Spring Break part deux

After our busy, scheduled days of field trips it was finally time for us to RELAX and enjoy the white sandy beaches of Provo. I have to say, it felt pretty weird to be a tourist in this country where we have been living for the last two months. Whenever we told someone about our study abroad here, they were shocked! The tourists didn't have any idea about how remote and tiny South Caicos was. We had to explain that, no, we dont have any shops, or restaurants, or desalinization plants...no no not at all. We have a few convenience stores, shipments of food only arrive via barge every 2 weeks for the entire island, and since the people here rely on rain catchment for water, our pool is full of salt water! The Provo natives who heard our story already knew about SFS and couldn't believe that we had to stay on South Caicos...one bar tender even gave my friend a bottle of drink-mixer-type-stuff and said, "here, you take this back with you. You're going to need it if you are going back to South." So ANYWAY, on to the fun part of break. We spent the majority of our day out on the beach swimming, playing volley ball, and walking along the turquoise shore to watch kite-boarders and wind-surfers. Everything on the island was *ridiculously* expensive, but even the grocery store items were cheaper than what we were used to on South. You know you're a little jaded when a $5 box of cheerios sounds like a good price (~$8-9 on south). Since there was not much we could do about the price of food, we made picnic lunches during the day and went out to dinner every night. It was crazy getting to decide when/where we wanted to eat our meals since for the last 8 weeks we have been on camp-style meal schedules. One night my friends Amanda, Molly, and I went out to a Sushi restaurant. Honestly, there was nothing special about the sushi, but I think it was the most delicious meal of my life. Mmmmmm wasabi and ginger never tasted so good!










On Sunday I pulled a total tourist move and went PARASAILING! It was sooo great. We could see the entire island of Provo and even parts of North/Middle Caicos from up there!
The reefs on TCI are so beautiful and part of the reason they exist is that right along the rim of the very shallow (all less than 20M, but mostly 3-4M) water is the drop off point where the island shelf breaks, dropping down something like 4,000ft to the ocean floor. From our view, we could see the crystal water slowly fade to dark turquoise and then instantly to a dark royal blue. It was like different shades of blue contour lines following around the island. Our favorite part was when the driver slowed down enough that we landed in the water until he sped up to lift us out again. We had a whole soundtrack of whoooaaaa's and ahhhhhh's and ohhhhh's as the chute blew from side to side. It was such an amazing experience. Totally worth it.














Of course, there was a lot of other spring break fun, including our Provo St. Patricks day celebration at the islands' only Irish pub, Danny Buoy's (no I did not misspell that) and the "Full moon party" at an outdoor patio/bar with the biggest sound system I have seen since arriving in TCI.

Well folks, returning from spring break only means that I am past the halfway point of my dream life in the Caribbean seas *siiiigh*. Next week is our last week of classes, which means MORE EXAMS. But then on to the thing we have all been waiting for...Directed Research Projects! I will explain more when the time comes but just be prepared because Im about to get reeeeal nerdy about reef fishes.

I love and miss you all!

Spring Break 2011!

So, the reason it had been so long since my last post is a really good one. WE WERE ON SPRING BREAK!!!

Last Tuesday morning, we all hopped on a little puddle jumper plane to the main tourist destination of Turks and Caicos...Providenciales aka PROVO!!!

We settled into our hotels and went out to survey locals and tourists about their opinions on eco-friendly tourism and how important they thought it was to keep the TCI waters as pristine and beautiful as they are now. It was interesting talking with the locals because, although they know thier livelihood (making money from the tourists) depends on saving the reefs and beaches, they admit to be very hesitant in creating new laws to protect them. Most locals knew about the new recycling program which started in Provo last fall, but didn't know where or how to recycle.

After the interviews, we toured an all-inclusive resort (which was AMAZING) so that we could ask about their energy/water use. The enitre island depends on de-salinization plants for their water and the only source of electricity in TCI is the monoploy diesle-fuled power company. It seems like there are small changes being made to some of the resorts to push a more "green" image but nothing major is happening as of now.

Here is a map of Turks and Caicos so that you will better understand my spring break travels...

On Wednesday we took a ferry to North Caicos to visit an old slave cotton plantation and the DECR (department of environmental and coastal resources) nursery. The plantation still had all of the original walls built by slaves 200+ years ago! It was a really beautiful tour but we went through it pretty quick because we were being EATEN ALIVE by mosquitos.

The nursery was also interesting...well, to us at least. But then again we are a bunch of nerds when it comes to anything field-studies-related...especially since all of the plants were labeled with their scientific names. Oooooooo!

After all 40 of us took a plane and a boat together, it was time for us all to travel on land together by packing in a big school bus to drive to Middle Caicos. It was only about an hour away from to plantation and we stopped for lunch at what I think was the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I think I said that in an earlier post, but this country just keeps one-upping itself!

We went body surfing and played on the rock formations before we had to (grudgingly) leave. But don't feel too bad because we were only leaving so that we could go spelunking!!!! There are some awesome sea caves in Middle Caicos and we learned all about different cave formations and bat species from our encyclopedia-of-a-tourguide. p.s. for anyone who watches Malcom in the Middle he reminded me *exactly* of Craig...that big guy who is in love with Lois : )

As our two jam-packed days of school-field-trip drew to a close we fell asleep in our beds dreaming of what our next 5 days of fun would have in store...but it is getting late and it will have to wait until the next post!

Much love from the big south!!!

~Dani

Another week in paradise

After finishing exams on Monday, there was definitely a more relaxed atmosphere at the center. No more late night cramming and study sessions made for some very happy students... : )

On Tuesday night we watched "The Cove" outside on a projection screen. We usually have movie night on Tuesday but this one was especially for our Marine Resource Management class. If you haven;t heard about "The Cove" you should really look it up or see the film! It is a horribly sad and terrifying documentary about killing dolphins in Japan. By the end, half of us were in tears and ALL of us were covered in bug bites. The mosquito's get really bad here at night...One day last week I was getting so fed up with all my bites (and so bored of studying) that i decided to circle them. I had OVER THIRTY. I was covered in circles for the next two days.

ANYway the next day, Wednesday, turned out to be quite eventful after a lazy Tuesday. After teaching our first grade class, we went to a place called "Coast Guard" for our snorkel sesh...It was low tide and there was a big sandbar in the middle of the bay which we swam to and took some awesome jumping pics!





We left Coast guard in two cars, one truck (driving ahead) and one big van (behind). Let me tell you right now that it was a mistake to choose the van...First of all I will just say that Coastguard is one of the farthest places you can drive to on the island and there are basically no paved roads outside of town.

We had driven for about 3 minutes when thump thump thummmmp...
we found ourselves with a flat tire. Having no phone or radio, and with the truck speeding away around corners and out of sight, we were stuck. We decided to walk to the High Point Hotel (note the sad faces as it was very far away) because we realized that there are usually a group of students who come to play volleyball there on Wednesday nights.





After walking for over an hour we finally made it!!! Only to fiiiind....no one. Our student director, Richard, went up to the hotel to call for backup and a van came to pick us up about a half hour later. Ahhh what an adventure.

My friend Nina took this picture at Coastguard. Doesn't it look like a postcard?!

So here we are on a Friday night, staying in (like we always do on Friday nights) playing ping pong after a *hilarious* talent show for activities night. My friend Kyle and I did an acoustic version of the Flaming Lips song "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots". Will put up the slightly embarrassing vid if someone posts it online...haha and yes we had dancing robots acting out the song in the background.

Exams are overrrrrr!!!!

Phew. I couldn't have been happier to be finished with my last mid-term exam this morning! It was a long week what with all of us studying and spending lots of time in the water for CONCH ASSESSMENT!!!

Last week, we went out into the banks around South Caicos every afternoon to count how many conch we could find. For 2-3 hours we would get on and off the boats, laying 30 meters of transect lines in anywhere from 1/2 to 4+ meter deep water.

We counted and measured every conch we found along the line, recording on our underwater slates what we found. Each group (8 groups total) took around 15 transect measurements total over the course of the surveying and this week we are going to try to estimate the populations of conch! wooooo!

On the last day of assessment, we didnt find a single conch, and since our measurements went so quickly, we played with starfish instead! They are sooo big and cool here. This is my friend Amanda and I...she goes to University of Sandiego and was in my assessment group for our survey.Since we were done measuring conch, our water activity today was LIONFISH HUNTING! Lionfish are an invasive species here and are really good at killing ALL of the other fish who live in the reef. Sooooo...... we kill them.

(I dont know if you can tell from this pic but this is me holding up a "hand gun" to a lionfish...)

We went out to hunt them with staff today, but later in the semester we will get the chance to do it on our own! I definately need to get better at it before then because I punched a rock underwater while I was looking for one under some coral...kinda scratched up my knuckles on one hand and let me tell you it does NOT feel great when you do that kind of thing in salt water.
And no, I have no idea how I punched it hard enough to hurt myself. Its usually pretty hard to move that fast underwater...I guess I was just in super-intense-hunting-mode.

No Classes on Wednesday!

Did I mention that we dont have classes on Wednesdays? Well, we dont! Like our Saturday community outreach days, we spend Wednesday going to the local primary and high school to teach classes. For the rest of the semester, I am helping teach a 1st grade writing class with two other students, Brady and Ana. We were told not to come this week because the kidos were taking mid-terms (what kind of 1st graders take mid-terms??), so Brady and I decided to go pick up trash at the local b-ball court. We were only there for about an hour but came back with THREE full bags of trash!! Litter is a huge issue here, and although the school has worked in the past to help the situation, it is not getting much better. For a class project, we proposed a semester goal of placing more trash cans throughout the community to reduce litter. : )

After community outreach, we go out to snorkel in the afternoon! Today we went to a place called "Pete's Point" which we had not yet been to.

It. Was. INCREDIBLE.














I cant believe I was looking at that earlier today. We saw a few spotted eagle rays while simultaneously dodging a HUGE barracuda that was keeping its eye on us...ewww they are so creepy!

The only other news I have to report is that last week we found a litter of puppies in a field by the center. They were all pretty small but we noticed that their mother was at least coming by now and then to feed them. There are a lot of stray dogs here, in the Caribbean they call them "Pot Cakes" because they are fed whatever is left caked on to the bottom of the pot. : (

Anyway, there is a shelter on Provo (the main tourist island of TCI) called Potcake Place where dogs can be adopted by people in the US/other countries. We were able to get them to send over a crate for the puppies we found to be delivered to the shelter for adoption! Yesterday our center director drove them over to the airport, but not before they were played with by 34 oooing and awwwwing students at the center.
They really were just soooo cute...ohmygosh

p.s. The one with the tongue sticking out was named "Money" because when some students went to visit the puppies in the field, it pooped a dollar bill. SO FUNNY.

Now it is time for me to study for my exams which are on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Yep. An EXAM on SATURDAY. *Siiiiiiighhhhhh* I know, my life is so terrible...haha

My favorite day of the week...

Today is Sunday! The day we wait for every week....ahhhh!! After 6 days of classes and community work, this is our only day off to explore and relax on the beach. Today we are *especially* in need of some r&r after a jam-packed last few days.

Friday morning started out with a boat trip to Long cay (pronounced key) where we hunted for Iguana's and Curly Tail Lizards to get an idea of their populations. They are being re-introduced to this cay after being hunted by feral cats on the island. We anchored the boat about 50 ft offshore and waded onto the land through the glassy turquoise water. Its times like this when I still have to remind myself that I am actually in CLASS. Any who...the Iguana's were so big and they were everywhere! After bushwhacking walking into countless (terrifyingly huge) spider webs we were off to take our last identification quiz on coral species.

After classes were over, we packed up and headed out for a camping trip at Bell Sound on the east side of the island. It was a clear night, perfect for some stargazing! I gave a little constellation tour around the fire...haha finally a use for my random knowledge of astronomy! For the rest of the night, we sat around the fire singing with an acoustic guitar, eating smores, and telling riddles all with the constant sound of waves crashing a few meters away.






We woke up to a beautiful beach sunrise at 6AM before driving back to the center...we have diving and snorkeling trips on Saturday morning. This Saturday, the swells were getting pretty high so we went to a place called "Admirals Aquarium". It is a more shallow area with tons of coral and hundreds of beautiful fish! I was looking at a school of fish when all of a sudden my snorkel buddy started yelling my name. I looked the other way and two *huge* spotted eagle rays were passing about 2-3 meters away! We see them a lot here but that was the closest I had gotten to one so far. I think they are probably the most beautiful animal I have ever seen.


Every Saturday afternoon we have community outreach at the center. Tons of local kids come to the school for games, crafts, and swimming lessons while aldults can come in for computer or English lessons. All of us sign up each week for a certain activity (there are also beach clean-up and invasive tree removal groups) to do during community outreach. Over the last few weeks, I have been teaching English to local Dominican and Hatian people. I never realized how confusing the English language is! Yesterday I taught the alphabet..."alright everyone, you now understand that it makes perfect sense for ph to sound like f, and the letter Y to sound like an E, I, or U...but is not considered a vowel." Yep, totally makes sense.

After our massive weekly Saturday clean-up of the center, we eat dinner and head out on the town! There is a great outside area at a place called Darells to play cards and order fries and cracked conch (well not the conch for me), or head over to Chicken bar where there will always be locals wanting to play dominoes in a gazebo with red and blue colored light bulbs. We usually finish the night dancing at the club called "Bay$ide Baller$". They try to lure us in by playing American music, including "Do you believe in life after love" or "the electric slide". We always ask them to play local music, but the DJ insists on playing Rhianna and Bruno mars on repeat...oh well!


Which brings us to today, Sunday. YESSS!!!! The only day we can sleep in (as if the rooster and church bells don't wake us up at 8 anyway) and make our own plans for the day. Mine usually include laying out in the sun and doing my laundry in an old tidy cats litter bucket...with salt water.

I think that is enough for now...yes? I need to get out and enjoy my day off!

Hello from the Big South!

I'm here!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are many excuses I could offer for why I am just now (three weeks into my Turks and Caicos adventure) starting to write a blog. I could go on and on explaining my procrastination, but the only thing you need to know is that each of my excuses involve the very experiences I have had which make this blog necessary in the first place! SO please forgive me for not making this blog sooner, but I was too busy getting material to actually write it!

Alright, where to begin? Lets NOT start at the beginning…that would be overwhelming for me to write, and you to read. Lets start with an average day (as if any of them were average) at the School For Field Studies Marine Resource Management center in South Caicos…*initiating dream-like sequence*

I wake up in the morning to a rooster crowing. Looking up into my mosquito net, which covers my top-bunk bed, I wonder if I have actually slept past 6:30 today? Nope! My already sand-stained (was white when I came) watch says 6:10…but I get up anyway, that rooster will keep crowing until at least noon. I brush my teeth and attempt to comb my salty hair before walking outside into the slightly cool morning air. The sun has just come up and the light gives everything a warm orange glow. I can hear the waves lapping up on the dock below our school center as I look out onto the ocean surrounding me.

The breakfast bell (a hanging scuba tank hit with a wrench) rings at 7AM, giving us an hour before our first class starts at 8. We have 4 hour-long blocks of class each morning so that we will only be in the classroom for the cooler part of the day. It still gets pretty hot by the last one, but bearable since we have open doors and windows which catch some of the cool sea breeze.

We eat lunch at 12:30 every day, heading out afterwards for an “ID session” by boat to one of our snorkeling destinations. The ID sessions are to help us memorize the scientific names of many, MANY species of seaweed, coral, and reef fishes. Like, that blue fish from Finding Nemos name is not even close to Dori. Its a Blue tang, also known as Acanthurius coerules. Here are some of my other favorites…

French Grunts, Haemulon flavolineatum Stiped Parrotfish, Scarus iseri

OH! And by the way, I should mention that none of these pictures would be possible if it weren’t for the fantastic photography skills of my dear friend, Laura Stone. My “underwater” camera broke after only one week, so I have sadly been camera-less since then.

The afternoon usually winds down with a little group yoga sesh, jog around town, sea glass hunting at the jetty, or playing volleyball with some of the locals at our court next to the center. I try to get in as much adventuring as possible before its time to sit and watch the (always beautiful) sunset over the ocean.

After dinner at 6:30, there is time for us to study and read for class before bed…yeah sure! How can we be expected to study when there is an activity night event like Dominican dance lessons, night snorkeling, outdoor movies, or hide and seek (sardines style). If all else fails, we “waste” time staring into the incredibly bright stars and planets that come out every night.
*End dream-like sequence*

I promise to write about some of the more specific adventures I have been/will have here on South Caicos, but I want to give you all some idea of the life I have here day to day. I can hardly believe that the things I described above are becoming my routine. I feel incredibly lucky to be here and I pinch myself every time I stare into the turquoise water that surrounds what has now become my home.

Goodbye for now and many more posts to come!

~Dani