of thunder sounds closer, I am very, very glad we are indoors tonight. As such, I am thoroughly enjoying the impressive storm. 


July 11, Wednesday 
Final day in Salado Barra. Tomorrow morning, we leave on the first train to head back to La Ceiba. Angela and Ariana will be in La Ceiba until Sunday, while the professor heads to Teguc on Friday. Robyn and I will catch the ferry to Utila the same day. 


Yesterday was beach profiling in the morning and patrol in the evening. Profiling is beginning to speed up but, overall, is still moving painfully slow. Patrol is getting easier, though turtles have yet to be seen. We had nice views of four or five different lightening storms, though. I'm growing accustomed to tromping across uneven terrain without aid of a flashlight and dripping sweat the entire time. Waking at 2 always produces many questions about our choice of summer activity but once we get walking, wake up, and start talking, things seem much more tolerable again. Robyn, Ariana, and I have especially discovered that discussions about books make walking easier while games of hangman make breaks at either end of our stretch of beach go by faster. 

Bonus: we got a lovely sunrise this morning!

Robyn, Ariana, and I (L to R) after a night of turtle patrol.

Utila Again

Yes, I am back in civilized country. In this instance, read "civilized" as "electricity and regular running water." Internet is merely a nice bonus. 


We left Cuero y Salado yesterday morning and had several hours in La Ceiba before Robyn and I caught the afternoon ferry to Utila. We are now settling into our apartment and greatly enjoying the air conditioning unit in our bedroom. 


Photos still need a little bit of editing and sorting so this post will be more general info about our time in Salado Barra (the community we were staying in within Cuero y Salado) and photos will follow soon, I promise. 


Cuero was fun, though it took some getting used to. We were staying in a very colonial-plantation style house which used to be owned by the head of the local branch of the Dole fruit company. The area used to be full of pineapple and coconut plantations for Dole. The house was donated to FUCSA (the NGO administering the refuge; FUndacion Cuero y SAlado) for use by visiting volunteers and researchers. The house has two stories with a kitchen, dinning room, sitting area, and one bedroom downstairs, and three bedrooms and a separate bath upstairs. Our group had the upstairs area. Robyn, Ariana (another undergrad researcher), and I shared one bedroom, the professor and Angela (a Honduran hired by ProTECTOR) each had their own room. The bedroom downstairs is used by volunteers from the Falls Brook Centre, another NGO which is doing a lot of habitat restoration in the area. The kitchen did have cabinets and a sink but cooking was done on a small three burner camping stove hooked up to a propane tank. 


We had no electricity and only sporadic running water. Candles and flashlights took the place of electric lights, although we weren't in the house after dark much because of the beach patrols. Water came on at various intervals for varying amounts of time throughout the day. If water was running, any outstanding dishes were done and three large buckets were filled for use during bucket showers. There is an actual shower in the bathroom but it was lacking a handle. Pliers could be used to turn it on, but buckets were usually easier, especially if you didn't want to be tied to when the water was running for your shower schedule. Bottled drinking water had to be sent from La Union, the small town where the train starts. When we had an empty water jug, it was sent out on the train in the care of the military and it was usually returned that sometime that afternoon. 


We did beach patrol nearly every night, the only exceptions being Friday night and once when there was a torrential downpour, complete with thunder and lightening. No turtles, unfortunately. Each evening, we patrolled half of the entire beach--either East or West Beach (named by us for ease of data collection). During a shift, a group patrolled half of that night's beach (so a quarter of the entire beach). We left the house every night at 7pm. We would walk a given section of the beach until 11 pm, return to the house and sleep till 2 am, and then go back to the beach until 5 am. We then slept as long as we needed to, usually waking up anywhere between 8:30 am and noon. We always patrolled in two groups (Angela and the professor and then Robyn, Ariana, and I), with each group accompanied by a military personnel. 


We also did some beach profiling, although only on two days since it's preferable to do the profiling in the mornings when it's cooler and when you won't be out on the beach a few short hours later. We did have to go out one afternoon but the rest was done the morning after the rain storm. We used two methods of profiling. First, was to use a transect line to get an idea of the slope of the beach and how it changed from the water line to the vegetation. The second was to use a transect line laid across the edging vegetation to approximate the percentage cover of vegetation vs sand and the type of vegetation. We did very little of the profiling because we were doing just enough of the profiling to train Angela and Ariana since they will be on their own at Salado Barra for the rest of the summer.


Robyn and I will be meeting with Lindsay, the grad student we're working with, today and should get our marching orders for the next couple months. It will likely look very similar to our schedule at Cuero y Salado though it will be exciting to investigate a new beach. I'm also looking forward to starting up my divemaster training again. 


Stay posted for photos! Tantalizing hint, they include a cello concert and monkeys.

Striking an "awesome scientist pose" at sunrise on East Beach.

Two Month Spa Visit

I’ve decided to regard the weather on Utila as simply a bonus to my research and diving experiences: two months in a sauna. Or I’ve decided to regard it as such for the purposes of making this blog entertaining (or so I hope). Truth be told, I really, really dislike humidity. 

Yes, I’m very used to enduring hot summers but I’ve never gotten used to humidity. Besides, I’d much rather be in a cold climate than a hot one. There are only so many clothes one can remove but there isn’t a limit on how many layers you can have. However, I like the warm water. So I guess that means my ideal locale would be a cool to cold landmass (snow and all other sorts of precipitation are very welcome) with lovely tropical waters in the ocean. Good luck, right? 

Beginner's Guide to Utila

With a nod to my dad for being the one to actually come up with the idea, here’s my version of his “Beginner’s Guide to Utila”. 

If you fly directly to Utila, it will be on a plan smaller than this.

 Options for accommodations are plentiful.

Take a walk down main street.

You can buy anything that you forgot to pack (well, almost).

Utila provides plentiful options if you should want to go diving.

The cinema is open every night if you care for a movie.

You can choose from a wide* variety of recently* released blockbusters*.

*"Wide", "recently", and "blockbusters" may all be used subjectively.

There are many local eateries to choose from. 

The clinic is available should the food not agree with you.

The dentist can take care of other ailments.

Although we hope you won't need it, "lovely caskets" are available should other recourses fail.

 On a slightly tangential point, should I be worried that the dentist's sign is on the same building and hanging directly above the advert for caskets and coffins?