Today is over! Did it go particularly smoothly? No! Not really! But we made it and we are at the station on the Glovers Reef atoll! And we had a delicious dinner and have an awesome crew, so that’s what matters!

(Note to self, as I’m writing this and itching at mosquito bites – spray bug spray all over your clothing – they do bite through pants) 

Today has been a long day, tbh. I started it off at 2AM after ~3 hours of sleep by leaving my home town and driving 4 hours to Houston to make it on time to Rice (Success, I did in fact make it). After loading up bags with gear, taking a picture, riding in a rice shuttle 45 minutes to Bush International Airport, getting car sick on the way, and taking a Dramamine, we made it to the airport! Woo! But we then found out that each of our check bags had to be paid $35 for. 🙁 less woo, more time consuming. Then there was a whole fiasco about bringing the kids to Belize, but it all worked out and everyone got through! I had Panda Express for breakfast (ya know, the healthiest breakfast ever!), and then we set on for Belize!

Once we got here, we went through customs (easy) and loaded into 2 vans to get to the marina to take us to our next destination: Glovers reef. First, we stopped for some snacks at Skycity supermarket, but then we were on a boat for a 3 hour ride to the field station. It was pretty! But when the wind wasn’t blowing and the sun was hitting you, it was hot!! 

Lunch was some chicken and veggies wraps, which were good. I listened to an audiobook to drown out the engine noise on a majority of the ride over, but a major win, I didn’t get seasick! Definitelyyyy thought that I would. 

Once we made it to the island/atoll, we got our bunks set up and got familiar with the bathrooms, and the mosquitos. Dinner, again, was delicious. We had a little debrief, and now here I am, sweaty and sticky from mosquito spray, but also so so so tired since my day started at 2AM. Good omens so far? We’ll see! Hopefully! This trip should be fun!

Special shout out to our water safety specialists who are really cool, Ruth, Claudius, Adrian, and Kenneth, as well as our cooks who made the awesome dinner, Hortance and Ashley!