May 24, 2025
Travel Day TEC —> GRRS (Glover’s Reef Research Station)
Today was another awesome day to be a tropical field biologist. We woke up bright and early again at the TEC, and prepared our luggage and our selves to travel by boat ~80 miles from Belize City to the GRRS. At 8, we hopped in the van for an/hour and a half ride to Belize City along the George Price Highway (George Price was the first British Premier and later Prime Minister of an independent Belize. We’ve been on his highway a lot so I googled him) with stops at a huge supermarket for last-minute supplies and then we grabbed some lunch at “Old Belize,” a tourist-y food court/ waterpark/gift shop. The Stew Chicken and fro-yo I had was lovely.
No chicken or frozen delectable was nearly as lovely as what was to come: a beautiful 2-3 hour boat ride out to Glover’s Reef. This boat ride was so fantastic there are truly no words. It was the perfect level of wavy to rock me right to the brink of a nap, the water was so deeply blue and beautiful, and I loved having my TFB friends with me on the ride. I also notably had Taylor Swift with me (in my ears) on the ride as well.
After the lovely boat ride, we disembarked at GRRS and met the station staff and Kenneth, the station manager. I learned that this station was managed by the same organization that manages all of NYC’s Zoos, which I thought was pretty cool! This place is probably one of their better spots… I’m sure the NYC land is worth more $ but this place is truly unbeatable. The view from the front porch of the Pelican Cabin (where all the students are staying) is better than any home or hotel I’ve been in up to this point. When we arrived, I also met Clivus, the recycling toilet! It is basically a big hole and then you cover your business with sawdust. I was shocked that just the sawdust keeps the smell down. After settling in and having dinner, we went to hear lectures about parrotfishes and soft corals before heading to sleep, and getting ready for our first full day at GRRS tomorrow!
<3,
Sam
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