Day 9: See the Line Where the Sky Meets the Sea?

May 24, 2018 jrh13 Leave a comment

Blog Post #9

Day 9: See the Line Where the Sky Meets the Sea?

Written May 23^rdat 10:07 pm

DISCLAIMER: There was a storm last night that knocked out the wifi. But it has returned! So here is the post for May 23rd.

To answer the question in the title—it calls me! Today, we made our transition to Glover’s Atoll, specifically Middle Cay! With the familiarity of a boat, the wind, and my (metaphorical) sail staying behind me, I felt so incredible happy. (Also, gready for a week’s worth of Moana and The Little Mermaid references!)

I was less than happy when I found out that I forgot to put sunscreen on my right arm… (Literally remembered everywhere else including the tops of my feet!) I will now be toasty red more so on one side. But oh well, I’ll hopefully get a nice tan!

When we arrived at Middle Cay and had eaten lunch, we got in the water for our introductory snorkel. It was fun to rediscover snorkeling alongside those who had never done it before. I also now officially change my taxon away from amphibians and on to sponges.

I spotted lots of encrusting sponges, and my favorite tube sponge. The water was decently murky from the seagrass beds with sand and people’s flippers kicking it up. We also found a yellow stingray, baby nurse shark, barracuda, trumpet fish, parrotfish, and lots of brown algae.

baby nurse shark!

Then I enjoyed our free time by journaling and talking to the other workers on the island on the pier—we saw a lemon shark swim by, as well as a school of bonefish. The pelican dive bombing the sardine patches definitely caught me off guard because I was looking at my journal. It was a beautiful end to an incredible Reef Day 1.

Day 9: Is This Real Life

May 24, 2018 vjz1 1 Comment

I write this post as I sit on the porch of a wooden building at Glovers Reef Research Station. I am literally sitting on a speck of land made from coral skeletons, watching the lightning flashing over the sea in the distance. The entire sky lights up in streaks of blue and orange each time it flashes. I’ve been in Belize for over a week now but I still can’t believe it’s real.

Today was a long day of traveling. We left the TEC by 7:30 am for Belize City. From there, we took a small motorboat to Middle Caye, which is one of the islands that form Glover’s Reef Atoll. The ride was 2 hours of refreshing sea breeze, friendly blue waters and blistering sun. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to get a new shade of foundation when I get back.

The color of the ocean fluctuated as we passed different areas. It started out as the gray sludge color of the loading dock, rapidly transitioned to bright cerulean, and then a little later to a deep blue. When we passed into the lagoon of Glovers Reef Atoll. the water was suddenly perfectly clear turquoise. I can’t even explain the color – you’d have to be here to understand how otherworldly it is. The bottom was clearly visible from the boat, and we spotted stingrays and shoals of large fish drifting idly by.

I took this photo as we were pulling up to the island. It’s not color corrected at all!! I find it incredible that places like this still exist in this world, even after all that humans have done to our planet.

After lunch and a brief tour of the island, we suited up for our first aquatic excursion. Slipping into the inviting water felt so natural (but tasted very salty. Yuck). We spent some time getting used to our snorkeling gear in the shallow water by the dock before swimming out to see our first coral reefs.

We saw a lot of patch reefs today, meaning small islands of reef life in a field of sea grass. They were like microcosms of a larger coral environment. Brightly colored fish darted between the corals, and one shy lobster nestled between some rocks. We even found a baby nurse shark resting in the sea grass nearby! I was on the hunt for my ocean taxonomic group, Echinoderms, but was unsuccessful. I am told, however, that I’ll definitely be able to see them – we’re going to do a project about sea urchins later this week!

It’s been a long, exhausting day, made even slightly longer and more exhausting by the fact that I had to give two presentations tonight. But now I’m free! I’m officially done with presentations! Now I get to enjoy the crystalline waters of Glovers Reef without the presentations hanging over me.

I know it hasn’t been my most eloquent of blog posts – but forgive me, I’m running on 3 hours of sleep (ahhHh!!) I’m off to hit the hay, and I’l be back with updates tomorrow!

Day 9: snorkelers of the caribbean

May 23, 2018 alv2 Leave a comment

Today was the official changeover from Turf to Surf. At a relatively late awakening of 6:45, we piled into the van with all of our things and drove for two hours or so to the pier. Immediately, we felt the change of scenery. Tall trees and yellow grasslands eroded into salt and sand, and I stepped off the van with a completely altered mindset. The sight of the boats, the swell of the sea, and the smell of foam hit me like an old memory, and I remembered my truest and most long-standing call-to-arms: piracy.

Me spending two hours staring at the sea. PC: Jessica

Yes, the boat trip reminded me of pirates, and I ended up with a decent amount of sunburn from spending the two-hour ride perched up on the side watching the waves crash against the side of the boat. I had a good period of self-reflection, and decided again to learn how to sail, something I keep meaning to do. But the view was spectacular, the clouds unreal, and the changing shades from the sea and the sky like nothing I’d seen anywhere else.

The view of the sunset from the pier.

Pulling up to Glover’s and to our little remote island, I genuinely felt like I was in a movie. This place may actually be paradise. The buildings form a self-sustaining picturesque neighborhood, the ground occupied by charming iguanas and hermit crabs, and the seas crystal clear. We practiced snorkeling in the water close to the pier, and I saw an Utodea green algae. I almost immediately recognized the distinctive fan-like texture of the thallus, and dove down to get a better look. It’s surprisingly difficult for me to distinguish green algae from other things, as I barely know what corals look like at this point. Hopefully tomorrow, and with more practice, I’ll be able to pinpoint my taxon better.

I must note this place is nothing like the rainforest. It almost feels like a completely different class. I must also admit that I am a little nervous about snorkeling and that the reefs slightly freak me out. I am much more terrestrial-y inclined, but I also very much want to learn to enjoy the ocean’s inside. Effectively, my current love of the ocean is superficial, based on outward appearance, and I’d like to get deeper in the relationship—more committed. I’m going to try and really get to know the ocean.

Day 9 (10? Time is a social construct ): Salty

May 23, 2018 ck26 Leave a comment

Today we began the second part of the class, also known as “Surf”. It is also the day I formally switch from talking about trees to talking about herbivorous fish, so stay tuned for pictures of fish like Dory from Finding Nemo (i.e. the Blue Tang) and many, many different species of parrotfish.

We left mainland Belize around 9:00 AM and took a boat out to Middle Caye Island in Glover’s Reef. It was a three hour journey, but it didn’t feel nearly as long since we were all mesmerized by the view of the deep blue water, and later when closing in towards the atoll, a crystal clear turquoise. The Glover’s Reef Research Station is located on this island, which is basically self sustaining. It runs on solar power, uses rainwater for drinking/washing and the only toilet are compost toilets. The decomposer part of the toilet is lovingly called “Clivus.” Yes, I too have many questions.

I have never seen water this beautiful in my life- I took this picture in the lagoon and made it my phone lock screen picture

After lunch, we put on all our gear for snorkeling-dive skins, dive booties, mask, snorkel and fins- and jumped into the water. I took my camera with me as well, which is supposed to be waterproof, but once I tried to take a picture underwater, it made a sound like it was dying and abruptly stopped working. I’ll have to check up on that ASAP. We swam over seagrass- I saw a school of medium sized fish (about a foot long) in a green-grey color. I’m not sure of their species, however. Dr. Solomon picked up a starfish out of the grass, which was about the size of a medium plate and golden yellow.

After we felt a little morecomfortable in our gear, we swam out to a deeper area where I finally got to see coral reefs for the first time in my life. I recognized brain coral, which looked like, well, a brain, and was a mustard yellow in color. I didn’t see any herbivorous fish, frankly because I was having some trouble with my mask that lead to my eyes being filled with sea water and me not being able to keep them open until after I took a nap two hours later. However, I was told that people saw a parrotfish, a nurse shark, a sting ray, and fire coral.

A photo of a blue tang (bottom) and parrotfish (top)!

After aforementioned nap, dinner and student lecture presentations, we made quadrats, which it’s a square made out of PVC pipes and a grid of criss-crossing string, as well as underwater clip boards, which is basically a regular clip board connecting to a pencil via plastic tubing, and waterproof paper strapped onto the board with rubber bands. We are now ready for Underwater Science™.

Andressa and I making our Quadrat

Lesson Learned

May 23, 2018 ek26 Leave a comment

Daily Blog Entry 9:

After going on a 3-hour boat ride from the mainland over clear waters and beautiful skies, we finally made it to Glovers!

The island is absolutely breath-takingly beautiful. I have no complaints. Maybe except for the sand flies because they’re surprisingly painful for their size. It was amazing to be able to have a delicious lunch while looking at the picturesque beach and bright blue sky.

When we went snorkeling today for the first time, I may have pulled my right calf because I am still in a lot of pain almost 8 hours later. But before I pulled my calf I learned an important lesson. Five minutes into snorkeling, I had to take my mask off because it was getting very foggy. I just stood on the sea grass bed and proceeded to take my mask off while joking around with Sami. Javier, our water safety officer, soon swam next to me and told me to watch where I stood because there was a yellow sting ray between Sami and I. We quickly learned our lesson. The Yellow stingray wasn’t moving and just kept blinking.

The next piscivorous fish we saw was a baby nurse shark! It was on the bottom of the sea grass bed. It was about 0.7 meters long, which is about a third of their mature length. It was just hanging out on the bottom of the sea grass bed not doing anything. They really do live up to what they are known for – calm and gentle.

I think I pulled my right calf muscle and it hurts to stretch my calf muscle, so until my calf heals I’ll be taking frequent breaks and taking it easy.

Day 8: Our Mini Weekend

May 23, 2018 jrh13 Leave a comment

Blog Post #8

Day 8: Our Mini Weekend

Written May 23rd at 7:06 am

Yesterday (May 22nd) was a super start to our mini weekend. We spent it in transition from Turf to Surf, and did a few fun things along the way. No amphibians (or sponges) were spotted today because we were mostly in the cave or in the sun–two environments where neither of those are found.

After a bittersweet goodbye to Las Cuevas and the staff, we hopped on a plane and headed east for 3 hours. Then we reached the ATM Cave–its English translation is “The Cave of the Stone Tomb.” There was a 45 minute swim/wade in to the cave then we climbed barefoot.

The most interesting thing we saw was a nearly intact skeleton of a 16-18 year old–the namesake for the cave. Likely, this person was a human sacrifice for when the Maya civilization was in trouble, and they were desperate to please their gods.

Then we made our way to the Tropical Education Center, our home for the night. They put us in the adorable forest cabanas and fed us a lovely meal.

That night, we got the opportunity to get a night tour of The Belize Zoo! Of course, I LOVED it. There were so many species and wonderful nocturnal life. The highlight for me: Meeting Indy the Tapir.

We fed him carrots and watched his little nose trunk. He was SO CUTE!!!! What a great end to our night.

Day 7: Resurrected Hatchlings and Magic Cameras

May 23, 2018 ckb3 Leave a comment

We didn’t go bird watching this morning so I didn’t see very many birds in the morning. Instead, we got up early and hiked to the bird tower. The climb was tough but definitely worth. When we climbed the tower, we could see the clouds rolling across the mountains and the sun shining across the forest. There were no man-made structures beyond our research station in any direction which was a really crazy thing to realize.

We spent the rest of the morning collecting camera traps. The hike was long, but not nearly as long as it felt the first day. Along the way I kept smelling Hemipterans, I definitely learned their weird licorice-cyanide scent from the bugs I found before. We were able to collect them all by lunch. In the afternoon we caught up on our journals and blogs. I noticed a plumbeous kite building a nest up in the main tree which was interesting. It kept returning to this one Y in the branches with dead sticks.

I also watched the nest in the satellite some more. I thought that the sulfur breasted flycatcher was coming to the nest without food and sticking its head in with no response to the babies. I was skeptical of what was going on, so I walked around the satellite to the side you could see into, not the one where the birds were entering, and couldn’t see any of the hatchlings. I assumed the sulfur breasted flycatcher had eaten them, although that seemed strange based on its name. But then I was watching the nest some more and, contrary to what I previously thought, the sulfur breasted flycatcher brought something and then the babies started squawking. This was shortly followed by the slaty ant wren bringing something and the babies squawking. It now seems clear that both these species are feeding the antwren babies, but I’m still very confused. On the bright side, the hatchlings aren’t dead.

In the afternoon, Scott took us out to see fungus chambers of leaf-cutter ant nests. We started with a one-year-old nest and with a bit of work digging found a small ball of fungus and the queen. I was surprised to realize that the fungus chambers are three dimensional, which makes sense, I just wasn’t expecting it. I was amazed to see how large the queen was. She was huge and it was impossible to imagine that she could live for 25 years with her colony just producing eggs. We followed the one-year-old nest with the ginormous 20ish-year-old nest that we found while placing our camera traps. We dug for a long time, but the ants barely seemed to respond. We eventually hit some chambers, but they weren’t fungus chambers. They were trash chambers filled with beetle larvae and dead fungus. It was really strange and surprisingly warm and Scott was amazed that it was so high up. Normally trash chambers are deeper beneath the colony.

We finished our last evening here at Las Cuevas looking at our camera trap photos. With the very first camera we opened we found a tapir, which we all screamed and gasped at.

But the picture that took the cake was the next one, a jaguar.

We were so startled to see the perfect side picture of a jaguar walking down the trail right next to our camera trap. We also wound up catching a bunch of peccaries, a puma, a second Jaguar, a nine-banded armadillo, a rice mouse, and a coatimundi. We also caught a few Great Currasows (my taxon!).

The species variety and picture quality were crazy. We were surprised to notice the same richness at both our on and off trail camera traps, but a much higher abundance at our on trail traps. My theory is that trails feature animals that are easier to catch on camera traps. As a result, I think we caught most of the species generally found on the trails, however, I think we caught very few of the species living off trail. I think if we left the traps out longer we would wind up with a higher abundance on trail but a higher diversity off trail because the animals that choose to use the trail are mostly the large mammals of which there aren’t many species. We’ll never really know the answer though because tomorrow mornings (5AM) we get up and leave for Glovers Reef! Goodbye turf, hello surf.

Day 8: We Help The Mayan’s Withdraw Funds: ATM Cave

May 23, 2018 srd8 Leave a comment

We woke up at our earliest time so far at 4:40, but I think I’ve lost all track of time here so it didn’t feel that early. I finished up packing and we all enjoyed our last home-cooked meal of the Chiquibuil. We loaded up into the van and waved goodbye to our temporary home.

We drove through the mountain pine ridge, stopped for snacks at a convenience store, and headed to ATM. ATM was cold, rocky, and amazing. The stone structures were mind-blowing and the remains were spooky and fascinating. Even the pots held so much history and meaning. Even the poor skull with a giant gash in it added to the ambiance; it made it more hole-y. We exited the cave and trudged back to the carpark where we ate lunch before heading to TEC. This car ride was interesting, to say the least.

We arrived at TEC an hour later and got into our rooms. The electricity and hot water were hot commodities. It’s weird to be excited about things that I have at home every day but I was.

Master Oogway and Mistress Viper-Kung Fu Panda (2008)

We played cards for a little while and ate a quick dinner. We hopped in a pickup truck and traveled to the zoo, where we started our night visit by holding a python. We saw a pygmy owl, a barn owl, jaguars, coatimundis, margays, tapirs, pumas and more. The night visit was really cool to see the nocturnal animals and hear about the zoo’s message. We headed back and worked on our notebooks and blogs in the dining room before heading in for the night to get ready for Glover’s tomorrow.No spiders or corallimorphs, zoanthids, or anemones seen today

The Day I Discover I Actually Love…

May 23, 2018 cim2 Leave a comment

Today we left Las Cuevas, and it was pretty hard to say goodbye to the Chiquibul forest. Then we started driving to the ATM caves. The road was very bumpy and winding, so about halfway there I got pretty carsick and had to move to the passenger seat. We stopped at a convenience store, and I was able to get a new towel with the Belize flag on it (getting excited to be constantly in my bathing suit).

Once we got to the ATM caves we had to walk to the front of the cave, which also involved swimming across a river a couple times. Then we got to the entrance of the cave and waded into the freezing cold water. Once in the cave and we couldn’t see the daylight anymore it started to get colder but I was mostly distracted by the gorgeous stalactite structures. Inside the cave, after getting out of the water, our guide lead us to where the Mayan artifacts were. There was a bunch of pots, but the most anticipated things were the human remains. There were multiple skulls and even an entire skeleton that was still intact, and it was so amazing the actually be able to see these 1,000-year-old sacrificial remains. Also, on the way back, I was able to see a Basilisk on the side of the trail in the bushes and it looked exactly like the one on my Id card, which was pretty cool.

After the cave, we continued our drive to the Tropical Education Center and I mostly napped and listened to music. I also finally got service on my phone and was able to text my mom, which was nice. After dinner, we headed to a night tour at the Belize Zoo. Me and Andressa got there early and both got to hold a Boa Constrictor, which felt like such an accomplishment for me. I didn’t feel scared at all, it was actually very calming, and after doing all this research on reptiles and specifically snakes I discovered that snakes are actually really beautiful and I might even love them (pet snake in the future??). While on the tour I got to feed a tapir, which is absolutely the cutest animal ever, and I also loved seeing the cats, including the ocelot and jaguar. It’s such a different experience than American zoos because we were able to pet some of the animals and get pretty close to the enclosures as well.

The Best Day Ever

May 23, 2018 cim2 1 Comment

Today was actually one of the most exciting days at Las Cuevas. It started out by us waking up early and leaving around 5:30 to hike the Bird Tower Trail. The trail was very steep and the leaf litter was slippery, which made for an interesting hike with me falling off balance every couple steps and some people actually falling and sliding down. Once we got the bird tower 6 of us climbed up at a time, and while it was a bit scary climbing up the rickety ladder, the views from the top were indescribable. The sun was still rising, and I could see over all the trees of the canopy and the mist covering the tops. We definitely worked up an appetite after the hike though.

After breakfast, we went out to collect all the camera traps that we had set out the first day, but Scott told us we had to wait to check them until the sunset. While on the hike, we found a really cool beetle called the golden tortoise beetle, and another brown anole which Veronica picked off the trunk of a tree that was covered in lichen. I tried to hold it, but it bit her hand and jumped away back towards the tree.

Later, we left with Scott and the other group of students from Mississippi to do leafcutter ant nest excavations. We started with a one-year-old nest and found the queen, which was way bigger than I imagined it to be and I got to hold it in my hand. Once we moved to the monster ant nest we had trouble finding the fungus chamber, but we did find the dump chamber where the ants put their waste.

Finally, after dinner, we all gathered around Scott’s computer to look at the long-awaited camera trap photos. In the very first camera trap photo, we saw a tapir and its butt, then the very next picture was a jaguar!! We ended up having two amazing pictures of jaguars, and it literally made my day and I will probably be thinking about it for months. Also, the pictures of Adrienne were pretty great too.

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