Hey everyone, Today was a bittersweet day. It is our last day on Heron Island and boy was it great. We started off the day with a morning snorkel and it was breathtaking as always. The water was slightly murky, but it did not take away from the vibrant colors of the fish. We did, however, almost get hit by a dive boat. It was weird because they weren’t supposed to be in the channel till 8am and this swim was around 6:30. After we headed back to shore, we got ready for the day and had breakfast. After breakfast we got ready for an outer reef dive. Today we went to Wistari reef which is one reef over from Heron reef where we have been staying. It was much colder today than the other days but it was still amazing. The vibrancy of the reef is something that I will take with me.
I looked down and saw a smaller white tip shark taking a nap on the sea floor. He was so cute! I dove down to get a closer look at him and his beauty. Then we got on the boat and headed Inland for morning tea.
After that terrifying swim with potential death, we headed into land for the day and cleaned up. A group of us headed out to the pier to watch the sunset. We took in our last sunset on heron island and commemorated the moment with a few pictures before heading back for dinner.
And with that I sign off for the last time here on Heron Island
Taylor out!
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Hello hello, Today got off to a rough start. I woke up and my hives flared up in the night again. I have been really trying to stay positive about all of this but this morning it was really weighing me down. I felt defeated that I had tried so hard to get here and I keep getting knocked around. I collected myself and got bac on with the day. Despite the rough patch the rest of the day went by much more smoothly. After breakfast we headed to the outer reef for a dive. It was once again absolutely breath taking! One of my classmates saw a manta ray and was able to get a quick video of it before it disappeared back into the blue abyss. I was able to take a GoPro out with me this time and I am still combing through the footage I got. After we got back from the reef we took showers and snagged some carrot cake from morning tea time. After, Brinley and I headed to the beach to work on our project. As we were walking, I found a coconut! There are no coconut palms on heron and my professor said that this one probably came from an island deep in the pacific. We cracked it open, and it was RANCK! It smelt so bad. My professor said that the coconut was in the ocean for a very long time. As we were opening it, we found barnacles growing on it and even a little baby crab. After we finished with the coconut we went back to our project and spent the rest of the day working on it. I am proud of how it turned out and I am excited to present tomorrow. We then headed down to the pier to watch the sunset and chill as a class. I am so sad that it is coming to an end but I am really looking forward to getting rid of these hives. Sorry today is so short but we spent most of the day working on our projects. See you guys tomorrow.
Taylor Hey guys! Today was an amazing day! We started out the morning with a sunrise swim that I was actually able to attend. I still have hives but they haven't gotten any worse then what they are staying at so I am not letting them hold me back. The swim was a little murky but it was beautiful! There were so many turtles and rays that we passed. Their sizes still amaze me. I also found a massive hermit crab hanging out by the shipwreck we swam by. It was absolutely breathtaking.
One thing I don’t think I have talked about yet is the reef soundscape. The instant you get in you can hear tiny cracking noises which are so clear. The cracking is actually the sound of parrot fish eating the hard coral, and other noises from sea creatures. It is amazing how clear the sound cuts through the water.
I headed back to have dinner and afterwards my class and I went to the lab to blog and watch blue planet as a class. Today was a great day and I really enjoyed the experiences I had with my class and being able to get closer to my classmates.
Till next time! Taylor Hey guys, Today was a very chill day. My hives have gone down significantly. I skipped morning swim this morning just to make sure I wasn’t going to have a flare up but I didn’t so I decided I am going to get back to morning swims. We had breakfast and some of my classmates who were scuba certified went on a dive with our professors. Meanwhile the rest of us worked on our research projects. I created a spreadsheet to log all our quantitative data. Then I got to work on writing our pre-proposal and started the power point slides. When my partner got back from the dive, we worked on adding all our data onto the spreadsheet. Once that was done, we started working on our individual lab write ups. I have gotten my introduction and abstract written. I just have to add the methods and once we finish collecting our data and analyze it I can add the results and discussion. After I finished writing for the day, I was able to join some of my classmates on a sunset snorkel. It was so fun! The water was murky because of the tide but the view of the sunset was unlike anything I have ever experienced. I had a moment of clarity while in the water tonight. I thought about all the hoops I have had to jump to get here and how much I have just felt completely defeated. From the trave delays, to not feeling like myself at all, random hives, not feeling like I fit in, and anxiety, I have still made it. I found myself looking at all that I have accomplished that brought me to that moment in the water at an island on the great barrier reef. I have really enjoyed being able to research and get this experience. I have enjoyed collecting data and creating projects to study. This experience has not been what I had expected and it has been a rough. However, I have learned from this experience that I am a lot stronger than I give myself credit for. I have persevered when I just wanted to give up. I just keep telling myself that I am doing cool things.
Keep doing cool things friends! Taylor Hey guys, Today was quite wild and did not go as planned. I woke up and the Hives I got had spear down my legs, on my arms, and covered my face. My face was super-hot and stiff while my ears were bright red and itchy. They took me back to the nurse’s station after breakfast to see if there was anything else they could for me. They gave me another allergy pill and this nurse took pictures of my legs to send to the doctor just incase it got worse. I headed back to class to work on our research project. My partner and I decided to do a project comparing fish abundancy and diversity on coral patches closer to shore compared to patches farther from shore. We decided our methods when the research station admin came to the lab to tell me the nurse wanted to see me again. Apparently, the doctor called and said to give me a steroid to help with the swelling. I have to say it has helped a lot! The hives have gotten much better. They think I am either allergic to the laundry detergent or the solution they used to clean the wetsuits. My wetsuit is currently soaking in a tub of water to try to get the detergent out and we are washing my sheets without detergent to see if that helps. After I got back from the nurse’s station we had lunch and then headed to our lecture on reef mega fauna. I really enjoyed learning how sharks and rays use electrical pulse sensors to hunt their pray. We also learned that whales come to the reefs to give birth since the babies are born with out blubber and would not be able to survive the polar waters right away. It was very interesting and really got me excited to continue learning about marine life and ecosystems. After lecture My partner and I started the collection process of our data. We suited up and swam 120 fin kicks out. Then we chose five large coral patches which we then recorded and measured. Once we finished those five we swam 60 fin kicks back and chose five more to record and measure. We went back to the lab to take a look at the footage we got. I am a terrible videographer when it comes to the go pro, but we were still able to get some good counts in. we finished going over the videos we have and plan to do more tomorrow so that we have a good data pool. Once we finished we headed to afternoon tea and ate a ton of fruit! I wish America did morning and afternoon teas. They are so good. Now we are all just chilling and those whose projects are done at low tide are out in the water. I cannot wait to see what tomorrow holds I just hope it involves less hives and more sea creatures.
Till tomorrow Taylor Today was a rough one. Yesterday after one of our snorkeling trips I realized I had some hives on my legs. This morning there were even more and it had spread down my legs. I am not quite sure what it is I am allergic to but I was able to visit the resort nurse to get some allergy meds and itch cream. Fingers crossed they are better tomorrow. Today we participated in coral watch (and I finally swam with a black tipped reef shark). What we did was take a color guide and then record the darkest and lightest color of the coral to track coral health. Once the data was recorded, we input our observations into the coral watch database. What is super cool about this project is that it is for all reefs, and anyone can participate. If you are a diver or love to snorkel on reefs you can get the color guide and input the data on the coral watch website as well. After the coral survey we dried off and had a lecture on the different fish on the reef. It was so cool to learn that there are no fish that you will find just on the reef. Everyone of them can exist in other ocean habitats. We also learned about coral bleaching and how losing the great barrier would mean the loss of tons of species. After the lecture today we picked out our partners for our research projects. I am super excited to start working on this but we are still figuring out what it is we want to study. Ill let you guys know what we decide on. The rest of the day was super chill. I ended up taking a long nap because the allergy meds knocked me out. When I woke up I was able to watch the sunset with my class mates and we saw a few black tip sharks swimming around and several spotted eagle rays. It was a beautiful way to end the day and I am excited for the morning swim.
See ya tomorrow Taylor IT FINALLY HAPPENED! Hey guys welcome back! One of my dreams since learning about what lives on the reefs, has been to see a lemon shark. Lemon sharks (Negaprion brevirostris) are slim sharks that can maneuver around the nooks and crannies of the reef to catch prey. What is really cool about these sharks is that they hunt in the dark using electroreceptors in their heads to detect the pulses of their prey. Today I accomplished my dream within the first 3 minuets of our morning swim! Since I came late today was my first morning swim around the reef. My professor said that I should stay at the front so I had more of a chance to see things. Then we stuck our heads in the water and there swan a lemon shark maybe three feet in front of me. I was awestruck! I cannot believe that I saw a lemon shark in person! (unfortunately I did not have a go pro) It looked just like the google photos but so much better. With suck a wonderful stat to the swim it was no surprise that the rest of the swim would be just as incredible. we saw several turtles and one swam right up under me. There were so many fish and rays that were hustling around. Seeing parrot fish in person up close has been so surreal. Their colors are so vibrant and breath taking that I cannot help but stare at them forever. the swim ended as we swam through a ton of small cone jellyfish and plankton. After the swim we had breakfast and went over the plan for the day. Today we were at the outer reef. We met at the touch tank at 10 and walked down to the dock to catch a small boat that took us to the outer reef. Once we got to spot the boat anchored we strapped on our gear and fell backwards off the boat. (I'm in the pink fins) The outer reef had so much more diversity than the inner reef and reef patched. I saw soft coral, hard, coral, pink, blue, purple coral. There were tons of different fish ranging in all sizes. Here I saw two white tipped reef sharks. These slender guys can easily catch prey within the reef at fast speeds. I CANNOT BELIEVE I SAW TWO SPECIES OF SHARKS!! when we finished at the outer reef we headed inland for some RNR and to study for our fish ID test. I was convinced that I would not pass as I guessed on a lot... but I got a pretty good score! The we worked on our labs from yesterday before dinner. After dinner we finished the labs and now we are all about to play a game of among us so peace out guys!
See ya tomorrow Taylor Hey everyone, welcome back! Today was our fish lab so we all got up early to get geared up for the water by 6:15. Once we were all together, we headed to the patch reef where we would be collecting video data to analyze back at the lab. There are two parts to this lab part one is during high tide and two is during low tide. For the lab we set up 30 meter transects in the coral patches. From there my partner and I swam along the transect line with a go pro so that later in the lab we could ID the different types of fish in the area. After we finished at the patch reef we headed back to shore to clean up for breakfast. After breakfast we set up shop in the lab to finish writing our lab write ups from yesterday. My group did really well! We did not have anything planned till after lunch, so I had some downtime to study for our fish ID test we take tomorrow. I can confidently say that I still have no clue what the different fish are. While I was studying my professor told me I could go help the marine master’s student with her research. Two of my classmates and I got to go help her collect algal samples off the patch reef. We got in our reef walkers and helped her set up a transect. Then we followed behind her as she picked the algae and then we collected the sample in a container filled with water. It was a great experience assisting with current research. We got back from helping and headed to lunch. After lunch we suited up again to hit the coral patches at low tide. We did the same thing we did for the high tide part and then headed back to the lab to analyze the footage. My footage from high tide was terrible. The camera was pointing the wrong way for the first bit and was super shaky. My low tide footage was much better but both videos didn’t have many fish. It was a great learning experience using cameras in water and coming to terms with the fact that sometimes you won’t always catch what you’re looking for. After we finished in the lab, we had some more down time and most of the class went for a swim. I decided to stay back and study some more since I am way behind compared to my classmates. I was also super tired from jet lag. I did get to walk down to the pier, and we saw several black tip reef sharks! It was so cool seeing them swimming in the shallow reef. Tomorrow during our morning swim I am hoping to see some. We had dinner and then headed back to the lab for blog time. Looking back on today I realized how much I really enjoy this type of work and study. I will say though I have never been so tired in my life. I cannot wait for tomorrow to see what knew things I can learn and discover.
Till then Taylor Hello Everyone! Wow I cannot believe I actually made it to this study abroad. Starting off this journey has been nothing short of a bumpy road. I started of this travel smoothly by leaving on the 10th of June so that I would arrive in Sydney the 13th. United Airlines on the other hand had very different plans for me. My flight From SLC to San Francisco was delayed an hour due to technical issues taking my hour and a half layover down to 20 minuets. I was able to contact united and they told me that everything would be fine, that since I was flying international they would hold the plan for me since my connection would now be very tight. I arrived in San Francisco at 10:30pm and was feeling on top of the world since my next flight was at 10:55 and customer service told me the gates were close to each other. Unfortunately there was another plane at our gate and by the time we deboarded the plane, my connection had already taken off for Sydney by five minutes. United helped get me booked in a hotel and get me accommodations while i waited to catch the next flight out which would be 10:45 the next night. Trying to stay positive I looked at my options and remembered my friend Ryan had moved to San Francisco. We met up for lunch the next day and he showed me around the city while I waited to go back to the airport. When it came time to get on the next plane I was ecstatic! I could not believe that I was finally getting to go study on the Great Barrier Reef a dream I have had since I was young. I boarded the plane at 10:45 and by 1:30 we were still sitting at the gate. Then we were informed that due to technical difficulties this plane would not be able to leave the ground and our flight had been canceled. This meant that I would no longer be making my study abroad on time as the next flight did not leave until 10:pm the next day and the boat would leave with out me. I was frustrated and upset. I had now spent over $200 changing my connecting flights in Sydney to get me to Gladstone where the boat for the island was and was starting to believe that I might not make it. I was put up in another hotel till the next day where I would fly to LA and then catch a connection there to Sydney. I made it to LA and boarded the flight and found out it was delayed. I could not believe it!! I had accepted that I was just not going to make it to Australia. Finally we started moving and from there the trip to Gladstone went smoothly. Since the rest of the class was already at Heron Island, my professors booked me two nights at the Gladstone Backpackers Hostile till the next boat came. I had a BLAST! I met people from all around the world and they took me to different local places to show me around. It was so much fun and in the end I am grateful for those days that I wouldn't have had if I had made it on time. I made it to Heron Island and found my class working on the lab I had missed. It was great to see them and joke about the whole ordeal. I was able to jump right in on the second lab and though I am sad I missed the first one I am excited to continue in the course and learn more about coral ecosystems and love them even more than I already do!
Todays lab we went out at low tied to coral patches and set up transects that measured 0, 5, and 10 meters away from a coral patch of our choosing. Once the transects were set we took a core of sand from each distance and bought it back to the lab. In the lab we looked at the samples under a microscope to see if we could find any invertebrates. I was able to find lots of shells the size of grains of salt, microscopic shrimp and worms, and some of my class mates found starfish larva and sea urchin larval as well. Then we went on a swim around the reef when the tide was higher. we got in the water right in the middle of a school of very large parrot fish! it was crazy to see the creatures I spent years looking at in pictures swimming next to me. Then my professor got my attention and told me there was a turtle right next to me. I looked down and right there was a green sea turtle. He swam right up under me and it was so surreal! later on we saw a massive logger head turtle. His head was the size of a basket ball. I also saw lots of eagle rays and other species of rays I am not quite familiar with yet. All in all it has been a dream come true and I cant wait to swim with the sharks tomorrow! Till then, Taylor |
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AuthorTaylor is currently a senior at Utah State University studying environmental studies and biology. Taylor has always loved the ocean and plans to attend Western Washington University for a masters in marine ecology. Taylor first found a love for marine science as a child growing up in the Pacific North West. ArchivesCategories |