Today was our last day on the island :,( we did our last snorkel this morning, and tomorrow we head back to the mainland for the second half of our expedition. Each day feels like many, but then the week passed in the blink of an eye.

At 8:00AM, after breakfast, we suited up for the last time in our snorkel gear to head out on a mission to collect our last data point in the ongoing TFB research question: what is the association between live coral cover and the abundance of sea urchins on patch reefs within and outside of the Marine Protected Area of Glovers Reef Atoll?

We headed to the second non-MPA patch reef for our last transect/quadrat data collection. Our last reef science hurrah. Scott caught one more lionfish (making 3 in total of the invasive species soon to be ceviche). After our data collection was done, we went to one more MPA reef within the atoll for one last free snorkel. While the wind and waves were intense, it was a nice experience. I came across a handful more queen conchs (Strombus gigas), one milk conch (Strombus stratus), and one Amber penshell (Pinnea carnea). Everyone but me it seems got to see one or multiple Caribbean reef squids (Sepioteuthis sepioidea).

We made a poster with our analyzed data (see picture), and then after lunch, I presented my taxon lecture on mollusks (on the last day, after we’d seen all the mollusks we could have possibly seen). For dinner, they had fried conch, meaning I got to taste my taxon! It tasted like crab cakes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

After dinner, we dissected the 3 lion fish we had collected through the week, identifying the sex, weight, length, and last meal. (Ours was named appetizer)! And then Scott filleted the fish and we ate them as ceviche. It was my first time trying ceviche, and it honestly just tasted like lime. Would eat again!

This time on the island was honestly remarkable, and I can’t wait for the rainforest half of the trip (although I can’t see how it could be better than this)

Spoiler alert: no mollusks were found this day (Monday June 13, 2022).

As is indicative of me posting this a whole day later, yesterday had me out for the count. I became over confident, so trusting in myself and a  single Dramamine tablet’s ability to keep me safe. I was oh so incorrect.

At 7:00AM, we showed up to the dining hall for breakfast, as usual. It was a windy night, followed by a windy morning. We were all aware of this, but this was our last chance: we had to make it to the fore-reef that day, or else we weren’t going to. So I popped a Dramamine, and hoped for the best, as did the rest of the crew.

Come 8:00AM, we were geared up and hopping on the boat to head for a break in the reef crest, going to the full wave action of the ocean, whose energy wouldn’t be broken by an atoll of coral. The change was immediately noticeable when we passed the crest, both in wave size and in the state of my body’s well-being. As the sea began to churn with boat sized waves, so did my stomach. No turning back now.

We continued onward to a spot at which coral should be visible at the ocean floor, but that would be significantly deeper than anything we’ve experienced so far. We ventured to the drop off point, the place where the bottom dropped from 60 ft to over a hundred. With half of the team already feeling seasick, we hopped into the water to begin our activity, to experience the fore reef.

And I must say, it was magnificently stunning, deep blue water at a depth that made the whole world feel small, with comb jellies swimming right below us en mass, and a giant sea turtle resting at the bottom of the sea. It was an experience like no other, and I wish that the sea had been calmer or my body better acclimated so I could enjoy it to its full degree.

But alas, each time I popped my head above water, my entire being would return to the fact that the sea is not my friend, and that the world was in fact churning. As quickly as we got there, we loaded back into the boat, a little worse for the wear, but having experienced something awesome.

When we returned to our island, I laid on the dock for an hour, simply trying to be able to stand without having the overwhelming feeling of needing to vomit. The sea bested me. It won. When I thought I was better, I went onward to watch the day’s lectures and then to lunch with the rest of the team. This is when I started to realize that it wasn’t done with me yet, the sea sickness. No, it had me in its grips. Even after 2 extra strength Tylenol during the lectures, I had to stop chewing at lunch because my body and my head rejected it: the headache was beginning. By the time we got to the planning stage of our next activity, a beach cleanup effort with an added scientific approach question, I couldn’t lift my head without it hurting, nor wear my glasses, and the world was so bright, even when I borrowed sunglasses. A migraine had hit. I felt so bad abandoning my team, but the professors understood and told me to go and lay down, which I truly needed.

I returned at dinner, still not feeling 100%, but at least able to walk around and be there. I didn’t return to my full capacity until the next morning, after a full night’s sleep ushered along by 2 Dramamine. I don’t know whether to say I learned my lesson, or to say I’d still do it again, just better prepared next time. I guess time will tell

During my time of rest, the rest of the TFBs were so productive and did so good: they collected more than 60kg of trash off the beach’s of the Middle Caye (our island), over 80% of which was burnable on site. They also created a poster with this data (see picture), which they presented to the professors. So proud!