Today was the one day at Glover’s that I woke up before sunrise, to finish packing my bags and to take a shower before our journey back to Houston. After the last delicious breakfast prepared by the kitchen staff, we left the atoll with all our luggage and headed to Belize City.

On the way there, we stopped at Carrie Bow Island, which is a research institution run by the Smithsonian. A researcher on the island told us a little bit about her work, and how she is raising hybrid corals in tanks. These hybrid corals occur naturally in the waters surrounding the island, but they are of particular interest to her because this hybrid is particularly hardy and is somewhat resistant the the higher temperatures that usually cause most corals to bleach. Perhaps this research may help us find ways to preserve and even repopulate the rapidly declining coral population in the wild.

But before we could arrive at our final destination, we had one more stop to make. We went to Twin Caye (which I thought was spelled like Twinkie, but anyways, life is full of disappointments) to snorkel around the mangroves. Mangroves are trees that are able to live in salt water, and have aerial roots called prop roots that help them get oxygen. These mangrove prop root communities serve as homes for animals and even as nurseries for some young. We saw fire sponges growing off the roots of some of the trees, and I am fairly certain i saw a Sergeant major fish (Abudefduf saxatilis) no bigger than three inches swimming around somewhere in there. I believe I also saw an aggregation of brown chromis fish (Chromis multilineata), but I wasn’t 100% sure because the water wasn’t very clear, and also because they swam away after I started looking at them for too long.

Back in Houston, after we said our overly dramatic goodbyes to one another (fine, after MY overly dramatic goodbyes), my mom asked me what food we ate while on the research stations. I told her that we ate tons of beans and that I didn’t want to eat anymore beans for at least a month, if not more. She then proceeded to laugh hysterically, because she had a Colombian beans and rice dish waiting for me at home. Regardless, I was just grateful to be home with my family, in an air conditioned house and in clean clothing.

I really appreciate the fact that our last blog is due on June 1st, because I would like to take these next few days to reflect upon our trip and everything we learned from it, tropical field biology-wise and other things as well.

Today after breakfast, we took out all of the seven lionfish we (read: Scott, he didn’t let us wield the Trident of Glory) speared and let them defrost for a while. Scott cut off the spines after we weighed them, since there’s probably some rule against letting students handle venom. Then, we took some basic measurements such as the length with and without counting the tail, and the mouth gape height and width. After that, we sliced those babies open to determine their sex, reproductive status and the contents of their stomach. Andressa and I found a partially digested fish in ours. Yum.

After we finished dissecting the lionfish, Scott cut them up into tiny pieces, marinated them in lemon juice to kill all the bacteria and other stuff. Then he added chopped tomatoes and onions, and we ate it just like that. I was a little hesitant to try it at first, but then I remembered that I ate a termite in the Chiquibul Forest while we were staying at Las Cuevas Research Station.

While half the class went out for a voluntary snorkel session after lunch, some of us engaged in other pastimes. Me, Kristen, Andressa, Claire and Sami (don’t ask her about it, she’ll deny it) dug a 6 in*12 in hole in the ground and filled it with about 25 hermit crabs. We watched them interact with each other (read: walk over) and finally decided to let them out of the hole after a while; the great Hermit Crab Exodus. No, this was not for science and yes we are all really college students.

In the afternoon, we took the boat to the resort located on the island of Southwest Caye. We just walked and talked around the island until sunset. Then we hopped back on the boat under perfect pastel skies, with both the sun and the full moon present at the same time. After dinner (there was chocolate cheesecake!) we all went out on to the dock and Scott led us all in group meditation under the stars. It was so peaceful and beautiful, and the perfect ending to such an amazing trip.

Today after breakfast we talked about Andressa’s presentation on marine debris, and we decided that we wanted to find out how much and what types of trash washed up on the island. We decided to look at two areas on opposite sides of the island: the windward side, which is the direction facing the wind, and the leeward face, which doesn’t face the wind. So we went over to both spots and pick up as much trash as we could within a time frame, noting how much of each types we picked up (i.e. hard plastics, glass, wood, etc.…). Unsurprisingly, we found that found plastics made up a large percentage of what we found on both sides. It’s pretty upsetting to know that despite the fact that this island is cleaned up regularly, we were still able to fill up three large bags full of washed up trash, and there was still so much that we weren’t able to get.

We later went snorkeling at three different sites, the first and last being pretty shallow (around 4-7 ft deep at most), and the second being the deepest (around 20-25 ft). I noticed several patterns concerning the distribution of the fish I was able to recognize. For example, all the stoplight parrotfish like to hang out, usually alone, closer to the benthos, at the bottom of the coral structures that they feed off of. Side note: I also saw the initial phase of parrotfish (pretty much a young adult parrot fish) that was silver and red, which is surprising since the adult from is blue and purple. I also noticed that most of the smaller fish, such as the blue chromis and four-eyed butterfly fish like to hang out, usually with each other, towards the top of the coral and rock formations.

I learned in my research that a type of fish called the Sargent Major was a curious lil fella who would swim up to divers instead of swimming away for cover like most other fish. These little guys like to hang out at the top of coral structures, are a little smaller than the palm of your hand, have a white body with yellow and black stripes, and have a face that can only be described as cute. However, this was WRONG. I saw many, many Sargent majors in all three sites and they all swam away from me. Utterly disappointing.

In the deeper site, we saw a HUGE nurse shark (around 7-8 ft) that was just laying on the benthos, partially covered by a rock/coral structure. Once everybody came to see it and were diving down to see it, it moved a little more under the rocks. I would have probably been annoyed too if a bunch of undergrads came to disturb my nap. We left after we realized that it wasn’t on planning to move anytime soon.

Today rather than going on a boat out to a further part of the reef, we went snorkeling right off the shore off the island. The water was very shallow, waist deep at most. At first, it was mostly a “lawn” of sea grass, and we found many conch shells (some with live conch inside!) with anemones growing on top of them. We also found a large sea cucumber that is called the donkey dung cucumber. It is appropriately named. Elena found me an urchin, since I missed our urchin collecting expedition yesterday because I wasn’t feeling well. It was a very interesting experience to have something that looks sessile moving across the palm of your hand.

I found an aggregation (aka school) of four eyed butterflyfish, which were a little smaller than the palm of my hand. They have an eye-looking spot on their tail fin called a ocellated spot. I think that these fish have this feature in order to distract potential predators from attacking the fishes’ actual face, or might think it’s a larger, scarier fish. I was told later by Claire that this tactic actually worked because she actually fell for it. I don’t know if she was actually trying to attack it, but that’s besides the point. Nature is amazing.

We then collected many creatures and organisms and took them back to the wet lab at the research station, which is basically a long sink with taps full of sea water, so it could keep the organisms alive while we studied them. We accidentally collected a cocoa damselfish that was living inside one of the sea anemone-covered conch shells, as well a tiny octopus, who inked after we poked it too much. After identifying all our respective taxa, we released them back into the water.

After dinner, our marine safety officer Xavier gave us a presentation on the History and Culture of Belize. We learned a lot about all the different types of people who have lived here, including Mennonites and the Amish. We also learned that the common thread that keeps people of all the different backgrounds and cultures together is the language Creole, which everyone speaks. Also, I found it amazing that Belize never fought in a war, and didn’t need to fight for their independence. Not only is this country’s landscape beautiful, but the ideals of peace and unity in diversity make this country so much more.

Today after breakfast,  Windolpho from the Belize Fisheries department came to talk to us about some of the work his department does. He told us about how Hondurans, much like the Guatemalans, come onto Belize lands (or oceans in this case) and take resources. While in in the Chiquibul, we learned that Guatemalans would come to Belize’s forests to take Xate leaves (a plant in high demand in the floral industry). Here in Glover’s Reef, Hondurans come to fish conch in mass quantities, with no respect to the fragile ecosystems that they are illegally exploiting.

We then got into our snorkel gear and went onto the boat to visit some new reef patches. The waves were pretty wild (Scott said that they were actually calm…) and lots of people felt sick. The second site was like the drop off from Finding Nemo, a coral reef that sloped off into a deep blue abyss that goes on for who knows how long. The deep clear blue was beautiful, but it was a little nerve wreaking to be floating over nothingness.

In the reef patch, I wasn’t able to dive to the benthos, which was at least 25-30 down or deeper. However, from the surface I was able to two stoplight parrotfish swimming near each other towards the base of a coral. One was using its parrot beak-like mouth to scrape algae off the coral. The other one just seemed to be hanging out. They looked about a foot long, at least from where I was looking. I also saw a blue tang at the top of a rock structure. It looked no bigger than 6 inches, but then again I was also pretty far up from it.

Lionfish is an invasive species in the Caribbean, meaning that they are native to the Indo-Pacific and were brought to this area by people who got them as pets and later released them in the wrong ocean. In Elena’s lecture later in the evening, we learned that they are responsible for eating 70% of the native fish population. We came across a few in the coral, and Scott was able to spear a huge one. The other two were too deep down and pretty hidden under some coral structures, so we couldn’t get those. We are going to dissect them in a few days, then probably eat them for lunch. Yum!

Today we collected some data to assess the current state of the coral reefs around Middle Caye Island in Glover’s Reef. We measured coral cover on the benthos (sea floor) of both marine protected areas and non-protected areas using our quadrats that we made yesterday and transect tape. We haven’t analyzed our data yet, but I’m hoping that at least the marine protected areas at least maintain the healthy baseline coverage of at least 10% coral coverage.
Right after lunch, we visited a coral graveyard. It contained a large pile of fossilized coral skeletons that are millions of years old, probably. We tried to identify different types of coral, the most of which I remember is brain coral, due to its obvious resemblance to a human brain. The structures were absolutely beautiful, and it helped us familiarize ourselves with the structures we might encounter on the reef.

On a more personal note, I learned how to properly prepare and wear my mask so that the sea water didn’t get into my eyes. Therefore, I was able to see EVERYTHING underwater. Unfortunately, my camera isn’t working at the moment, but once I resolve this issue I will try to update this post with pictures of some of the herbivorous fish I saw during this activity, including parrotfish and six individual four spotted butterfly fish. Some of the other animals we saw were teeny tiny jellyfish that may or may not have stung Kristen in the head, a moray spotted eel and, this may come as a shocker, many, many coral of many different colors such as yellow, purple and red. Seeing coral reefs a foot in front of you is an absolutely surreal experience, and a description in words cannot bring this experience to justice.

After dinner I gave a presentation on the threats to coral reefs. I talked about how global warming, overfishing, ocean acidification and hurricane-strength storms are all contributing to the rapid decline of coral reefs. In fact, many marine biologists agree that most coral reef systems will experience rapid decline and even extinction within the next 30-100 years. It occurred to me while snorkeling that I am really fortunate to be able to see that majesty that is the coral reef ecosystem because they might not be around in a few generations. I posted an infographic if anyone wants to know a little bit more about what you can do to help protect this ecosystem.

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.

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.

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™.