Don't Die!

I've decided I deserve a break from packing. Not that I've been working at it all that long, but I still think I deserve a break. Yes, packing for my next adventure in South Africa has commenced. Tomorrow evening I start my trek to Mossel Bay, South Africa.

Now for a few frequently asked questions: 

1. Why are you going to South Africa?  I'm going to a marine lab called Oceans Research. If you've ever watched Shark Week on TV or similar programs, you may have actually heard of them or some of their researchers (their head researcher is Ryan Johnson) or at least seen some of their work. 

2. What are you going to study?  Sharks!! Although a lot of the lab's work is with Great White Sharks, they also work with many smaller species in the area. A lot of the work, especially with the Great Whites, is tagging and tracking movement. 

3. How in the world did you find this place?  Actually, they emailed my department chair about the intern program and he, knowing I was interested in marine biology and looking for internships, let me know. Sent in an application and the rest is history (or will be in a couple months). 

4. How long will you be there?  Two months. 

5. Sharks???  Yes! Sharks!

On that note: now to address what appears to be a primary concern for many. I have been warned quite frequently not to die. Don't worry, I'm not planning to. I plan to be very, very careful, to follow explicitly the instructions of the researchers I'm working under, but yes, I do plan to go on shark dives if I have the chance. They're amazing animals and really not as vicious or scary as Jaws or even some documentaries on TV make them seem. Yes, they've got lots of teeth--sharp teeth--so I have a healthy respect for them. However, I also have a healthy respect for the teeth in the mouth of my little sister's hamster. It's mostly an issue of being smart about what you're doing and how you're doing it. In conclusion, yes, I will be very careful. I certainly don't want to die!

My piles of clothing are beginning to eye me reproachfully... I should probably get back to work. 

The Other Half of Being a Researcher

Anyone who knows anything about research knows that half the work is actually gather data. The other half is writing: writing grant applications, writing abstracts to submit to journals and conferences, writing articles for publication, writing posters or presentations for conferences... It's a never ending cycle of writing and the fun part of research. (Actually, I find science conferences quite fun but that's another discussion.) 

For the last week, I've been writing and editing and re-editing an abstract to submit to the 33rd Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation. I'm not the only one--I've also helped edit two other abstracts for submission to the same conference. Of course, one absolutely must have an amazing title for a presentation. The last time I presented at a science conference, my talk was entitled, "Down-and-Dirty: What Hoover Vacuums and Sea Cucumbers Have in Common in a Tropical Coral Reef Environment." Have to figure out how to rival that, right? 

Here's my list of possible titles for my poster about this summer's volunteers: 

-Volunteer Researchers and Charging Sea Turtles (The charging sea turtle story, in case you've forgotten.) 

-It Wasn't Raining When We Left: Field Research and Volunteers in Honduras (ATV Adventures, Night 2) 

-Basic ATV Maintenance and Other Necessary Skills for a Volunteer (How many times can one ATV break?) 

-'There's a Crab in My Trousers' and Other Volunteer Events of Note (One night, a BICA volunteer work up, exclaiming, in her heavy Scottish accent, "There's a crab in my trousers!") 

-Crocodiles, Spiders, and Scorpions--Oh My! (One night on Cuero, the guard with Arianna, Robyn, and I tried to tell us something about an area of the river that ran next to us on the beach. All we could understand was something about "crocodilo" and "peligroso," neither of which was very encouraging without context from the rest of the sentence. The wolf spiders and scorpions were both in the woods on our Utila beach.)

-We Don't Have Protocol for This!: Field Research and the Volunteer (TWO TURTLES!!!) 

-Listening for Hatchlings and the Role of Volunteers (According to one source, you can actually hear turtle hatchlings when they're in the nest and scrabbling towards the surface.)

Any winners? No? Don't worry, I did come up with another title--one that's both catchy and a little more serious than the ones listed here. 

In other news: I leave for South Africa on Saturday!!

Things I Miss...

You already got the list of things that I didn't miss about Utila (and still don't miss, in case that lacks clarity) so I figure it's about time I wrote up the list of things that I do miss about my summer internship. 

-Scuba diving: I love diving. I know there are chances to go diving in South Africa and I'm going to fit in as many as I can!

-Stars: I've been outside late at night a couple times since being home and there is so much light pollution in southern California. When it wasn't cloudy and threatening to rain on us in Honduras (and when hurricanes weren't moving through the area), the night sky was incredible. 

-Baleadas: they became my staple meal! Breakfast ones with egg, simple ones with just beans and cheese, veggie and avocado ones for dinner... 

-Utila Dive Center: the people at this dive shop are amazing. They're all super friendly and really great teachers. 

-My research partners: Robyn and Lindsey are pretty much awesome. Can't really add anything more to that. 

It's Official!

My divemaster certification card arrived in the mail! See that? Official PADI divemaster! 

So what's kept me busy since I got home? Let's see... went to Les Miserables, shipped Jeffrey off for a year abroad in France, helped babysit a second cousin, assisted with math homework, joined our personal reader's theater of A Midsummer Night's Dream, unpacked, examined the possibilities of repacking (though that's still a couple weeks away), read, cooked eggplant parmesan from an online video recipe, watched a couple movies and a couple documentaries, and snorkeled at the beach looking for leopard sharks (unsuccessful, unfortunately). Among a few other things, of course. 

The water is a lot colder in So. Cal than Utila, for some reason...

Things I Don't Miss...

In light of the fact that I keep getting pictures and stories of adorable tiny sea turtles from Robyn and Lindsey back on Utila, I've decided to comfort myself with a list of things I don't miss about my life on a tropical island. 

-Cigarette smoke: I hate breathing the stuff and there are no designated smoking or non-smoking areas whatsoever. 

-Monitoring where food and water come from: I don't like it when things go wrong with my digestive tract. 

-Sweating while sitting still indoors: Air conditioned houses and buildings are amazing. 

-Sandflies: I believe I've made my sentiments about these small insects amply clear. 

-All other bugs whose existence in life is provided by sucking my blood: Especially if they leave an itchy welt. The last few lingering mosquito and sandfly bites are finally not itching. Do you know how incredible it is to sit outdoors, sans bug spray, and not be bitten?? 

That said, you really should look at Lindsey's blog and Robyn's blog to see their pictures of working with the hatchlings. 

USA, Temporarily

In case anyone was wondering, I've reached California again. Despite some hiccups getting a taxi at our hotel in Tegucigalpa (the scheduled one never showed up and, when called, only one instead of two arrived but despite looking worried, the driver got three of us plus our luggage in!), the trip was quite uneventful. So now I'm home and readjusting to life in a first-world country. Not that the adjustments are all that huge, that is. Minor things like remembering that I rinse my mouth after brushing with water from the faucet, much less outright drink it. Then there's the habit of throwing toilet paper in a trash can to break. However, if that's the most I have to readjust to, I'm not complaining. 

What happens next? I'm home for a few weeks and then we start the next adventure. I'm heading to South Africa for an internship with sharks!

Heading Home

Sunrise at the airport

My remaining time in Honduras is now being measured in hours. We've completed the first portion of our sojourn back to the states. Emily, Sarah, and I left Utila early this morning on an itsy-bitsy plane. I was placed in the copilot's seat and hoped that the pilot wouldn't have a heart attack or anything like that. We flew first to La Ceiba and then to Tegucigalpa. Due to reasons which remain a mystery, to fly out of Teguc at noon on one day requires a flight from Utila leaving the morning before. So we had landed and collected baggage in Teguc by 8:30 am and we don't fly the rest of the way home until noon tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of my family and friends again. 

Anyone else know how to fly this thing?

Is this standard navigational equipment for a small
plane? I'm more used to seeing this on a dashboard of
a car...

Oh yeah, and remember those hatchlings I sat on the beach waiting for all last week? Yeah... They hatched. According to the report I got from those still on Utila, they got a call right about the time we were landing in Teguc. It was Gene calling to tell them that our nest was hatching. Yes, at the last, I missed the turtles by two hours.

Certification Complete!

I am officially a certified divemaster. Everything is signed off, applications filled out, and my diving on Utila has come to a close. This morning, I wrapped up my course by leading a dive at the Haliburton Wreck site. Then, I led a dive for four people at Black Coral Wall without any instructor supervision. Ok, three have dived with me before since two are related to me and the other does a lot of research with me but still! (The fourth was a young man who had joined the girls' Advanced course for their last adventure dive.) The girls have also finished their course and are now certified Advanced Open Water divers. Tomorrow will be busy with packing and trying to figure out where everything went in the two months I've been here. Tuesday morning, we start our trek home. 

In other news, it looks like my chances of seeing hatchling turtles are gone. Robyn and I spent the last three nights on the beach waiting to see if Lindsey's first turtle nest would hatch. It didn't. Tonight, Robyn, Lindsey, and I loaded up the ATV and headed off only to be stymied by the ATV at the first corner. The right front wheel refused to turn. Yes, the ATV is broken again. (Yes, Dad, the exact same problem you encountered when you rented an ATV from the same shop a couple months ago.) At least the battery is working, I hear you say? I forgot to tell you. It's not. Something in the connection for recharging the battery doesn't work properly and we haven't been able to use the normal method of starting the machine since yesterday morning. Fortunately, the last time the ATV was taken in because of starting issues, the owner installed a kick starter as a back-up. Yes, that's correct--we now kick start our ATV. Anyway, we decided the turtles are unlikely to hatch tonight (it's still a few days before they're due) and that the risk of driving the stupid machine to the beach was too high. Besides, we don't mind catching up on some sleep.