Sorry I haven't posted in a while folks, the schedule got busy quickly, and it may not sound like it because I can hardly remember enough to post last week. But bear with me (*rawr*) and go back and read up on this week because it was an interesting one and there are pictures to boot!
Today was the last day before PROVO!!! Woo hoo! But we had a group project to finish. Aw...
This morning was one last snorkel before our classes in Provo and 5-day mid-semester break. We went out to a patch reef in front of East Bay Hotel that breaks mini waves a small distance from shore. Our boatman today was our new Argentinian Dive Safety Officer, Ricardo. He's a very enthusiastic, charismatic person with a boisterous attitude and a rapid-fire speech. His comedy is impeccable and likes to say things like "Ok, we get off the boat now. OK GO! GET THE HELL OUT OF MY BOAT! ha ha ha!" and "What are you doing overboard? DidISayYouCouldJumpOffTheBoatWithTheAnchor?? ha ha ha!" It's very Antonio Banderas. It was a drift snorkel today and we started at one end of the reef and drifted along the current to the other end, in a westward direction. It was fairly low key, since most of the topography was coral rubble and waving palms of Gorgonian coral, but it was the first time I was reminded of California underwater. The way the long stretches of Gorgonians waved in the current was resemblant of kelp forests swaying in the cold water of Cali. *sigh* Nostalgia. We saw a fair amount of angelfish, a relatively rare-to-see reef fish and a giant nurse shark sitting under a rock.
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| Tail of a really big nurse shark |
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| Black Durgon up close. From afar they look just plain black. (Melichthys niger) |
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| White spotted filefish (Cantherhines macrocerus) |
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| Who says there are no palm trees on this island?? |
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| Queen Angelfish (Holacanthus ciliarus) |
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| Rock Beauty (Holacanthus tricolor) |
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| Coral rubble and Gorgonian fans |
After the snorkel it was time to get down to business. Our group project on conch populations was due at 6 pm and we were aiming for 2 pm. I sat down to write my Materials and Methods section and was able to do that, skype Izzy in London, and have time to spare before lunch. I also found out that my flight was switched to come back from Provo 3 hours earlier. Normall, this wouldn't bother me if my roommates were too, but of course, I'm not going with them. They get to stay 3 hours later. This would not have happened if the lady at the airport had included me in the same group when she scheduled us, as I had requested. My roommates were in the 1st group, and got the 3 pm flight. But Air Turks and Caicos overbooked by about 20 people and switched us all to another flight, simply because I scheduled my flight one person late. Yay.
The remainder of the time until 3 was spent editing our paper, making milkshakes, editing our paper more and trading back massages. We were able to finish the whole thing stress free and easy. I packed until about 5 pm for Provo and then went looking for conch shells to clean and take home. Successfully, I might add. The rest of my evening will be catching up on the blog, watching some movies, hanging out, and sleeping early :) Can't wait for my 6:30 am flight out tomorrow. Ooh. But really, I am excited, it's going to be a fun break.
On another note, we FINALLY go a thunderstorm today, much needed for our water supply. But it's beautiful, as are all storms here:
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| Today's thunderstorm |
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