The windy weather kind of messed up plans for today which was lame. We were supposed to go out and take some videos of fish for a lab, but there wasn't enough visibility for that.
We had an invertebrate lecture after breakfast and then changed and got paired off for our lab. We did a lab taking sediment samples near patch reefs. It was super windy and even though the water was only about knee deep, it was difficult. We had to shove a large syringe into the ground and then dig out the sample without letting the sediment come out. I had a really hard time staying stationary while collecting my sample, so I was basically floating around while trying to get the syringe deep enough into the ocean floor. After we collected our samples we had to analyze them with a microscope and look for annelids, mollusks, and arthropods. It was kind of tedious work and took a long time. Once we had all the data, we started working on our reports. I feel like my Excel skills have improved a little, but still need some work. We ate some quinoa the other day that reminded me a little bit of ham fried rice and I could just really go for some Chinese right now. We had these coconut banana muffins today that were really good. My favorite thing we ate today was the chocolate mousse with berries. Pat is really nice and overly cautious with any ingredients he is wary of. Outside of my home, my eating experience is never like that. So having Pat be so careful is like a breath of fresh air. I really really appreciate it. I felt like I tossed and turned a lot last night and I felt like I was yawning all the time. Hopefully I'll sleep better tonight because I am super tired. Also it's been 3 days since I've seen a dog and I really don't like that. Dogs are all around great animals that don't poop on you or sting you or harpoon you with little needles. I miss those fluffy dudes.
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Blog writing makes me think of the movie Julie and Julia, which just makes me hungry, which makes me wish I had another of those coconut muffins. It's a real "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" situation.
My least favorite part of today was when a bird popped on my head and my NASA shirt. It could have been worse, but it was still gross. They had the same kind of bird (Noddy Tern) on Lady Musgraves and our guide told everyone to close their mouths. So I'll choose bird poop on my shirt instead of in my mouth every time. My favorite part of today was the early morning snorkel. We went out to the boat harbor and around a shipwreck where we saw all kinds of cool stuff like cow head rays, green sea turtles, black tip reef sharks. It's significantly more intimidating to be in the water with sharks and rays than it is to see them while you're on land or in an aquarium. I was swimming over a cow head ray at it started to swim towards me and I started to panic a little. It was still really awesome, but a little scary. Towards the end of the snorkel, a black tip reef shark came really close to me with some remora hitching a ride. I don't know if it was trying to ditch the fish, but it started swimming in this weird way and then left. It's a terrifyingly exhilarating experience and I can't decide if it's scarier to swim by a ray that could sting you dead or approach a kangaroo that could just knock your lights out. Today we had eggs, bacon, and toast with lots of great fruit. There were some apple and brown sugar muffins for a morning snack, good, but not coconut muffin good. For lunch we had nachos. For dinner we had a chicken dish with quinoa. For dessert we had some kind of orange roll or something, automatically getting dessert is pretty great. In the afternoon we got to do a lab about benthic cover, so I've officially done some scientific research that doesn't involve handling snakes, snapping turtles, or seed beetles. We went out 30 meters in the water and used a quadrat to measure the percentages of rock, sediment, coral, and algae on the ocean floor every 10 meters. During the lab, Trisha showed us an epaulette shark that she found while walking around the reef. They have these fins that allow them to sort of walk, which is super interesting. Before dinner, we headed down to the boat jetty to watch the sunset. There was a ton of animals hanging out in the harbor like tiny black tip reef sharks, cow head rays, and I even got a picture of a turtle coming up for air. So cute! I also saw a spotted eagle ray, but have yet to see one jump out of the water. side note: Mom, you were right about the little girl in Logan and her dirtbag uncle. Honestly can't even believe these people sometimes. After getting all my stuff together and leaving the hostel for the Gladstone marina, I managed to make it through the ferry ride without barfing. Thank you double dose of Dramamine.
Upon arriving at Heron Island, we were given a brief tour and shown to our accommodations. There is another group here until Friday, from a high school. We only have to share a bathroom with the other group, which is nice. We have 4 rooms with 4 bunk beds in each room, so there is plenty of space for the 13 of us. There is an ocean acidification experiment that has been going on at Heron Island for about 10 years. We saw a couple of the researchers today and they might come to talk to us about their project and results, which sounds fascinating and I'm excited for. I went and talked to Pat, our chef here. I was impressed with his questions and label reading skills. I appreciate his caution and he seems like a great person and cook. So far we've eaten sandwiches, lasagna, salad, and these fantastic coconut muffins. They were REALLY good. After lunch we went to check out our snorkel gear for the rest of the trip. I remember using a two piece wetsuit during my CIMI trip, but I do not remember them being so hard to get out of. I'm slightly worried I may pants myself trying to get my wetsuit off. So there's that. This afternoon we went on our first snorkel on the island. Turns out I'm very bad at swimming in a straight line. We were very close to lots of coral during our snorkel, which was cool, but I was afraid of kicking the coral or getting my fin stuck in one. My favorite thing that we saw was the parrot fish. You can actually hear them eating underwater which is really awesome. Trisha also told me that the crackling sound you hear underwater (when you quiet your Darth Vader breathing) is actually shrimp. My dad and I went snorkeling yesterday at Lady Musgraves, but I was excited that I saw lots of fish I hadn't seen on that island. After our afternoon snorkel we went to watch the sunset on the boat jetty where we came in. We saw manta rays, green sea turtles, and black tip reef sharks in the water. The sun sets really early here, about 5:15pm today. I feel like that really messes with my biological clock and makes it hard for me to stay awake. I guess it really isn't too bad since we are going snorkeling at 6:15am tomorrow. I'm off to go look at the stars. Edd pointed out the Southern Cross to Dad and I last night. With relatively no light pollution and a clear night, there should be lots to see. |