One of the things I will miss about Heron island is the sunset. I have been surrounded by mountains my whole life and mountain sunsets are gorgeous, but just in a different way than ocean sunsets. When the you can see the colors in the sky all the way down to the horizon they seem burn like a flame and linger a bit longer. Just when you think it has hit it's peak, you look back and it's still growing brighter. With mountain sunsets you can watch the sun sink out of view and if you don't look at just right moment you've missed the whole thing. It's been one of the best ways to wrap up the day , by heading down to the beach to watch the sun go down while everyone laughs and plays. If I could just take a snapshot about the meaning of life that would be it, just living in the moment. One thing I love about sunsets anywhere is that they are never the same even over the same horizon which means that every day I have something to look forward to.
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Did I ever say that the ocean was one of my biggest fears (and sometimes still is)? I like to pretend for my brothers that
nothing really terrifies me, and over the years, of which I have seen many, I have challenged myself to face these fears. Humans inherently fear the unknown, so I decided that the more I knew the less I would fear. Unfortunately the more you learn more you realise how much you don't know, and you sucked into the vortex of unanswerable questions. So at some point you just have to embrace the fact that you will never know everything and decide not to let that fact scare you. So here I am taking my first ocean swims in Australia because, you know, anything here can kill you, and I am loving it like I knew I would. How can you not love it when the sun is shining and the water is clear and you're surrounded by several friends? Well you just stick the sun back behind some big grey clouds, and then the water is murky and you loose yourself in the giant waves that the wind is throwing in your face and all of a sudden all the fear that you forgot chokes you like salt water as this wave of terror comes crashing down. Ok that's just a little over exaggerated. But really I did have mini panic moment when I didn't see any one else all of a sudden when I swear they were just there a second ago. It's was fine though, because Trisha and Kamp appeared a moment later having just gone down to have a closer look at something. After the fact, I felt slightly sheepish for my irrational paranoia for a tiny second, because after that people started spotting all sorts of little critters, the knew ones to the list of things I've seen are the little anemone fish and my very first wild octopus. Once we were out of the water we witnessed one of the best sunsets of all time, while the kids did head stands in the sand (by kids I mean college students) and Edd did his infamous elephant seal impression. After that much carefree fun I really felt silly for my mental freak-out earlier, but probably not as silly as Edd. It has been a crazy day of cramming for our final project. One unfortunate consequence of final projects is that you are glued to a computer for waaaay too long. Luckily we are on schedule to have it done by tomorrow so that we can present on Saturday. After a few ours on the computer Tia and I would just hit a rut of unproductivity and brain farts, so to clear our minds we would give ourselves little breaks of activity. During our first break we decided to walk around the island and we would have walked all the way around (which is really not far, this is a tiny island) except we ran into a sand storm coming around the corner to shark bay and escaped into the "forest". Tia, bless her young heart, saw a tree that was perfect for climbing, so I skedaddled up there and maybe it will tide me over until I can get to the climbing wall back home. I will miss swimming with the fish and the rays, and especially with the guitar sharks, but getting back to climbing will be like a good stretch after a long car ride. Until then I am going to take every chance I can to get in the water, because I have no clue when I will get to see the ocean again.
Today was a crazy day on the reef. The high winds predicted by Ben the boat captain were starting to toss the leaves of the trees. Tia and I had some more data to collect for our final project out in the lagoon so we made our way through the foliage and prepared ourselves for a rough swim. The winds were spitting huge whitecaps out on the distant outer reef and the lagoon was full of relatively small but harried waves. We braced ourselves for the shock of cold water and swam out to the buoy that marked the beginning of our next transect. We had only been under water for a few minutes when, out if the blue, a black tipped reef shark darted past us. I reminded myself that the shark was harmless but couldn't resist the urge to look over my shoulder every now and then. We continued our work, which was becoming increasingly more difficult as the waves began picking us up a little higher each minute. We finished our transect and lingered just a bit longer to check out a funky bright green fish that was peeking at us from under the coral. I was surprised at how many fish were still out and about mostly unperturbed about the wind. As we fought the waves and headed back to shore I wondered if this part of the reef, being more shallow, was becoming crowded as the fish were coming closer to shore to escape the wind. I actually thought it was kind of fun to swim when the water had so much energy, but It just wasn't the best way to collect data since some of our videos are pretty rocky. I think tomorrow I will try to borrow a kayak because that would be fun too.
Every day comes with new surprises on this Island. This is a place that can keep me entertained for quite a while, and though I would be lying if I said I was bored I think I will be satisfied with my time here when It's time to go. Although each morning brings a new adventure, each night I think of what I left at home. I have gotten used to spending a lot of time on my own since I moved to Logan, but even when I was acclimating to the absence of the rest of my family I still had Tess. She was the first thing I looked forward to when I got home and the only thing that has been with me when no one else could. So if any of my brothers are reading this, thank you for taking care of her for me and please give her a kiss from me. I had to write this post so that I could feel a little bit less guilty about leaving her behind again.
We are all starting to work on our final projects now. I have a bad feeling about this scientific method stuff because we changed our question two or three times once we started. One of the hardest parts about starting a project is coming up with a good question. Brainstorming questions is fun because there are a lot of things we don't know about the ocean, but narrowing it down to something measurable was the trick. Tia and I eventually settled on an actual hypothesis. We did some background research and learned a lot about clams.
I'm sure the point of the research project is not to learn a lot about clams, but to get practice with the research process itself. I definitely feel like research is going to be a big part of my future but so far I have not done any legitimate formal research in the natural world. So even though we are hitting a few bumps along the way, we will learn from them and be much more familiar with the scientific process once we are done. Data collection is my favorite step because we get to go out and swim hunting for clams. Finding clams is fun but we also find a lot of unexpected things. The zebra lionfish probably topped everything else. Luckily we didn't run smack into the middle of a congregation of sting rays like earlier his morning... Tomorrow we will get to do some more data collection and we'll probably run into some more cool creatures out in the lagoon. For now all we have to focus on is staying on target so we can do some good science. I'm crossing my fingers for some more sunshine until then. TToday was our second time on the outer reef and probably our last. Captain Ben forcasted high winds for the remainder of our trip that would make snorkeling the outer reef too risky. Swimming in the outer reef for the first time was like jumping into the deep end of the swimming pool for the first time. When you upgrade from the kiddie pool you get this sense of accomplishment as well as the rush that comes from being suspended in water when the floor drops far below you. Some parts were deep enough that you couldn’t see the bottom clearly.
The fish that live in the outer reef tend to be much bigger and more colorful, with the exception of these little damsel fish that are absolutely everywhere. I don’t know why these tiny little damsels are so plentiful, but I love how brave they are to swim the deeper waters without worrying too much about the big fish. There tiny little bodies shimmer an iridescent blue and green under the sunlight from above. I saw a school of parrot fish bigger than any I’ve ever seen in the lagoon. Sea turtles are easier to find here and the size of them always surprises me. We followed a white tip reef shark for a bit as it wandered at the bottom of the sea floor. On our second deep water snorkel massive corals would loom up like mountains in the seascape. The biggest grouper fish stalked the corals that grew of the sides. The fish would zoom through the trenches like five o clock traffic. They would swim side by side and head to tail on their morning commute to wherever it is that fish go. The whole class stays together pretty well but everyone sees different things because Mantas will just glide past and disappear as quick as they came while octopus stay still as a stone and disguise themselves as just another coral in the millions we pass. There is a sense of community here where all the creatures have role to play. Their lives are all intrinsically intertwined and loosing any one part of the web would threaten the whole thing to collapse. Some of these creatures have been around so long that much of their behavior is rooted in their DNA. Like these little cleaner wrasse fish. They are so small and such an easy snack because they swim up to all the big fish and look straight in their mouths for leftovers from its last meal. But the big fish have no intention on eating the wrasse an they are happy to let it clean them before they continue on their way. Not every relation is peaceful in here though. Before we got on our boat this morning we watched a huge school of little silver fish all grouped together and nervously watching their perimeter. Out of nowhere this monster fish jumped up from underneath them and they all scattered while the hunter swallowed his unlucky catch. There were other creatures watching and waiting for an opportunity for a snack like a little squid and some seabirds that perched on the docks. There are some necessary cruelties about life in the wild, but for the most part everything maintains a wonderful balance. oday Today was our second time on the outer reef and probably our last. Captain Ben forcasted high winds for the remainder of our trip that would make snorkeling the outer reef too risky. Swimming in the outer reef for the first time was like jumping into the deep end of the swimming pool for the first time. When you upgrade from the kiddie pool you get this sense of accomplishment as well as the rush that comes from being suspended in water when the floor drops far below you. Some parts were deep enough that you couldn’t see the bottom clearly. The fish that live in the outer reef tend to be much bigger and more colorful, with the exception of these little damsel fish that are absolutely everywhere. I don’t know why these tiny little damsels are so plentiful, but I love how brave they are to swim the deeper waters without worrying too much about the big fish. There tiny little bodies shimmer an iridescent blue and green under the sunlight from above. I saw a school of parrot fish bigger than any I’ve ever seen in the lagoon. Sea turtles are easier to find here and the size of them always surprises me. We followed a white tip reef shark for a bit as it wandered at the bottom of the sea floor. On our second deep water snorkel massive corals would loom up like mountains in the seascape. The biggest grouper fish stalked the corals that grew of the sides. The fish would zoom through the trenches like five o clock traffic. They would swim side by side and head to tail on their morning commute to wherever it is that fish go. The whole class stays together pretty well but everyone sees different things because Mantas will just glide past and disappear as quick as they came while octopus stay still as a stone and disguise themselves as just another coral in the millions we pass. There is a sense of community here where all the creatures have role to play. Their lives are all intrinsically intertwined and loosing any one part of the web would threaten the whole thing to collapse. Some of these creatures have been around so long that much of their behavior is rooted in their DNA. Like these little cleaner wrasse fish. They are so small and such an easy snack because they swim up to all the big fish and look straight in their mouths for leftovers from its last meal. But the big fish have no intention on eating the wrasse an they are happy to let it clean them before they continue on their way. Not every relation is peaceful in here though. Before we got on our boat this morning we watched a huge school of little silver fish all grouped together and nervously watching their perimeter. Out of nowhere this monster fish jumped up from underneath them and they all scattered while the hunter swallowed his unlucky catch. There were other creatures watching and waiting for an opportunity for a snack like a little squid and some seabirds that perched on the docks. There are some necessary cruelties about life in the wild, but for the most part everything maintains a wonderful balance. Today was our second time on the outer reef and probably our last. Captain Ben forcasted high winds for the remainder of our trip that would make snorkeling the outer reef too risky. Swimming in the outer reef for the first time was like jumping into the deep end of the swimming pool for the first time. When you upgrade from the kiddie pool you get this sense of accomplishment as well as the rush that comes from being suspended in water when the floor drops far below you. Some parts were deep enough that you couldn’t see the bottom clearly. One thing I will definitely miss when I get back to America and have to fend for myself is having three beautifully prepared meals. Every day breakfast (brekkie) lunch and dinner (din din) three or more courses each. Master chef Pat, bless his heart, must be up at the crack of dawn frying up eggs. Then up till bedtime cleaning up, after the last eater slowly makes it's way out of the kitchen, stomach distended and already dreaming of the next delicious meal.
I feel like a true glutton when I can't help but go back for a second of third helping. I always think of my family at dinner time: Oh Kevan would die for this chocolate cake...Good thing Bug isn't here, there are onions in everything... I started thinking about my gluttony first to decide if it was rude to eat so much. Then I thought it must be more rude to leave anything to waste. I came to the conclusion that it was alright to have a third helping only if it looked like everyone else had helped themselves to seconds. This seems justified. I have an annoying habit of applying unrelated, and often ridiculous daily "struggles" to life lessons. This particular inner turmoil over my eating habits is just a way for me to demonstrate to friends and family how I feel about my time on Heron Island. Similarly to mealtime, being here without some of these people that I care about most, I sometimes feel like a glutton. It would make me feel much better to share these experiences with them. And not just in storytelling. I can go home and tell them about how delicious the curry was, but they will not really taste it for themselves. I can go home and tell them about the feeling of seeing their first 'proper' shark swimming beneath them, but it won't feel the same. Even pictures of the sunset won't have the same fire. I know that this is the reason that I want to work in conservation. There are so many things in this world that I still hope to see and that I want my brothers and sisters to be able to see for themselves. This line is for all my nerds out there : "There's some good in this world..and it's worth fighting for." I had hoped that I would get over the jet lag pretty quickly because I'm already used to working nights in America. Unfortunately this just makes me tired all the time here and then I'm restless at night.
I confuse myself by dreaming about my day so that when I wake up feel like I've just finished swimming in the ocean. Then I have to get out of bed super early because I feel like I'm wasting my time staring at the ceiling. I think If I just forced myself to stay up later I would get a better sleep rhythm. Usually I study before bedtime though and that's what puts me to sleep so early. Last night I tried to study some fish species for the class eventually fell asleep. I remember dreaming about some strange distorted fish but I don't know where my studying left off and my dreaming began. I will have to come up with some new study tactics. I wouldn't honestly call myself antisocial. But I will admit that when large numbers of strangers are involved I plan on finding myself a quiet hideaway far from other people so that I can recharge. I am not sure what power of the universe to thank for the amazing group of people that I get to share my experience on Heron Island with.
I guess it makes sense that a common interest would bring us together and unite us in instant comradery. We all were drawn to this place because of our love for nature, our intrigue for the mysteries of ocean life and a sense of adventure. I recall feeling a similar anxiety when I joined the UCC last summer. A completely unnecessary anxiety. Working for wildland conservation tends to appeal to some of the most unselfish, wonderfully open, and forgiving souls I have ever met. Similar to this group of people that willingly stranded themselves on this Island with me now. Here I am continuously surprised by everyone around me. Never have I met such a bright group of people with such passion for the natural world. It motivates me to learn well and inspires hope that together we can help make a better future for our oceans as well as our wildlands back home. Tonight our group went to meet a group of citizen scientists called Coral Watch who are working on keeping the Coral Reefs healthy. You could feel the sadness that the Australians felt for the future of their reefs because of a decision by their government to continue a coal plant off the coast of Gladstone. They hope that by gathering information on the health of the corals they can help make people aware of the damage that they are contributing to and inspire change. As I sat and watched the presentation I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. I still have confidence that people will one day find a way to live in harmony with nature but I feel that it will definitely not be the same natural world we know and love today. I find comfort in these people. Their bright ideas and passion for wild things bring me hope. |