Whale Shark!!!

This is the soonest I have ever blogged about something ever in my history of blogging. This morning I was taking a break from analyzing my data for my independent research project with a bit of a snorkel around the reef crest in front of where I am staying. It started out strong with me spotting a hawks-bill turtle cruising along the top of the reef. As I approached him he started to head out over the open water and came up for air. This is the second time I have been lucky enough to witness this happening. They come to the surface, stick their heads out of the water and take several breaths, then dive back down to the depths. Well I thought that was going to be the highlight of my snorkel but boy was I wrong. About 5 minutes later I was checking out a school of snapper hanging out on the reef underneath a boat moored just offshore. Out of the blue (literally) came a massive creature headed north along the reef line. It didn’t take me long to recognize the shark like body with white spots to be a whale shark! I immediately started freaking out. I popped my head out of the water to look around to see if there was anyone around me to get their attention, but there was only a small Bonarian fishing boat nearby. I then started after it. It was not moving all that fast and I had little trouble keeping up with it even though I wasn’t in my fins. It started out being maybe 30 ft below me and as we swam along it slowly raised closer and closer to the surface. It had about 7 large bar jacks (dad what we call bar jack are not what the science world call bar jacks) swimming with it around its head area and 3 small cobia around its tail. As it got closer to the surface I dove down to meet it halfway, swimming along next not more than 10 ft away for as long as I could hold my breath before having to surface again. It was easily twice my length, I am guessing between 15 and 20 feet long, and its head was at least a meter wide. It was such an amazing creature, looking so powerful, yet so gentle at the same time, a true gentle giant. It propelled itself along with powerful sweeps of its huge caudal tail, while its pectoral fins stayed ridges and outstretched allowing it to glide along. As it came towards the surface it began to turn out towards open water. At this point it was about 10 feet below the surface. I swam out with it for about 20 m, but started to let it slip away into the blue because I didn’t want to get in the way of any boats that come through that area. As it faded into blue I have an image stuck in my head of the massive tail, waving back and forth. It was the most breathtaking, amazing, surreal, fantastic experience I have ever had in the water! It is going to be extremely difficult to top. I am really mad that I did not have my camera because it is impossible to describe in words. Anyways I just had to get that out. I don’t think my heart has stopped pounding since. The picture about is pretty much what it would have looked like if someone had taken a picture of me minus the pony tail and the fins. Until next time…

Mantas, Bio-luminescenc, Boats, and Soccer

Well time has just been flying by here in the Caribbean. I cannot believe it is already almost April. A lot has happened since my last post. That is the main reason why it has been so long. I am well on my way to have collected all of my data for my independent research project, comparing fish communities in an artificial reef putout last year to its surrounding habitats. Interesting stuff I know. For my research dives me and my buddy go out and watch certain areas and record the species and size of every fish for that goes in that area. I can either be extremely boring or I can be writing frantically for the entire 11 minutes.

On one of these dives, there I was just looking at my plot, waiting for some fish to swim through, when I look up and my buddy is frantically pointing behind me. I turn around to find a manta ray, not more than 2 meters behind me, cruising down the reef crest. Following it were two of my classmates. I joined in the chase. When I went up behind it and stretched out my arms is wing span was at least a foot wider than mine. It was one of the most amazing things I have seen underwater.

The next most amazing thing I got to experience underwater was and ostacod spawning event. They are small zooplankton that bio-luminescence to attract a mate on the 5th night after a full moon. We descended into the growing darkness at about 7:30 at night. Once near the bottom everyone shut off all of their lights. Suddenly all around me there were small spirals of green light coiling a few inches upwards before fading out. It is impossible to do the event justice in words. I could have sat there for hours just watching the firefly like curls going off around me, but we had to continue our dive and look at corals under black lights, which is a whole other phenomenon of the sea. I also had an octopus squirt ink at me on that dive. It was definitely the best dive I have done yet.

I had a sail boat for about 4 weeks. That was fun. One night we were on the dock and a sail boat hull came floating up to the dock and started bumping into it so I climbed down and brought it to shore. I left it there for a few weeks seeing if anyone would come to collect it or anything, but it never moved. I then occasionally started taking it out for paddles, lying on the front using my arms to paddle it. After doing some patchwork to the hull, I began searching for materials to make a proper sailboat out of it. I found some pieces of wood and rope around the house to fashion a mast and boom out of, using my hammock as a sail. I made a rudder and tiller out of pieces of wood I found at the house and tie wraps. Then on a field trip to another part of the island I found a perfect centerboard. With all the pieces found I then had to test them out. I decided to test the centerboard and rudder first so once I got some wind in my sails I knew I could steer it. My rudder needed some work so I decided to hold off on the sail. However the next day when I went down to the dock I witness the recovery of my boat by several local kids that live down the street. I imagine it was originally their boat and they were having so much fun with it I had to let it go. I still have all of my constructed pieces and know where it is parked so maybe one night I’ll take it out for a spin.

The next thing that I found was a soccer team! We found a soccer ball at the house a few weeks ago and I had been taking it out juggling and dribbling on the one way street that runs along the waterfront. I was doing this a few days ago and two older men sitting on the sidewalk asked me if I was interested in playing with a team. They called one of their friends that played on the team and asked if I could play with them. I was to meet them at the stadium that evening to get introduced to the coach. Apparently there are about 8 teams on the island and the season just started a month ago. The team that I got introduced to is one of the younger and better teams on the island. Most of the guys were between 16 and 25 it looked like and definitely knew how to play. Walking into the stadium, I didn’t know what to expect. I was surprised to find a really nice turf field and about 25 guys in an array of different soccer jerseys warming up and juggling. I got introduced to a few of the soccer legends from the island and the coach. Most of the players knew some English, but spoke Papiamentu, the local language which is a mix of Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, and English, to each other. We have been taking classes to learn it but for the most part I was lost as to what was talked about most of the practice. We started out with a small sided game, the rules of which I had to have explained to me in English. The only thing I gleaned from the Papiamentu version was that there were 4 goals and 8 people on the outside of the grid. We then followed with a game of 11 a side. I played outside mid and ran more than I have run since playing at Wofford. I have been real sore since then. At the end of the practice they gathered around the coach for what I am assuming was the starting lineup for their game the next day and some sort of discussion that I am not sure what it was about. The coach then official introduced me to the team, asking me what I was here for and how long I would be here. It was really nice to play again and to get that kind of experience interacting with people from Bonaire. Maybe I will actually start to understand what is being said around me with time.

Anyways I have rambled on long enough. Hope all is well in the states. Time for lunch!

How many students can fit into a slave hut?

So on our first field trip this happened...

Happy Carnival

Well is has been some time since I have actually written something specifically for blogging purpose so here it goes. It is officially spring break here. Its so early because they wanted us to have the week of carnival off. Carnival kicked of yesterday with the first parade of I don’t know how many, but it was a very interesting experience. It reminded me a little like mardi gras with the people camped out on the sidewalks with their tent and coolers and large gatherings. As well as the parade, except there was no free stuff given out. The floats were all bands and they would blast their music behind them for their parade participants dressed in all sorts of creative and decorative themed outfits dancing their way down the street. I was really impressed to see how intricate the costumes were, I could tell they spent a lot of time and resources on the parade, so it must have been a big deal. It was a lot of fun to walk around downtown seeing more people than I had accumulatively seen all month. Speaking of a month, tomorrow is my month anniversary of being on Bonaire, crazy huh? It has flown by so fast I could not even image only being here for a week, granted it is different because much of our time is spent either in the classroom or reading or doing homework. That’s why I look forward to this week off so hopefully I can get a chance to do some fun and exciting things.
Now to reflect on some things from the last few weeks. First off we went on a night dive on Valentine’s Day, where I had the opportunity to watch and assist several large tarpon (about one body length long) feed using my light to easily scope out small fish and gulp them down. It was quite an experience the first time one slipped past my left shoulder, nudging me with his tail as he went by. It was quite an extraordinary night seeing hundreds of brittle stars feeding, a Caribbean spiny lobster, around 50 trumpet fish mimicking a patch of branching sponge, and much more.
Other than that I have pretty much been going to class, which so far means learning about coral reef ecosystems and then going out and scuba diving, seeing what we have just learned. We also took a field trip on Friday to learn about waste disposal on the island. We went to a place where they used to dump the sewage in the middle of the island. It was very disgusting, there were still pools of sewage water in trenches. Let’s just say it was a very repulsing smell, We then took a look at the sewage treatment plant that was recently build, which actually did not effectively treat the water and dumped it into the same ditched as before. Our guide told us it was a huge waste of money and was much to just appease the environmental activists, which it has also fell short of doing. From there we ventured to our next location…the landfill. Needless to say it was an exciting afternoon. The way Bonaire treats its trash is not much better than the way they treat sewage. We even got to see the castle of Bonaire on this trip. It is really a miniature castle in the middle of the island. I tried but failed to get a picture of it as we drove by on our way back to CIEE.
It has been a very eventful month, with a lot of adventure, excitement, work, and memorable experiences. I can’t wait to see what the next two have in store for me.

Island Tour Reflection

Hi All,
Things have definitely gotten to be busy here. Last week we had to come up with our research projects and present these to our professors and then give a informal presentation to our classmates and teachers. Last weekend we went on an island tour and I just had to write a reflection paper on it, which has a decent description of what we did and has a little bit about what I thought about (the reflection part) so I thought I would share it. It's a bit long and dry but it is what it is.

The morning started off with a surprise. When I heard that we were taking a bus my first thought was that we were all going to pile into the CIEE van for our full day island tour. When I found out that wasn’t the case my next thought went to the open windowed painted school busses that we have seen pass in front of CIEE. When I saw what were actually riding in I was quite surprised, it was one of the elderly cruise people tour busses with the big comfy seats and air conditioning.
The weekend before I had the opportunity to go diving with a group from the dive shop where I got my open water certification on the southern part of the island at Angel City, so as we drove to the south of the island I got to have my second look at the beautiful scenery. The first time I saw the pink salinas I was just blown away. They are like nothing I have seen before. The contrast of the bright flamingo pink waters on the left with the aqua blue water on the right was gorgeous. The other thing that was hard to miss was the mountains of salt, so much salt just sitting out in the open, at the mercy of the wind and rain, but standing strong.
When we got to the slave huts I was flabbergasted to learn the story behind them. The mental and physical toughness of the people who worked those salinas must have been phenomenal. To walk all that way from Rincon to work under the scorching sun in the salt and to stay in those tiny little huts with no fresh water source. It must have been miserable. I think that I have worked a few hard days in my life and know I would not have the will power to do that day in and day out with no hope of improvement.
The contrast of the eastern coast of the island from the west coast was astounding. As we turned the corner around the tip of the island two things that were easily noticeable were the increasing size and strength of the waves, now beginning to pound and crash on the rocky shoreline, and the increasing buildup of trash washed ashore mixed in with the broken dead coral.
The feeling at Lac Bay was completely different from Kralendijk, and I am not only referring to the sandy beaches. I think after spending three weeks in and around the busy, “bustling” town of Kralendijk, the more remote and tranquil aspect of Lac Bay was a welcomed relief. Elvis seemed like an amazing person who has done so much for the island and many people on the island. It also was pleasant to see his pride in what has been accomplished by such a small community with such humble beginnings. I think it would be an amazing experience to get to talk to him more about his past and the past of Bonaire.
The tour of the north side of the island began with a series of beautiful sites, such as Karpata, 1000 Steps, and a lookout over a brown, but beautiful landscape. The rocky coral cliffs were such a stark contrast to the flat mangrove surrounded Salinas from the morning. When Dr. Peachy reminded us that those cliffs were formed from previous coral reefs and were at one time covered by the sea it brought how small my lifespan seems in the grander scheme of the world into perspective.
It was interesting to see the run down marine center and try to image it in its prime, which, as I imagined it, was quite pleasant and useful to be in that location. However, the walk to the water’s edge was probably less than amiable in scuba gear, but I have a feeling that is a common occurrence here in Bonaire. It was disappointing and disheartening to see how such a nice facility was let go far that now it seems a waste of space and has began to be enveloped by nature.
As the tour continued we passed through Rincon rather quickly, but from what I saw, it was not quite how I anticipated it to be. I expected it to be much smaller and it to look every unique from the rest of the island, however I did not see this as we passed through. I look forward to getting to spend more time there getting to know it better. I did notice how extremely far and difficult of a walk it would be from there to the tip of the island. I was equally surprised to hear that students had completed this walk for a cultural exercise.
The Indian paintings written on the cliffs I found equally as interesting and telling as the intricate work of the limestone caves they were drawn on. The holes, crevasses, groves, stalactites, and stalagmites formed by wind, waves, rain, and time had me more captivated than the twisting and turning illustrations on the ceiling, as amazing as they were.
I wish we had more time at the Kanuku Aruwak, things were just seeming to heat up as we left. But it was interesting to see the little bit of Bonairian dance that we did and I look forward to seeing and learning more during carnival.
Over all it was an amazing day of seeing all of the beauty of the island, learning some of its history, diversity, and richness. I think ending the day with the 360 lookout was the best way as possible, giving us a tremendous perspective of where had been and have vast of an area we had covered. I hope to return to many spots we visited on the island, especially the last location.

Week one Highlights

#1. On the third morning I was here I went on a run, heading north on the main road of the Island, taking the road east along the coastline. For the previous couple of days it had been raining on and off. I had already turned around to head home, it had been misting the whole time. In about 5 seconds it turned from a light rain to a torrential downpour. It was one of the most enjoyable runs I have ever had. Getting soaked through to the bone in about 5 minutes may have weighed me down the rest of the run, but it was completely worth it.
#2 It appears that all of the interesting things happen when it is raining. This next one however was under water instead of on land. We were getting ready to come up from one of our dives from the place we have been diving all week, the yellow sub scuba shop. It had been a relatively good dive. We had worked on some skills, navigation I think and looked around at edge of the reef, no deeper than 30 ft deep. Well when it was finally time to head to the surface we got with our buddies and started heading up. When I tuned my head up to see if there was anything above me I saw a sight I have never seen before. It was down pouring and the surface was exploding with rain drops. Now if you think it is a really cool sight to see the rain on the water from above the surface, it is 100 times more amazing of a sight to see it from underneath the surface. You get to see all the rings and ripples created by the rain and don’t see any of the splash. It is also so peaceful and quiet underneath the water it took me a second to realize it was storming above surface.
#3 I had fun time playing keep away soccer with two of my professors’ children the other day. We had just finished up a very competitive game of volleyball including all of the students, teachers, and interns, some of which are not the most enthusiastic or coordinated people with a volleyball coming their direction. There was also a soccer ball lying around that I started playing with, which attracted the attention of the owner of the ball, the child of the director of the program. She was a fierce opponent for a game of keep away, never giving up and calling one of the other professor’s children to her aid. They also started making up rules saying they were both goalies and could use their hands and their goal was in a secret, undisclosed location. It was a lot of fun and the first soccer that I have gotten to play since being here.
Well I think that is sufficient for a blog post for now. I met up with some people from Wofford down here for interim last night and am going on a dive with an adult group from Spartanburg tomorrow. More to come later from Bonaire.

Making It

Well it sounded easy enough, making it to Bonaire that is. 1) drive to Miami from Gainesville. Dad's got that covered, saving the majority of the fishing store stops till after the drop off. 2) get my bags checked within the weight requirements 3) get on the plane 4) get picked up in Bonaire after getting my bags. Well only about everything was going smoothly at first. Got up at 4:30 am, got in the car, and went back to sleep till we were in fort Peirce at 11 am, where we test drove a boat. After having lunch with some family friends we made our way further south stopping along the way to get a wetsuit. Once in Miami we checked into our hotel and tried to check into my flight, which was delayed due to the airline not giving me the proper numbers. I finally got my boarding pass printed before we went out and had a very nice dinner with my great aunt Alberta. In the morning we got to the airport 3 hours before my flight in case of any catastrophes. There were no major ones, but I did run into some weight issues. I apparently did not read the website correctly so I was extremely overweight in one bag. In order to appease the airport staff I was forced to carry on my regulators and hammock and leave my travel speakers and some other odds and ends. I then made my way painlessly through security and made some last minute phone calls from my gate. Before I knew it we were boarding, I was in my seat, and we were taking off. Contrary to all of the online information as well as my boarding pass we were not headed for Bonaire. Instead we were flying to the neighboring island of Curacao. Upon arrival and deplaning they rushed those of us going to Bonaire to the front of the lines, through security (after paying a transfer fee of $2), and to our gate that the plane to Bonaire was scheduled to leave from. There was some confusion as to who was on the flight. They apparently had not planned for our plane to contain passengers needing to go to Bonaire and did not have tickets or space for all of us. Luckily I, as well as the two fellow CIEE students, were at the front of the line and claimed a spot on the first puddle jumper to make the quick 15 minute flight to Bonaire. However our bags did not. We were told that they might be on the flight immediately (40 minutes) following ours so we waited longer. The intern that picked us up was less than happy for the continued delay to her Saturday night. When the plane arrived we had to wait for all of the passengers to leave the secured baggage area before going to look for our bags. What we found was again a bit disheartening. Only one of each of our bags had arrived. The bag I received contained only my shoes and my dive gear, so it looked like jeans and a long sleeve shirt were going to be my attire until my other bag arrived. I was able to borrow some shorts in the morning form an intern. In the morning we also went to the airport and retrieved our bags which were all there and all the contents were present. It was a very interesting introduction to the island and was the start of an extended adventure. I look forward to the next!