Tag Archives: dock

Belize Day 11: What’s Washing Up on Shore?

No contacts, vision blurred, sea breeze swaying you from one direction to the other. The urge to pee taking over. Stumbling blindly around the trail to Clivus, the compostable toilet. Dodging huge, mango-sized blue land crabs, silently and fuzzily praying they don’t charge. 

I’m wondering when I will have to face one of these blue crabs that rule the island by night. During the day, when they’re retreating back to their covers, they look too goofy to take seriously. They scuttle sideways, claws snapping open and shut, their tiny feet skittering across the ground. I hear Mr. Krabs whenever they walk. But in the night, they have the power to rob me of a finger or a toe. 

It’s crazy the kind of stuff that gets washed up on islands, including these outlandish blue land crabs. We’re 34 miles away from the closest land-based town and 70 miles out from Belize City, yet, life finds a way. Dr. Solomon saw a hummingbird buzzing around yesterday, and it is more common than not to stumble upon a spiny-tailed iguana, hermit crab, or blue land crab. It turns out land hermit crabs first arrive from the mainland as eggs. The mothers release them into the sea, where they hatch and begin life as tiny, drifting larvae. After several molts and a search for their first shell, they make the critical journey to land. 

(Hermit Crabbies – 05/26/25)

But the real reason we’re on this remote island is to be near Glover’s Reef, where we can explore marine biodiversity – not just island biogeography. Today, our mission was to trace the diet of parrotfish. We were investigating whether different species of parrotfish specialize in specific types of food, or if they’re generalist feeders that consume a broad range of items, including seagrass, algae, and coral. To study this, we conducted a fish follow survey, with each team tracking an individual parrotfish, observing its behavior to identify what it was eating. As Dr. Evans put it, now we’re doing “camera chases” instead of the “camera traps” we set up in the rainforest. 

DSCF1655 (Stoplight Parrotfish Feeding on Algae – 05/24/25)

Sohee and I felt some residual sea sickness from the day before, so we decided to stay in the shallow area and survey the seagrass for redtail parrotfish, who are known to consume sea grass. While we could not find any parrotfish, we saw 2 needlefish near the surface by the dock, a couple of snappers, and a nurse shark. I didn’t spot any sponges in the shallow seagrass bed – probably because there were fewer hard surfaces for them to attach to, and the water flow was much less compared to the reef. Luckily, Dr. Solomon found us a sea cucumber, my new obsession. These guys are thick, shiny, squishy rods with several bumps along their bodies that serve as little feet. Some have commensal symbiotic relationships with pearlfish, who swim up their anus and use them as protection without giving the sponge much in exchange.  I looked over, and Sadhana draped the sea cucumber over her forehead. She giggles and goes, “You know what they say, you are what you put on your head.”

DSCF1887 (Seagrass Snapper Spotting – 05/26/25)

Though the island life takes some adjustment, this tiny island is filled with and surrounded by so many ecological gifts, from intimidating land crabs to weird, cucumber invertebrates. After days of learning and getting our hands in the water, I adore relaxing with friends around the dock. We stare down at the ocean to watch creatures pass by underway or gaze up at the sky full of stars. With wind blowing our hair every which way, we breathe in the ocean life.

(Breathing in the Sea Breeze – 05/26/25)

Peace out,

Lily H. 🙂 2025

Belize Day 9: Sun Rays and Coco Craze

Ever since the plane touched down in Belize, I’ve been craving a fresh coconut. Now at Glover’s Reef, I’m a tree’s length away from complete happiness. As soon as we hopped off the boat, my eyes bounced from the nurse shark swimming under the deck to the mangroves lining the island to the coconut tree towering above the deck. I set down my bags and hugged the tree, trying to inch my body up. I tried a running start. I tried throwing pieces of dried coral at the coconuts. Nothing. Luckily, there were some old coconuts lying around on the ground. My friends came over to help, feeling the same coconut craving. We tried pounding the coconut with a conch shell. We tried throwing the coconut hard onto the sand. We tried banging the coconut on the edge of a cement stair. Luckily, this finally made a dent, and the warm, probably fermented, water dripped out for everyone to get a taste. 

TRS_0001 (Climbing for Coco – 05/24/25)

Our class regrouped in the central hammock area for a tour of the island (we – and the crabs – have the whole island to ourselves!). We walked through a trail lined with sand lilies and dotted with crabs and discovered a bowl of fresh mangos in the dining area. Nothing can beat the fresh fruit, marine biodiversity, and sea breeze of this little island. The only parts that will take some getting used to are Clivus, the composting toilet (a glorified porta potty,) and the jumping, biting sand flies. 

(The Crabs’ Island – 05/24/25)

(Clivus – 05/26/28)

The self-sufficient ecosystem here is incredible. Because the soil is sandy (it can’t hold freshwater) and saltwater constantly washes over the island during storms, the only vegetation that can grow here is the hardiest, most saline-tolerant, and undemanding plant, like a mangrove. Around the island, baby mangroves continue to take root and expand the island just for storms to shrink it back down – the island– it’s a never-ending struggle. 

(Baby Mangrove – 05/24/25)

I love hanging my feet off the deck and watching marine animals swim through the clear water. Before dinner, the whole class sat down on the dock in a line, identifying a school of bonefish and needlefish while breathing in the salty calmness. We’re all super excited to get past the dock and into the water tomorrow! After we get comfortable in our gear, we’ll boat to our “open aquarium” (the reef) where I’m really hoping to be able to identify some sponges, see parrotfish gnawing at coral, and experience the vibrant ecosystem. 

(Relaxing by the Dock – 05/24/25)

 

Peace,

Lily H. 🙂

Day 14: The Lion, the Fish, and the (War)Dock

Though today was our last day at GRRS, it was still nonetheless an eventful one. We started the day by picking up trash around the island, to try to help out wherever we can. Though we filled up six huge trash bags, we felt like we didn’t make much of a dent, which was a pretty depressing.

A little good news though, was that I found my missing left airpod! On the second night here, I had dropped my airpods in our room in the middle of the night and couldn’t find my left one. However, I wasn’t sure if the left airpod had even made it to our room, and the last findmy location made it seem like some crab picked it up and took it to their burrow. However, it actually just landed in Sam’s shoe, so the pair is now fully back together again!

Anyways, back to the trash pickup. We also turned it into a small research project, observing how trash distribution would differ between the sides of the island that were facing in the atoll (towards the lagoon) vs. facing the open ocean. We ended up using our quadrats again!

In the afternoon, we dissected a lionfish! Well, “dissected.” I fear I’m using this quite loosely here. We tried to, and ended up just demolishing it. We found the stomach and half of a small fish, likely a cryptobenthic fish, in its stomach at least! However we did not get much further, and failed spectacularly when trying to find the otolith (sorry Elise…).

At some point we gave up and just went for it’s eyes!

After we dissected them, Dr. Solomon and Dr. Cory prepared a dip with the longish for us to try. It felt pretty exotic but also the lionfish itself didn’t have that much flavor. I don’t think I got an actual taste of it at all.

We also had a bunch of coconut and drank straight from the fruits along with eating the flesh fresh. Though I’m not the biggest coconut fan, I really enjoyed these!

We ended the day by enjoying our last sunset here on Middle Caye. The dock has been a perfect place for the sunset, and I’m truly going to miss having such a beautiful sight present daily. I know I said the same about LCRS, but I’m also truly going to miss this place.

Hope to see you again Middle Caye,

Ian C

Day 12: Docks Full of Sunshine

Today was our first entirely land bound day, which though at first was disappointing ended up being a really nice change in pace.

We went out to the dock to pass a bit of time and spotted a young lemon shark swimming by. It was the first of many appearances for this little guy.

We then began our day by compiling our parrotfish data from the previous day and creating our third poster of the class discussing our findings.

Once we finished, we waded out by the dock and tried to see what we could find, catch, and collect from the surrounding areas. There were tons of small schools of fish, and the lemon shark kept circling by to try to catch them. We ended up catching three large hermit crabs and a red land crab, along with a baby crab, two snails, and five small fish.

In the afternoon we finally explored the rest of the island. Though it’s only a 20 minute slow stroll around, each part proved to be super interesting and unique.

First up was the coral graveyard, which was a beach made up of almost entirely fossilized corals. There were a ton of different species, including Montastraea cavernosa, or the great star coral, which has huge polyps, brain corals, and purple sea fans!

The waters were also filled with sea urchins and starfish, which felt really weird when they moved.

Further along the trail is a really nice sandy beach, where we spotted a small dead pufferfish.

We also saw tons and tons of sprouting coconuts!

After our hike we went back to the dock to yap and nap before presentations…

…and then again before dinner.

We ended the night back out on the dock, dangling a couple flashlights to attract fish. Initially we only attracted plankton, but soon we spotted and caught a ton of small fish, shrimp, glass eels, and even a squid!

Though we never made it to any reefs, today was a much needed and eventful rest day. Excited to get back out on the reefs though!

Ian C

Day CoastNINE (Coastline): We Made it to Glover’s Reef!

A great day for another bus ride, stock up, and move to Glover’s Reef! We got a ferry ride to the atoll, which was so beautiful for the parts I was awake for. Ablaze skies, intense wind, and cool sea mist. And three whole hours of it too! Ian did get a little sunburned though, and Elise and Noelle got great watch tans.

Featuring my hair getting everywhere

As soon as we landed, it was so beach. After a nice tour around the area, a meeting with Clivus, the compost toilet, and dodging the hermit crabs that littered the beach, it was time for dinner! But first, as we unloaded, all of us tried to crack open this old coconut on the beach floor. After a lot of hitting, we finally got some water from it, which was really salty and scrumptious. On top of that, dinner was super yummy, consisting of rice, beans, and vegetables. We then sat on the dock for hours and hours, talking, basking in the setting sun, and taking pictures. 

hermit crab haul!

Finally, it was time for my taxon presentation on parrotfish, as well as two really interesting talks by Zoe and Claire C. on soft coral and parrotfish evolution respectively. Can’t wait to see what we find in the reef tomorrow!

(No parrotfish yet, but definitely tomorrow)