South Caicos Island

Blog Book

2010-09-26T09:35:00.000-04:00

Now that Jessee's posted her last post, I've put the finishing touches on the "blog book." And so, with this, we're officially bringing the blog to a close. I've uploaded the book to blurb.com, and it's now available for printing. It's quite expensive (sorry!), but the price isn't up to us. It's determined by the size of the book. And we reached the maximum allowable length of 440 pages! The book itself is supposed to be quite nice though, with fully professional printing and binding. It should be a proper coffee table book with many large, full color pictures. Preview the content below:

If you like it, you can order a copy directly from the printer:
South Caicos Island by Brett Matulis & Jessica Moyer

What I'll miss most, Part 2

2010-08-29T23:59:00.001-04:00

Written on August 20, 2010... (just haven't had a chance to publish until now).

It's hard to believe, but my time on "the Big South" has come to an end now too. I'm back in the States visiting my family and trying to prepare for our next adventure: moving to Edinburgh! I thoroughly enjoyed my summer in the TCI, and had two great groups of students to work with. I think I was really trying to soak up everything that I loved about my job with SFS (along with some sun, which I may never experience again in such enduring abundance), since I knew that I would be moving on at the end of the summer. I also took some time to reflect on the 15 months that I spent in the TCI, and am inspired now, by one of Brett's earliest blog posts actually, to share a few of the things that I'll miss most (and least) about the living in the islands. I think I’ll start with what I won’t miss so that I can end on a positive note.

What I won't miss:

1) So many invasive species. That is, the critters that invaded my sleeping quarters and my shower and my personal space, including ants, rats, termites, mosquitoes, and hydroids, just to name a few.

Termite tracks leading up to my bathroom window

Ant bite right under my eye

This rat was nibbling away at my soap every night for weeks before I finally set a trap

2) Staff drama. I suppose it's to be expected that any group of 10 people from a wide range of backgrounds and outlooks, who have to live, eat, work, and play together will have squabbles and cliques, and will include some misfits or even the occasional unfit, but our tenuous center staff dynamics weighed heavily on me sometimes. There are, nonetheless, many individuals at SFS that I feel lucky to have met and whom I truly enjoyed working with.

3) Getting hit on. Or at least inappropriate eyed up and down nearly every time I left the center to go into town. This wasn't special treatment I received by any means, but I think I may have been one of the least flattered, and therefore least tolerant, recipients of such attention.

What I will miss most of all:

1) The weather. It's confirmed. I'm a warm weather person, and I just love sun and water. And then more sun. Even on the days when it was pushing 100 degrees and we were all complaining about the heat, a little part of me was still secretly reveling in toastiness and wishing I could stockpile some warmth and sunlight for future, chillier, grayer days.

2) The underwater world. I've become so attached to the various beautiful and fascinating creatures that I've gotten to know over the past year-- and likewise to the Humann/DeLoach field guides that help me connect names and important facts with what I'm observing. Most of all I'll miss the sharpnose puffers and the green turtles, but I truly loved seeing a range of new and intriguing species every time I went on a dive or snorkel. In a way, I feel like I have a home, and many many friends, in the tropical marine ecosystems of the Atlantic.

Huge spiny lobster spotted during my final snorkel

Well-used field guides

3) Connecting with students. I spent a good portion of the past year with intelligent, motivated, passionate, and curious young college students. Not all of the program participants I worked with fit that description, but the many who did made all of the work that my position required worth it!

4) The porch. I loved sitting in our hammock out there with a book, and just enjoying the breeze and the (relative) quiet.

5) Baking cakes. I did this for every student birthday, and for a host of other events and celebrations as well, sometimes in collaboration with other people and other times on my own. In fact, I probably spent way too many hours decorating cakes when I had a million other things I ought to have been doing instead. I wonder if I'll ever have another job that will incorporate cake decorating. I hope so! Some of the cakes got gobbled up before we could take pictures of them, but here are a few examples:

(camping trip)

(night snorkel)

(bonefishing)

(well-camouflaged peacock flounder)

(bon voyage party for our site manager)

(juvenile smooth trunkfish)

(SFS logo)

(a double birthday -- the above two cakes go side-by-side)

(mangrove ecosystem)

(she brought a stray puppy, a.k.a. "potcake", back to the States with her)

(our nightguard was from the DR)

(queen angelfish)

(for a huge Lakers fan)

(the last cake I decorated on the island... so I went all out!)

6) Saving money. There isn’t much to buy on South, nor is there much need for "stuff". I appreciated living simply, and also being able to put so much of each paycheck right into savings-- which I'm likely to promptly deplete this next year in Scotland. Ugh.

7) Sunsets. I've lived in many places that boast gorgeous sunsets, but South can compete with the best of them. (Lake Champlain might be its only rival in fact.) There's just something about a sunset over water, especially when the sea birds or night hawks are out enjoying it too. Dusk sort of provides an opportunity to reflect on time spent, lessons learned, relationships developed, and experiences accumulated, as well as to dream about and plan for what’s ahead…

Summer 1 '10

2010-06-28T22:29:00.000-04:00

Jessee here. I know I haven't been doing a very good job of filling Brett's shoes as primary blogger lately, but I'll try now to catch you up a little.

Big shoes to fill (Brett left these here when he moved out)

Since Brett left the island about 3 weeks ago, quite a lot has happened here. First of all, we got a brand new batch of students for Summer session 1! We've also had a few staff changes, including losing our Site Manager, Tim, and gaining 3 new Interns, two of whom arrived just last week. Before they got here, I had been filling in for the waterfront staff quite a bit, and though it made for an extra busy schedule, I really enjoyed going out on the snorkels and driving the boat for the field research projects.

So far, the summer's been filled with lots of the usual activities and trips, such as camping, hikes along long cay, baking cookies, swimming at coast guard, and playing volleyball at High Point. On that note, we have some serious volleyball talent in the current group of students, and I think we may give the High Point guys a run for their money at our next face-off (probably tomorrow). Unfortunately though, I'm pretty sure I broke my toe at one of our practice sessions.

Pretty purple toe

There have been some new activities thrown into the mix this summer too. For example, there was a celebration of TCI culture at the Regatta the week before last, in honor of a gentleman who put a lot of energy into preserving local traditions and foods and music, and who passed away recently. The junkanoo band paraded through the streets, children performed on stage at the Regatta Village, and there was food and drink for sale thoroughout the night. (SFS contributed a big TCI flag that our students painted, and it served as a backdrop for the stage.)

Preparing decorations for the Junkanoo festival

In other news, our pool is currently out of commission. We loaned our pump to a guy in town that Tim was friends with, and he apparently loaned it (or sold it?) to someone else. So, we're working on tracking it down, but in the meantime our community swim lessons have been cancelled.

Algae-infested pool

The only bright side of having no pool is that we had to come up with a creative alternative activity for the kids who come to visit us every Saturday afternoon. We usually have arts and crafts projects available, and ping pong, volleyball, dominoes, cards, etc., but the swim lessons are by far the biggest draw, so I was prepared to have a lot of disspointed kids on my hands. We decided to set up a few touch tanks with sea creatures in them as a new and exciting attraction, and also as a way of teaching the kids about marine life and encouraging them to interact (gently) with their natural environment.

Touch tank

Two of the faculty members and I went out in the morning to collect creatures, and we came back with several west indian sea eggs, a pencil urchin, 2 crabs that had taken up residence in unoccupied shells, a few snails, 2 brittle stars, a milk conch, a queen conch, a few flamingo tongues, a few sand dollars, a sea biscuit, some sea marbles, a few different types of algae, and... a small lobster and a shrimp that were living together inside a knocked conch shell! It was a huge hit! Some of the kids were afraid to touch things at first, but most of them worked up the courage to at least pick up a conch shell and look inside. The cutest reaction belonged to a little boy, Elrico, who pointed to an item in the tank that I explained was called a "sand dollar". He thought for a second, and then said "What's that mean? You can buy stuff in the sea with it?"

The tanks kept the kids' interest for almost an hour... incredible!

Princeton makes a new friend

The current group of students took their final exam today, so there are no more lectures this session. In fact, they are only here for one more week. (The shorter summer sessions fly by!) This final week will be action-packed though. We had a frisbee game this evening, field research twice a day all week, a volleyball game tomorrow, the high school graduation ceremony to attend tomorrow evening at Regatta Village, a few recreational waterfront activities thrown in, the students' final research presentations on Saturday morning, some community engagement Saturday afternoon, the 4th of July, a day to pack and clean up the center and take a final field trip together, have a closure banquet and photo slideshow, and then I fly back to Provo with the students next Tuesday morning.

Our busy daily routine starts with a "morning meeting" and group activity

I'll be sad to see this group go... I'm enjoying them a lot. I'm also starting to feel a little sad about leaving myself. I gave notice to my supervisor a little while ago, and then last Friday at our weekly meeting she annouced to the rest of the staff that I will be leaving SFS in August. (And, as of this post, I suppose the news is accessible world-wide.) So it's official. As of the end of Summer 2, I'm moving on. To where, I don't know yet. Somewhere that Brett are I are both able to find work and meaningful community involvement, is the idea. Wish us luck! Given the status of the current job market, we need it!

Closing Time

2010-06-06T11:20:00.000-04:00

My time on the island has come to an end.

As I noted before, it probably seems quite sudden that I left. But it has been in the works for months. It was February when I first began to realize I needed to leave. There's no place for "partners of staff" at the SFS center in TCI. As more and more restrictions on how I could be involved were placed on me (and the others in my same position), it became apparent that I'd be better off some place else.

Despite how some characterized it, I never felt entitled to free reign over the school's resources or expected to be entertained by those who worked there. Quite the opposite, when I came I was more than happy pitch in where I could - to work for free! On numerous occasions I offered to be part of the staff-of-the-day rotation, monitor the radio, serve boat duty, or lead groups. I came with the attitude that I needed to "earn my keep." I would bear no burden on others and do everything I could to make the lives of those around me easier. That was what I could offer in exchange for the extraordinary opportunity of being allowed to live there.

No matter what, though, some were determined to resent the fact that I was there in no official capacity. There's nothing quite as infuriating as being told, "you don't seem to understand that this is a school," when it was so far from the truth. (I must add, though, if you judge by the way this person conducted his course, it's understandable why someone might forget).

But there's no need to dwell on the things that made life on South Caicos difficult. In the sincerest way I can possibly put it, I wouldn't trade the last year for anything. Despite the challenges, I've had some once-in-a-lifetime experiences that I'll never forget (especially since they're quite well documented in this blog). I logged over 170 dives, swam with dolphins, whales, sharks, eagle rays, and loads of tropical fishes. I've become an underwater photographer and gained an advanced knowledge of diving. I captured sea turtles and freed iguanas. It's been quite an adventure. And I couldn't be more thankful for it.

We'll have to count on Jessee to keep this blog going through the summer. I won't be writing regularly anymore (though I may post once or twice more, for instance, when I finish the book). It's a sad feeling bringing things to a close. This blog has been pretty central to my life for an entire year. But all good things must come to an end.

Farewell South Caicos!

Thunderstorm

2010-06-05T16:19:00.000-04:00

I took this video yesterday on the flight from Charlotte, NC to Fort Myers, FL. Fortunately, we flew around it and not through it. It was perfectly smooth and made for a good show.

Thunderstorm
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5X2pn2Tj0k)

On the Mainland

2010-06-05T00:17:00.000-04:00

It was a long and arduous journey, but I've arrived safely in Naples, Florida. As the crow flies, South Caicos is only about 600 miles from Florida. If only I could have flown directly, it would have taken hardly more than an hour. Instead, it took me 16. So close, yet strangely far away.

There are few things less pleasant than commercial air travel these days. It seems that collectively airlines have given up all effort of providing decent service. Instead they try to wring every last penny they can from you. I was charged $25 to check my bag and $3 for the on-board snack. They've even gone as far as placing advertisements on the tray tables! On top of that, the TCI government charged me $20 for permission to leave the country. They get away with all of this because they know we're captive consumers. We'll keep purchasing their product no matter how bad it is because when it comes to long distance travel, there's nothing else we can do.

Shameless.

But I guess, when it comes down to it, I can't complain because they did manage to get me from point A to point B without any mid-air disasters!

I do, however, always enjoy the island-connector flight from South to Provo. See some of the photos from it below:

Boarding in South Caicos

You can really see the damage that the East Bay resort has done dredging sea grass.

Dove Cay and Long Cay

One final goodbye - looking down at the Center.

Rain on my Parade

2010-06-03T12:07:00.000-04:00

June 2nd, I mentioned last year, is a special day for us. As of yesterday, we've been together for 8 years! We didn't get to spend it together last year, so I had grand plans for it this year. But there was rain on my parade.

Rainy Day

There was thunder and lighting for the better part of the day. Both of us were a little bummed out because of it, but incredibly things cleared up in the evening and we still had an enjoyable time (even if I wasn't able to carry things out in their full glory). We went for my final South Caicos dive, just the two of us. And while we were down there, I gave Jessee her card.

It was a good last dive too. We got a good sampling of the regular South Caicos megafauna - a Nurse Shark, a Reef Shark, and a lone Eagle Ray. It was as if they were all coming out one last time for me. Aside from that we saw lots of Horse-eye and Black Jacks (my favorite fish) and a Sharpnose Puffer (Jessee's favorite). Just before we ascended I spotted a Golden Coney too. Coneys are quite abundant, but Golden ones are a rare color variation. I've only seen 3 or 4 others the whole time I've been here.

A bit blurry.

A bit grainy.

Nassau Grouper

Sharpnose Puffer

Golden Coney

They're somewhat shy.

That's supposed to be an 8

After we cleaned the salt off our equipment (extra thoroughly for mine since I'll be hanging it up for a while), we went out for dinner. There's not much in terms of "fine dining" on this island, so we embraced the situation and went for the bottom rung of what was available - The Chicken Shack.

Fried chicken and french fries. It made us both feel sick.

Bruno was happy, though, because he got our bones.

And one more thing, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

April and May Photos

2010-06-01T15:46:00.000-04:00

Here are some of the photos I took in April and May:

April

(http://picasaweb.google.com/bmatulis/RepublicaDominicanaApril2010)

May

(http://picasaweb.google.com/bmatulis/SouthCaicosMay2010)

I've also updated the slideshow of photos in the sidebar to display Spring 2010. The old "Winter 09-10" photos can still be found here: http://www.slide.com/r/UDrmSQOrqz8DVQZ-WkgT5OribaOYBJFd.

To view the Spring 2010 slideshow larger, go here: http://www.slide.com/r/wLM_4xh67j-Xi8-c_YhTc222558arYuS.

Raising Anchor

2010-06-01T12:54:00.001-04:00

Yesterday Jessee and I helped the waterfront staff in one of their tasks. They needed to move a large anchor that was abandoned on the seafloor over to our swimming area for use as a new mooring for our rescue boat. In its current position, when the tide is really low and the wind is blowing from the southwest, the boat gets dangerously close to the rocks. In all the right conditions (wrong conditions?) the boat could sustain damage.

Abandoned Anchors

The objective was to dive down and raise one of the abandoned anchors using air-filled "lift bags." None of us had seen these anchors before, but we had GPS coordinates of where we could find them in the bay. We went out there initially with 400lbs of lift capacity believing it would be plenty. As soon as I got in the water and snorkeled over them, however, I knew we'd need more. I guessed just one of them was going to weigh over 1000lbs!

Since we were out there and had already gone through the effort of throwing our anchor out, we went down and gave it everything we had anyway. With all 400lbs of lift attached, we could just barely muscle it around. We'd need twice that to float it high enough for it to be towed back to the Center. The problem was we didn't have enough equipment to do it properly. We went back to the shed and grabbed everything we had that would float.

400lbs of lift barely moved it.

We spent another half an hour on the bottom (it was only about 12 or 13 feet deep) jerry-rigging it. Eventually, though, we got it up there. We had buoys tied on in several places, leaky lift bags that needed periodic re-filling, and even a few life jackets holding the thing precariously below the surface. If anything gave, we'd better not be underneath!

Getting there - 700lbs of lift.

Two big buoys finally got it off the bottom.

Freediving with a life jacket was challenging to say the least.

To raise it the last few inches, I climbed on top of the buoys to sink them slightly as the others pulled in the slack on the ropes. It worked well for most of them, but one twisted to the side and the rope slide out. I rolled off into the water and buoy went sailing towards the horizon. We tried swimming after it, but there was no hope. After a few heated words amongst the group, we cut the anchor loose from the boat (leaving it to drift freely in the bay) and chased down our lost buoy.

Attempting to sink a buoy.

Once we got things under control we still had about a half mile of towing to do. Two of us stayed in the water to make sure it wasn't going to get hung up on anything. We held on to the whole thing and were dragged back with the anchor. It wasn't all that far to go, but without proper tow lines the boat couldn't really go in a straight line. It would only veer to the left or right (depending on the side to which it was attached). As a result, we had to make big circles all the way in. People on shore must have really been wondering what the heck we were up to.

Getting dragged behind the boat.

Finally, we got it into position, deflated the bags, removed our improvised floats, and sank it in its new home. We'll still need to attach some mooring lines before we can use it, but the hard part it behind us. I was a bit worn out from it in the end (it took about 5 hours to do the whole thing), but it was great fun wrestling with it and problem solving to get it moved.

Big South Regatta

2010-05-31T14:48:00.000-04:00

The biggest event of the year on South Caicos is, by far, the annual Regatta. People come from all over the TCI and the celebration lasts for four days. It's such a big deal that normally (we were told) the coordinators of the event receive funding from the government to put it on. This year, however, in these hard economic times, no funding was available. Being such an important event though, they went forward with it anyway. The only difference was that it needed to pay for itself. That meant an entrance fee. A $30 entrance fee!

Regatta

Regrettably, we decided we just couldn't spend that to get in. According to the fliers, we missed out on beauty pageants, live music, food, and other performances. Some other information I found said that, historically, there were also donkey races (that might have been worth the $30!). It's been going on unbroken since 1967 to commemorate the Queen's visit in 1966.

What I was most interested in was the boat race. Which, of course, we were able to see without paying the entrance fee. In fact, we had a really good view of it from the center - the cliff adjacent to the water was excellent for viewing.

Races

It wasn't clear how the race was organized, or if it was held all at once. But boats were zipping around (dangerously close to one another) all day long. Some were just souped up fishing boats, others were dedicated racers, and a couple were multi-engine powerhouses clearly from out of town. We were invited to race our rescue boat, a zodiac, but the acting Center Director decided we couldn't risk damaging it (probably a wise decision!). It seemed that several of the fishermen put a great deal of money into this race - the wisdom of which I couldn't help but question. They were putting their livelihoods on the line for a day of racing. And at least one boat sank! In fact, a couple SFS staffers witnessed it happen. Jessee and I missed it by a couple minutes, but we saw the aftermath.

Mayhem!

Three boats were screaming past the SFS dock (recklessly inside of our cordoned-off swimming area) when one crossed the wake of another. At the speed they were going they completely lost control. The boat swerved hard to the right, narrowly missing our moored rescue boat and throwing the passengers into the water. The boat kept going and slammed into the limestone cliff in front of the center. The staff who watched it happen said they were thrown 20 or 30 feet! Had they not fallen from the boat, they very likely would be dead!!!

Sunken Boat

Towing the sunken boat.

Just moments after it happened Jessee and I were walking by and noticed some commotion. We went to the cliff edge and looked down to see a completely submerged fishing boat, a couple people splashing around in the shallow water, a couple other boats looking on, and a lot of shouting. There was debris from the crushed hull floating nearby. One of the interns swam out to see if everybody was okay. She took a look at the boat while she was out there and reported that there was a 4ft gash in the side!

Attempt #2

With a great deal of effort the other boats managed to pull the sunken one up from the bottom and tow it back to the docks. As long as they kept moving it partially floated. The ropes snapped once and it sank again in slightly deeper water, but I'm pretty sure they got it back eventually. This is just about as much excitement as sleepy little South Caicos ever gets. It's no wonder Regatta is such a big deal!

Dolphins!

2010-05-29T18:29:00.000-04:00

We saw more Dolphins this morning! This time they were Bottlenose Dolphins, like Flipper. They're much bigger than Spotted Dolphins, so much so that I questioned whether or not they were Porpoises at first.

Bottlenose Dolphins

The book says they can grow as big as 13 feet! You can tell just how big they really are from the picture below. There were three total, and my guess is that they were all big enough to be males. They sneaked up on us, circled around, looked directly into my eyes, and swam off. At least, that's what we saw them do. They were probably watching us for longer because Jessee, who was on the surface, got to watch them for several minutes. They swam within feet of Dave, one of the divers down with us, and he didn't even notice - you can see him looking at his dive computer in the picture.

Captain Oblivious

Approaching Cautiously

Going up for air.

It's so exciting to see animals like this. They're not all that common in this area (I'm not sure why), so it's really special when we get to see them. It's really different to see mammals than it is to see sharks and other fish. You can tell there's not much "going on upstairs" with fish, but Dolphins are completely different. The way they look at you and move around you really shows their intelligence. They're intriguing to watch (a lot like monkeys, except wetter).

Tonight we're planning to watch The Cove, a documentary about the Japanese Dolphin Slaughter. It sounds interesting, but perhaps not as uplifting as seeing them today was.

Checking Me Out

Jessee poised at the ready in case they returned.

Summer's Coming

2010-05-27T12:21:00.000-04:00

This morning we woke up in a stuffy hot room. It was the first time in months that it's been uncomfortably warm that early in the morning. Summer is coming. Which means it's also about time to solidify summer plans.

I had long ago hoped to have things sorted out and had been waiting until then to give this update. Unfortunately quite a bit is still up in the air. I had hoped to be starting a PhD program in Scotland this Fall. I was accepted to the University of Edinburgh, but I haven't been able to secure enough funding to go. It costs a fortune for overseas students! And my backup plan, the University of Vermont, turned out not to be much of a backup when I found out they had never received my transcripts. Now I feel a little bit lost.

I decided months back that I would return to Washington for the summer to work and prepare for the move. I even bought plane tickets - 4 June is my last day on South Caicos. Very soon! I had just been waiting until I knew the whole plan before putting it into writing on this blog.

As it stands, I'll be visiting my grandfather for a few days in Florida before a two week contract with Gray Wolf back in Washington. After that, I have no idea. I applied (and actually already interviewed) for an exciting job in Costa Rica with Outward Bound, but I haven't heard back from them yet. Either way, it's time (perhaps past time) to leave this island. It's been an unforgettable experience, but there's not much for me here. As time has progressed I've found that I can't really be involved with SFS life and the South Caicos community just isn't big enough to provide me with any outside opportunities. Life on a tiny tropical island just isn't always what the imagination leads you to believe.

Having such wide open possibilities would normally be pretty exciting for me, but this time I'm feeling a little less adventurous. All I really want is to start school this Fall. And I especially DON'T want to repeat the process of seeking scholarships or applying to backup schools for next year. I'm still waiting to hear how much money the federal government will lend me (things are delayed this year because of the recent changes to student loan laws), but it's doubtful it would be enough to attend and I'm leery of accumulating so much debt anyway. So, where I'll be come July, is very much unknown.

The Daily Routine

2010-05-23T17:00:00.000-04:00

As Jessee mentioned, we're trying to keep in the habit of running. I don't really like doing it, but I do like having done it. It makes a world of difference in how you feel. For the last two days we've taken advantage of the fact that the water has been dead calm and, instead of just floating around at the dock to cool down, we went for a couple of long snorkels. Yesterday we swam around Dove Cay, and today we crossed the entire bay to Shark Alley. According to Google Maps, each route is about a mile.

View Snorkel Routes in a larger map

The water has gotten much warmer since the winter and it's really nice to be out there. The surface water was especially warm because there were no waves to churn things up, and the thermocline was especially distinct. The top 12 inches was probably 8° or 10° warmer than the water below that. It's just a shame it wasn't this flat when Jessee's family was here.

Dove Cay

We attached our shoes to the signal float. Yes, that is ocean water not pool water, by the way.

Jessee always pulls the float because she's the better swimmer.

There's some new Elk Horn Coral growth on the far side of Dove Cay.

A Massive Lobster

That's a nice leaf.

We saw this same "buddy pair" both days - a Sting Ray and a Bar Jack.

The swim across to Long Cay today was especially eventful. Well, actually, Shark Alley (the area at the tip of Long Cay) was. It never disappoints. We saw three turtles (two large Hawksbills and fairly large Green), 7 Eagle Rays, and a Reef Shark. The two Hawksbills had tags, and when they saw us they took off without looking back. I guess they recognized us. The Green turtle came swimming by while I was photographing the shark. I actually got both of them in a single frame. Shark Alley is really one of a kind. If you saw any single one of these animals in the Dominican Republic, it would be something to talk about. Here you're not even finished looking at one when another comes swimming by. This is really a special place.

We started at the dock for a more direct line across the bay.

Barracudas spend most of their time lurking.

It's a bit grainy, but the turtle is just behind the shark in the lower left.

Queen Triggerfish

There was an abandoned fish trap at Shark Alley with a Coney trapped inside. I decided I'd free him. Sometimes in rough weather traps get lost. Until all the bait is used up, they'll continue trapping fish, which simply die of starvation. It took about 10 breath-hold dives to get the gate open. I had to untie several knots and bend some wires, but eventually I did it.

The fish is in the top right corner.

Gate's Open

And the fish is free. You can see him swimming away to the left.

Yesterday afternoon we went for a dive too. Right off the boat we saw the biggest Snapper (a Dog Snapper, I think). It was probably 3.5 or 4 feet long, absolutely enormous for a commercially valuable species! I can't imagine what it weighed. It was a beast. Again, there aren't many places in the world where fish like this still exist.

Monster Snapper

This Cero Mackerel swam curiously around us for several minutes.

Jessee looking at her favorite fish, the Sharpnose Puffer.

Moyer Family Visit

2010-05-22T20:53:00.000-04:00

We haven't blogged in a little while because we've been spending time with the Moyer family (my parents and sister) this past week. They arrived last Saturday, and we decided to break them into the regular waterfront routine here right from the beginning. We tested out our masks in the pool and then went for a snorkel off the dock on their very first day here at the center. (They spent Saturday night in Provo.)

Mom and Dad suiting up for the first open water snorkel

Amanda's Boston tan

The next day we walked out to East Bay to check out one of the developments underway, and to snorkel from the beach.

Preparing for the snorkel at East Bay

Amanda hadn't had enough yet, so we took her to Shark Alley too, a favorite snorkel site just in front of the center, and introduced her to some of South Caicos' finest mega fauna. She even saw a huge reef shark (in addition to the one pictured below) that Brett and I missed because we were busy following a porcupine fish beneath us.

Reef Shark

Eagle Rays

Amandius moyeranthan

We got in a lot of good birding during the week too, particularly on the day we took a town tour and then walked out to the boiling hole in the middle of the salinas (from which, we discovered, there's a nice view of our mural at the primary school). We spotted flamingos, kildeer, plovers, terns, cattle egrets, a reddish egret, brown pelicans, american kestrels, and several different types of herons including a night heron and an intermediate phase (mottled) little blue heron.

Walk through the salinas

Stopping to pose for the cameraman

The mural from a distance

We did actually walk to the primary school on a different day so that I could show my family the recently finished masterpiece, and then we got in a few rounds of tennis on the school's court while we were there. Brett, Amanda, and I also went on a jog every day this week except one, which was always followed by a cooldown session in either the ocean or the pool.

Recently developed cheek-cooling technique

On Wednesday we took a trip out to Coastguard to snorkel around (in really wavy water) and walk out onto the cliff where Brett likes to inch his way towards the edge until I squeal and cringe to his satisfaction. This time, everybody else decided to join him at the point and I got queasy, even though I was several feet inland.

Thursday was stormy here, which is pretty unusual. It was even thundering most of the day. We played multiple ping pong tournaments in the morning, followed by some Hoopla, and then went out to lunch at Darryl's to get a taste of island cuisine (conch & fish). Then we watched our second movie of the week, The Time Traveler's Wife. (The first was Avatar, which sparked some interesting discussion on virtual realities, the "noble savage", 3D graphics, and more.)

We spent most of the day Friday in the water. First we snorkeled at Admiral's Aquarium.

Dad getting his feet wet

Off to the Aquarium

Snorkel buddies

Mom and Amanda with a school of French Grunts

The boat crew

We came back to the center to cook lunch (pasta primavera!) and then went out in the water again in the afternoon. This time, to Shark Alley. Mom, Brett, and Amanda tried out the Manta Tow, the technique we use to look for turtles where you hold on to a board that gets pulled behind the boat. This way they didn't have to fight the current, which happened to be at max flow. Then, Brett and Amanda both tried out the kneeboard and water skis.

Manta Towing at Shark Alley

Amanda preparing for liftoff

All in all, I'd say we've had a pretty active and jam packed week, but we also managed to squeeze in time for some reading, lounging, board games and even a few naps.

Scrabble

Me trying out the sign language Amanda just taught me, while she interprets

We ended our visit together with a boat ride back to the dock at sunset. (Brett's not in many of the above photos because he's often on the opposite side of the camera, so I've added him into the shot below.)

Last evening together

Now I finally feel like I've had the break I've needed since our Spring semester here ended. Hopefully we didn't tire out our guests too much and they feel like they've had a restful and relaxing vacation too!

Christmas Tree Worm

2010-05-16T17:32:00.000-04:00

In the early scenes of the recent movie Avatar, several of the alien creatures are based on real life marine organisms. One of them is based on the Christmas Tree Worm (Spirobranchus giganteus), which are quite abundant in our area. If you've seen the movie, you'll recognize it here:

Christmas Tree Worm

Of course, they're quite a bit smaller in real life, only about an inch or two. They fan out, collecting food suspended in the water and retract when disturbed, just like in the movie. Despite not really looking like it, they are actually a worm, a segmented worm to be exact.

Christmas Tree Worm from South Caicos

Multi-Colored Christmas Tree Worms in Sosúa, Dominican Republic

Blog Book

2010-05-13T18:03:00.000-04:00

Over the last five days or so I've been hard at work formatting the blog to be printed as a book. I found an independent publishing company that will print as few as 1 book at a time for a reasonable price (http://www.blurb.com/). The blog is great to have, but you can't hold it and it feels somewhat impermanent. Even though the electronic version will be hosted online indefinitely, I thought it would be nice to have a bound copy when our time here finally ends.

Blurb even provides free design software for the layout. It's somewhat buggy and can be slow, but it does the job. It'll be printed in full color with all the text and photographs. Obviously dynamic elements like videos and external links won't work, but it will include references so they can always be found.

Arranging the layout for printing is a hugely time consuming task (5 days of work has only gotten me up to August!), but I think it will be worth it in the end. Fortunately, I've been able to break it up with exciting things like diving with a Hammerhead!

A GREAT Dive

2010-05-12T21:13:00.000-04:00

So many times when Brett and I have headed out for a dive, he's said "I hope we see a hammerhead," to which I've often replied, "I hope we don't!" Today, he got his wish. We actually had several shark sitings throughout the dive, starting with a small reef shark that came over to greet us as soon as we arrived at the wall. He startled me a little bit because he was moving swiftly towards us... and then Brett started me when he began swimming right back at it with only his camera as a buffer between them. But the little guy was harmless. In fact, there was a school of rainbow runners playfully swimming circles around him.

Reef Shark and Co.

So we watched them for a short while and then turned left to continue our dive towards "the grotto", and were even greeted by a couple of other reef sharks along the way. I spent a good portion of the dive admiring the many angel fish and scanning sponges for a (pea-sized) juvenile smooth trunk fish, and Brett worked on expanding his underwater photo portfolio. I think we saw about 3 lionfish too.

Lionfish

After leaving the wall and heading back towards the boat, Brett stopped to get a picture of a huge channel crab that was hanging out under a coral overhang.

Channel Crab

He was intently shooting away, and I was sort of hovering by him when I looked up to find another shark swimming straight towards me. This one was no little reef shark though. It was HUGE. And funny looking. (That was my first thought.) I even wondered for a split second if it could have been pregnant... I was so focused on its oversized belly. But when my gaze shifted up slightly, I realized - without a doubt - that I was looking right into the eyes of a Great Hammerhead. And it was looking right back at me.

I started banging on my tank to get Brett's attention. There was a third diver with us too, but she had already spotted it. Brett, however, was still enamoured by the crab and ignoring my noise-making. He said later that he heard me and guessed that I wanted to show him something, but just thought to himself, "I really want to get this shot... I'll see whatever it is in a second." Little did he know that what I wanted to show him presented much more exciting photo opportunities than what he was looking at. Once the hammerhead was within probably 15 feet of us, it sleepily turned to the right and sauntered off. It was apparently mildly curious about us, but then didn't find anything to hold its attention. Brett did finally look up in time to see the hammerhead, and he took this photo as it swam away.

Great Hammerhead

(Close up)

So exciting! I still wouldn't say that I "hope" to see a hammerhead on my next dive, but I'm thrilled to have seen one! And (more to the point) to have lived to tell about it!

Mothers' Day

2010-05-09T09:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Mothers' Day, Moms!!!

I picked you some flowers.

And Jessee made you breakfast in bed.

We hope you both have a great day!

Mural Project

2010-05-06T09:24:00.000-04:00

Jessee is, once again, in Provo for the day seeing off the students. Yet another semester has come to a close. This semester Jessee took on a huge project as part of SFS's community engagement/service. The principal of the primary school asked if we could paint them a mural. We knew it would be a huge undertaking from the beginning, but the students were excited about leaving their mark on South Caicos, so we accepted.

The Initial Design

Just how much work this mural was going to be didn't become clear until well beyond the point of no return. On top of her regular job responsibilities, Jessee spent hours and hours working on and planning for the mural. It seemed to be on her mind constantly. She was getting up before 6am to work on it in the mornings and was still anxious that it wouldn't be finished before the students left. In fact, she didn't even want me to write about it in the beginning in case it didn't get finished!

Laying out the measurements.

Paint's on the wall. There's no turning back now!

There were times, I'm sure, that she regretted ever starting it. But there were also many times that I could tell she was really happy how it was coming along and what it meant to both the SFS and the primary school students.

The primary school kids were impressed already.

Progress was slow when students were busy with their coursework.

Little by little.

Weeks compressed into a series of pictures.

Getting there!

Some of the finer details are starting to be added.

Almost there.

In the end we finished, just barely in the nick of time, before the students left. Yesterday morning (at 6am!), we finished up the top border. Later that morning the school kids and some of the students involved gathered for a photo and to dedicate it to the school.

The final strokes.

Some of the finer detail.

I think there were days of effort put into this lobster.

That's a fine looking Grouper.

Damselfish

I think we forgot to give this shark an eye.

It started as a spear, but we changed it to a net.

Goofy looking Conch.

The octopus was Jessee's design.

The paint was still wet when we unveiled it.

Finished!

Home Again, Home Again

2010-05-03T09:30:00.000-04:00

I arrived safely back on South Caicos on Saturday and got settled back in right away. On the way back from the airport we drove past the Primary School so Jessee could show me the progress they'd made on the mural they've been working on. It's nearly finished, but the students will only be here for a few more days, so they're really down to the wire getting it done.

Above Santiago

I brought Jessee some chocolate truffles from the DR (good chocolate is one of those things that doesn't exist on South Caicos). But they were a little worse for wear after the journey.

Before

After

Sunday is the day off, so we spent it snorkeling at nearby Six Hills Cay. It was nice to go there because we'd never gone before. You can see it from South Caicos, but it's not in our usual range. Compared with the Dominican Republic, the water is so clear and blue! I'm realizing how spoiled we've gotten being here. Not many places we'll go after this will measure up. You have to be remote, anymore, to get to see water this clean and fish this abundant.

On the boat near Six Hills.

Time Traveller?

2010-05-01T09:27:00.000-04:00

This morning I'll be heading to the airport and back home to South Caicos. When I initially decided to fly instead of take the boat, I was excited for this return trip because of a unique situation. The flight is only 45 minutes, but you cross a timezone on the way. In effect, I'd arrive 15 minutes before I had left!

Time Machine

Unfortunately, I later found out that the Dominican Republic no longer observes Daylight Savings. So twice each year the country switches timezones. In the Spring and Summer months, the country is in the Eastern Timezone, the same as the Turks and Caicos, so I won't get to timetravel. Dang!

While I was here, though, I learned something quite humorous on the topic. Years back the Dominican government attempted to adopt daylight savings in an attempt at simplifying things for international business. Rather unpracticed at it (or perhaps missing something in the translation of "spring ahead, fall back"), the Dominican government had everybody switch the clocks the wrong way! Christian, one of the people I dove with in Sosúa, told me for several weeks after the change there was a lot of confusion and it was getting dark really early! Just imagine the chaos that would cause. Hilarious! Anyhow, they decided to scrap the idea altogether and went back to not observing daylight savings.

Santiago

2010-05-01T09:21:00.000-04:00

Today (Saturday) I took the bus to Santiago. In the morning, I'll be heading back home. I didn't spend much time in Santiago on the advisement of a friend from South Caicos. Santiago is a real working city, and there's not much in the way tourism. It's the sort of place where you can really get the feel for contemporary Dominican life, but it doesn't showcase much of its history or culture in museums or monuments. It was nice for the day, though.

I spent the afternoon walking around seeing what there was to see. There were a lot of open air markets where people sell fruits and vegetables, shoes, clothes, and other essential things. I spent a while looking for a pair of earrings made from pieces of coconut shell (a special request from Jessee), but I couldn't find the ones she wanted (sorry!). It's the sort of thing they sell to tourists. And there are no tourists here!

A Haitian woman selling produce. This picture is from Sosúa, but they walk everywhere selling things this way (I bought two bananas almost every morning). It's practical, really. Imagine how your back would hurt holding all that food in your arms out in front of you.

I visited Duarte Park, Fort San Luis, and the Monument to the Heroes of the Restoration of the Republic - just about exhausting what there was to see in central Santiago. I had two full (and delecious) meals for a grand total of 215 pesos ($5.97), and I'm staying in a hotel that costs 480 pesos for the night ($13.33). The low prices are one benefit of non-touristic cities.

Catedral de Santiago Apóstol from Parque Duarte

Fortaleza San Luis

Monumento a los Héros de la Restauración de la República

Damajagua

2010-04-29T18:16:00.000-04:00

Today I went to great little tourist attraction, the Viente-siete Charcos (27 Pools) of Damajagua. It's a series of small waterfalls and pools along a stream that you first climb up and then slide and jump your way back to the bottom.

The first pool.

It was set up for tourism through a Peace Corps initiative originally by Joe Kennedy (grandson of RFK). Back then it wasn't set up for tourism, but locals would often go there (and they still do, at least half the people there were Dominican). There also were no safety precautions and somebody actually died because of it.

I was required to wear a helmet and life jacket.

It was a lot of fun going both up and down. It was really good to get some physical exercise, for one thing, but the water was very pleasant and the jumps were exciting. The biggest one is probably 20 feet or more. I really hesitated before jumping off that one!

Ready, set, ...

I kept thinking about a place in Costa Rica just like this. It's inside a park, so it wouldn't be able to be set up like this, but there's really high potential in other places, I'm sure.

The jump was right between the two falls.

The pools were spaced apart, but in between was nice too.

It's just the flash that's making it look like a cave.

My guide's name was Yunior.

I was reluctant to bring my camera along because I was concerned for the housing in all those jumps. But it was fine, and I'm really glad I did. Watch the video of some of the jumps:

Jumping at 27 Charcos.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxiDoNkf1m0)

I made a stop at Puerto Plata (Silver Port) on the way back to my hotel. My guidebook says you should make it a day trip and stay elsewhere, but from what I saw, it was really nice. Much better than neighboring Sosúa (where I began my trip and where I am staying now). It's not as touristy and people aren't so aggressive trying to sell things.

Central Park in Puerto Plata

The Malecón was a particularly nice shaded and breezy place to sit.

I visited Fuerte de San Felipe.

The fort was built in the 1500s to protect against pirates. The British Empire encouraged piracy in the Caribbean (calling them "privateers" rather than pirates), as a way of disrupting Spanish power in the region. The fort was never used to defend from an attack, though.

Cannons on the Fort

I would hate to try to get up these stairs with somebody shooting at me from above.

Columbus gave Puerto Plata its name in 1493 because of the way the sun reflected off the water.

Either a small horse or a large person, you decide.

Mangú

2010-04-29T17:36:00.000-04:00

This morning I tried mangú (not to be confused with a mango). To begin with, any food with the sound "goo" in it's name is starting with a strike against it. When I asked the lady at the counter what it was, it got strike two - she explained that it was mashed bananas. I imagined something between slimy over-ripe bananas and baby food. Since there were really only two things on the menu besides dinner items and both included mangú, I gave it a try.

This whole meal cost me 60 pesos ($1.67)!!

What a great surprise! Mangú has to be one of the best foods I've ever tried outside of my comfort zone. It's not sweet like I was expecting. And it's actually not made from bananas, as I was told. It's made from yellow plantains. I don't really know how to describe it. It's closer to mashed potatoes than anything else, but the seasonings in it go really well with the onions, green peppers, and eggs. I think there might have been some olive oil in it too. Tomorrow morning I'm going looking for more.

Jarabacoa

2010-04-27T14:15:00.000-04:00

There was only one reason I came to the rural town of Jarabacoa. It was to see their famous waterfalls. I was slightly more impressed with the visual created by my guidebook than I was with the actual thing, but it was worth the short side trip. I hired a motoconcho (motorcycle taxi) to take me there. I was reluctant to go this way because it seems dangerous - these guys are always zipping around and never wear helmets - but he actually brought me a helmet and didn't go that fast.

I quite enjoyed the motorcycle. It made me want to tour around Ché Guevara style.
The big falls, Jimenoa Uno, is particularly famous. It is pictured in Jurassic Park. In the early scenes when they are arriving in the helicopter, Jimenoa Uno is the one in the background.

Jimenoa Uno
It didn't really look like what I remember from the movie. Part of the reason for that, my driver told me, was because the hydroelectric plant was running today. The plant diverts much of the water around the falls to produce electricity. Even still, it was a pretty sight.

Jimenoa Dos was a little bit smaller.
The third falls, Baiguate, was on the other side of town. It's the smallest of all, but had more water flowing over it. It was my favorite.

Salto de Baiguate

Pofirio was my driver and guide. We spoke only Spanish, and I actually understood most of what was said.

Along the way we stopped at the confluencia of the Yaque de Norte and the Jimenoa. A place, it seems, frequented by locals.

Others come to Jarabacoa to climb Pico Duarte, the highest point in Hispaniola reaching over 3000 meters. That's it behind the clouds.

Santo Domingo in Photos

2010-04-25T20:04:00.000-04:00

It was nice to get a couple days to actually see Santo Domingo after being here for nearly a week. I was so busy with the diving course that I didn't see much of anything until this weekend. Of all the Latin American cities I've been to, this place really stands out. Besides the horribly polluted air, Santo Domingo is much like cities in Europe with respect to history, museums, and monuments. The areas I've seen (which covers a large portion of the city) appear to have a great deal of wealth. Poverty is arguably less apparent here than it is in New York City, for example. I mentioned this to a local person who was curious about my travels and he agreed that you don't see it much here, but he said there are parts of the country that are deeply impoverished, such as his home city of Hato Mayor, where some residents still don't have plumbing or electricity.

I'll give a brief photographic commentary of the weekend:

Saturday Morning I took a walk along the esplanade, Avenida George Washington. This is looking West towards Malecon where the high rise hotels and casinos are.

Coincidentally there is a Washington Monument-like obelisk right in the middle of Avenida Geogre Washington. I couldn't find anything that identified what it commemorates.

This fortified tower stands at the corner of the Zona Colonial, which at one time was completely enclosed by walls.

Today, many sections of the wall have been removed to make way for modern road ways.

Puerta de la Misericordia (the Door of Mercy) was one of the original gateways into the city.

Puerta del Conde (the Door of the Count) is the more famous entrance to the city. It was through this gate that Juan Pablo Duarte (the Dominican equivalent of George Washington) led a bloodless coup ousting Haitian control.

From the other side. The Dominican flag flies on top of the gate where Duarte famously put it during his coup d'etat.

Outside of Puerta del Conde is Parque Independencia that contains a very modern looking mausoleum for Duarte and two other national heroes.

Inside the mausoleum there is an 8 meter tall statue of Duarte.

Calle El Conde is a foot-traffic only street through the middle of the Colonial Zone where tourists and locals alike gather throughout the day.

This "no frills" Chinese restaurant is hands-down the best food I've had in a long time. An entire meal cost be about 110 pesos, about $3!

A monument to Bartholomew Columbus, Christopher Columbus' brother. Bartholomew was put in charge as Governor of "La Isla Espanola" (The Spanish Island), which my guidebook explains is where we get the word Hispaniola.

Parque Colon (Columbus Park), is a nice shaded area to sit and cool off.

Local kids like to feed the pigeons, which are filthy and fat from all the free corn.

The center of the park has a huge monument to Christopher Columbus.

Columbus' monument features a Taino woman etching his name into the pedestal. She's using the title "Don," a sign of reverence. Which is a bit questionable since it was the European invasion that wiped out the Taino tribes.

Parque Colon is directly in front of Catedral Primada de America (the First Cathedral of America). It's actually the third Christian church built in the New World, but the oldest one that still survives.

It's actually still in use.

By chance, an orchesta practicing while I was there. It was an impressive sound that is certainly not captured on my video.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT4rnf16xTM)

The first stone was laid in 1514 by Diego Columbus, the son of Christoper Columbus.

This skinny little horse looked so sad. I wanted to buy him some of those vegetables he has to pull around all day!

This was an interesting character.

You have to look out for these. They are all over the city. I'm not sure if it is what you'd call a "tourist trap."

Evidently, there is more poverty than is apparent. Sadly the only product in this store with an alarm is baby formula. 620 pesos is about $17.

Santo Domingo has lovely little side streets with cafes much like Europe. I get the impression Dominicans are proud of their European heritage. And from what little history I know of the country, it seems the degree to which you can claim European ancestry has much to do with your class. This was particularly the case under the Trujillo dictatorship.

Cristóbal Colón is the Spanish name for Christopher Columbus. The sign reads: "This house was the last home in America from 13 August until 11 September 1504 of Christopher Columbus, discoverer of the New World, Premier Admiral of the Ocean Sea, and the West Indies, Viceroy and Governor General. Commemoration of 505 years since his return to Spain."

This is the house where Columbus lived.

I spent about an hour or two in the Museo de las Casas Reales (Museum of the Royal Houses), which was at one time the seat of Spanish authority in the region.

Models of the Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria.

A massive Sugar Cane mill.

Which was, no doubt, operated by slaves.

Much of the collection was of antique weapons having nothing whatsoever to do with the Dominican Republic aside from the fact that they were collected by Trujillo.

I can picture the early colonists walking the streets with these strapped to their hips.

A Mongolian sword.

Double whammy. If being run through doesn't finish you off, surely the pistol will.

Knights in armor? This really could be Europe.

Santo Domingo was the center of Spanish conquest in the New World.

An inviting courtyard, except by this time of the day it was much to hot to be in direct sunlight.

Panteon de la Patria houses the remains of other national heroes.

Another sad horse. At least he had a bucket with some food.

A massive anchor recovered from a lost Galleon.

The final stop of the weekend was at Fortaleza Ozama, the "oldest colonial military edifice in the New World." It is part of the wall that encircles the entire Colonial Zone, but is where most of the artillery was concentrated. My guidebook says that "over the course of history, the fort has flown the flag of Spain, England, France, Haiti, Gran Columbia, the US and the DR." Sir Francis Drake, however, was the only one to take it by force.

The exterior walls are 2 meters thick and the windows are a narrow slit, allowing for easy firing out but difficult firing in.

Some more modern artillery is on display too. I'm not sure Drake would have stood a chance against this.

Peacocks roam the grounds. Strangely, the first thing I thought to myself was, those look good to eat.

On the walk back to the hotel, I came across this.

Okay, that wasn't a brief commentary at all. It was a full two days. But there's still a lot more to see. Santo Domingo is a place I wouldn't mind coming back to. Tomorrow morning (Monday), I'm headed back north. On the way, I'll be making a stop at the rural town of Jarabacoa.

Tech Certified

2010-04-24T10:26:00.000-04:00

I am now a certified Technical and Advanced Nitrox Diver. After my dive on Friday we went back to the shop to finish up the theoretical segment of the course, and then I took the exam. And oh, what an exam! I didn't keep track of how long it took to do the 50 questions, but it was hours and hours. This exam was no joke. At times I felt like it was somewhat unreasonable, but I passed. With a 96%, in fact! I missed a couple on topics that we didn't thoroughly cover in class.

It's a bad photo!

With the successful completion of the Don Quico dive and a passing score on the exam, I was certified. A certification with IANTD (International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers) is not a small feat. They will fail you. It's not like recreational certifications, for which if you pay, they'll give you a card. No, an IANTD certification means something. You can pay for the course and leave empty handed. Denis has a client scheduled to come back in May for his third attempt!

Being certified, however, by no measure means I'm an accomplished technical diver. It will take dozens and dozens of dives like the Don Quico to reach that level. It just means I've achieved a level to being able to pursue technical dives on my own. The best thing about a certification like this is that if I find other IANTD divers out there, I can be fairly confident they are good people to dive with. Unskilled and unknowledgeable divers are weeded out in the certification process.

And now I'm exhausted! Diving like this alone is tiring, but add in the classroom time and it really takes a lot out of you. But I have two more days in Santo Domingo and a lot of things to see. No rest yet!

Don Quico

2010-04-24T09:01:00.000-04:00

Today (Friday), I did a big dive. The biggest, by far, I've ever done. It was to a purpose-sunk wreck of a tug boat called Don Quico. Don Quico rests in a sandy area in about 60 meters (200 ft) of water. Because it's so deep it's protected from most surface weather and remains intact.

Game Face

All week we had been building the skills I would need for this dive. Each dive was progressively more advanced and the training drills more challenging. Denis (my instructor) had me practicing things like dropping and recovering my tanks, removing and replacing my BCD, deploying a surface marker buoy, responding to "failed" equipment, transferring tanks between each other, and (the craziest of all) a swimming out-of-air simulation without a mask while at 130 feet of depth! Today, however, there were no drills. This was game day.

The objective was to spend 20 minutes at 50 meters on Don Quico. That probably sounds rather straight forward, but that amount of time at that depth requires nearly an hour of decompression! To do it, we needed to carry four tanks each - two 80 cubic foot tanks on our backs (filled with air), another 80 cubic foot tank on the left side (filled with 32% Nitrox), and a 40 cubic foot decompression tank on the right side (filled with 78% Oxygen). The reason for so many is threefold - breathing gas is consumed very quickly at extreme depths due to high ambient pressure, oxygen rich mixtures help to accelerate decompression, and low oxygen mixtures to avoid toxicity.

Denis' wife Carmen

Carmen was just cleared by her maternity doctor to start diving again, so she came along with us. The doctor told her it was okay to dive, but to "just take it easy at first." She joked that she was taking it easy - she was going to 50 meters instead of 100 on her first dive back! Like Denis, she's also a very experienced diver.

Learning from the Jedi Master

I wouldn't dare bring my camera along for a dive like this the first time, but I asked Carmen to take a few pictures while we were down there. The underwater housing for it, however, is only rated to 40 meters, so we had to leave it at the mooring line while we went to the bottom (sorry, no pictures of the wreck!).

The site is absolutely perfect for a new technical diver. The mooring is at 20 meters in a reef. Adjacent to it is a sandy slope that goes directly towards the wreck. This feature helps with orientation and even better to allows you an ascent with things to look at (otherwise you'd be surrounded by blue with nothing to do). At the base, Don Quico rests in a sandy plain, and beyond it is the "wall" - essentially a vertical underwater cliff, starting at 60m and going well beyond the current attainable depths for divers.

At 30 meters on the descent, we switched off of our "stage" bottles (just before the 32% Nitrox in them would become toxic) and onto compressed air. Air allows us to continue deeper as it remains safe to breath until between about 56 to 66m. The higher nitrogen content in the air, however, causes increased narcosis (i.e. peripheral narrowing, slowed reaction time, distorted perception of reality, reduced dexterity, etc). I'm pretty well practiced at keeping nitrogen narcosis under control at a depth of 40m (my limit until this course), but this is the first time I was going to push significantly beyond it.

When we arrived at the deck of Don Quico, we detached our stage and decompression bottles and left them behind. There was no need to carry them around the wreck. We were now at a depth of 51 meters and my vision started closing in - the narcosis was intense. It's the first time I've really felt it effect me like that. I was expecting it, though, and was prepared to handle it. It's not possible to build a tolerance to nitrogen, but you can train yourself to overcome the more debilitating effects of it.

We started to make our tour around the wreck, and I focused on seeing the things being blacked out by the narcosis and on making coordinated movements. I was able to push it back enough to feel in control of the dive. It made me think about the guys from Shadow Divers who were breathing air at 70m in the beginning (well beyond the toxicity limit). That's beyond incredible. We circled the wreck twice and then went off the bow to the wall and hovered above it. Looking down, I thought about the next step, a Trimix course - which would allow me to go off the wall and double the depth I was currently at, reaching the limit of what is currently possible for divers. That's like climbing Mount Everest, except down.

Decompressing

I reached a maximum depth of 55 meters (181 feet). We returned to Don Quico, picked up our tanks, and began our ascent. My first decompression stop was at 32 meters. At that point my computer told me I had 54 minutes to go (54 minutes of decompression!). If I arrived on the surface anytime before that, it was bad-news-bears. When we returned to the mooring line, we retrieved my camera and got a few photos on the way up. There was a big school of Bar Jacks hanging around the mooring line and a couple of big Cero Mackerels that passed by, but my attention was focused too much on the decompression to really take that in. It'll be sometime before I'm at ease 100% on a dive like this. We got back to the surface without incident. Mission accomplished.

Carmen, Denis, and our boat driver, Tito.

The Golden Arrow Dive Center dog, Lola.

I hope these posts about technical diving haven't been boring and too, well, "technical."

Echeneis naucrates

2010-04-22T20:50:00.001-04:00

Today, Wednesday, I carried out (successfully) my first two significant decompression dives. I was a little bit nervous, but I completed them without any trouble whatsoever. The dives themselves passed quite quickly without much of note, primarily because I was focused on the technical aspects of the dive. Until every step becomes automatic, it's difficult to be fully aware of the sights around you. This is no different than novice recreational divers, who will often swim right past amazing things because their attention is focused on what needs to be done next.

One thing, which is otherwise unusual in diving, that comes into play with extended decompression is boredom. You are often considerably far off the bottom, so you can't pass time by looking at little creatures. If visibility is poor you might see nothing at all. You just have to float in blue space (or worse, silty brown space) and wait for time to pass. I've actually heard there are dive computers that have video games on them specifically for long decompression stops. The longer of my two decompression stops today was 20 minutes - not so long that it was difficult to pass the time. But this was one of those lucky occasions that flew by because of a visitor. Almost immediately after arriving at our first stop, a large (2ft) Remora (Echeneis naucrates) came swimming around!

Photo from ID guide.

I was so disappointed that I didn't have my camera because I would have gotten incredible pictures!

Remoras are a type of suckerfish. You almost never see them swimming around on their own (as this one was). They're always attached to a larger host, usually sharks, rays, turtles, or whales. They're not parasites, though. They actually provide a service to the animals they hitch rides on by cleaning off parasites and algea. This one must have recently cleaned up it's host and moved on to find another. And it found, in us, great candidates!

They normally affix themselves to the underside of their hosts.

The top has a strange and (I found out today) very abrasive pad.

For the duration of the decompression, the Remora attempted to affix itself to our undersides, fins, tanks, and anything it could come into contact with! They're not dangerous but there's something a little uncomfortable about a large fish trying to hang onto you!

They are very strange looking. It's actually hard to tell which side is up and which side is down. But it seems the top of their heads has the ribbed pad and their mouths slope upwards. They've also got strange fins that fan out in an X pattern, making it hard to tell up from down. I guess for them it doesn't matter much. If they're just holding on to their hosts it doesn't matter if they're upside down holding on from beneath, or rightside up grabbing on above.

It was really enjoyable to watch it try to attach to Denis (my instructor) and the other two divers in the area. I let it get close and actually come in contact a few times, but I didn't want to let it really get a hold of me.

My computer is more conservative so it gave me about 6 minutes more decompression time than my instructor's computer gave him. When his decompression was finished he signaled (using diver sign language) that he was going to the surface, and that I should buddy-up with the Remora to finish my decompression. I laughed. Surely, he was kidding. But he went up! He knew I'd be find by myself (I was only 4 meters down at this point and could have theoretically cut the stop short). Anyhow, the Remora must have seen him give the "buddy-up" signal (see image below) because as soon as I was alone, it really went for me! It snuck up from behind and tried to grab onto my thigh. And then my fin. It made several attempts at my stomach and chest too. By this point I was actively shooing it away! I wasn't afraid, but I don't know how strongly they can hold on. I didn't want to end up with a 2 foot long fish permanently attached to my torso!

He gave this signal and then pointed at the fish.

Even at the surface it was still going for me. When I got out of the water it probably attached itself to the boat, but I couldn't be sure. It was a rather entertaining experience.

These Shoes Were Made for Walkin'

2010-04-21T18:43:00.000-04:00

Actually, they weren't at all. I'm wearing filp-flops, and my feet hurt! I've been walking a lot since arriving in Santo Domingo. From the bus to the hotel, from the hotel to the dive shop, from the dive shop back to the hotel, and back and forth everyday. Probably 6 or 7km daily. Ouch!

I'm the sort of person that likes walking though. Something Dominicans just can't understand. I'm choosing to walk everywhere, even while there is easy access and cheap access to public transportation (buses, públicos, gua-guas, motoconchos, taxis). You can't walk 100 feet here without somebody offering a ride, whether it be for profit or out of generosity, and it's not just because I'm a gringo. Cobradores (or "chargers") hang from the sides of buses and shout at everybody they pass, soliciting passengers and telling them the destination.

A typical público.

The cobrador shouting to me from a rare new-looking público.

Sardines

As you can tell by how people are packed tightly inside, public transportation is heavily used. This doesn't solve traffic problems though. It seems that if a person can afford a vehicle, he or she will have one. And it will be used for even the shortest errand. You find almost nobody walking. Here you can see traffic at a stand still, packed in the road with a wide-open sidewalk:

Stand Still

Even the small roads don't move at rush hour.

Empty Sidewalk

As much as I like walking, Santo Domingo is not the best place to do it. Pollution is absolutely terrible. After San Jose, Costa Rica, I thought I knew what urban Latin American smog was like. Santo Domingo, however, really out does it. Exhaust is so bad at times I can feel it in my lungs. I could never stay long in such conditions. Cancer rates must be through the roof! I've been tempted to take buses just to avoid the smog, but I'd be breathing the same air anyway. (What I need is to wear my SCUBA tank all the way home!).

This is a common (and frightening) sight while I'm out walking the city:

Danger!

Some sag low enough that I have to duck underneath. Others, evidently not live, are cut and hanging all the way to the ground. It's a wonder these things don't just burst into flames or electrocute passersby!

I'm not sure what happens in there, but I'll steer clear.

Decompression

2010-04-21T18:34:00.000-04:00

Recreational divers are taught to fear decompression. It is described as something dangerous, something that will very likely result in injury. If you are not properly trained, equipped, or experienced it is, indeed, dangerous. Technical divers, however, routinely carry out decompression dives without incident. My instructor, for example, has been a leading technical diver for decades and he has never gotten the bends.

IANTD is probably the mostly highly regarded technical diver certification agency.

"Decompression" is the point at which your body has absorbed an amount of inert gas (nitrogen, helium, or both depending on the mixture you are breathing), great enough to prevent a direct ascent to the surface. As you breathe gases under pressure (i.e. at depth), your body absorbs more and more of the inert components into tissues. When you ascend, those inert gasses comes back out of your tissues and are released as you exhale. There is a point at which your tissues become so deeply saturated that, if you were to ascend to the surface directly, too much gas would come out of solution too quickly. Your body wouldn't be able to release it fast enough (like opening a shaken soda bottle). If this happens, bubbles form and you get "the bends." When your body reaches this level of saturation, you are said to be "in decompression" (or in "deco" for short). Being in decompression is completely harmless, so long as you ascend slowly enough to release built up inert gas. To achieve this, a diver who is in deco, must carry out decompression stops. Periodically, on the ascent, the diver must stop below a certain critical point (calculated in advance of the dive) to allow time for gas to be released.

Typical Technical Setup

Obviously, this can present serious problems for a diver that is unprepared. If, for example, you do not have enough breathing gas to perform the necessary stops, you will be faced with either drowning or ascending too quickly, omitting the stops and likely getting bent. Minor bends cause pain in the joints. Major bends cause embolisms, paralysis, and death. The severity of the injury is related to the severity of the violation.

My personal opinion is that decompression diving should not be taken lightly. I believe the decision to enter deco should never be made while underwater (something a few people I have dived with sometimes do). I believe the dive should be planned in advance and all divers in the group should be prepared to handle it. Before this course I had entered deco very briefly on a handful of occasions. In two instances it was because people with whom I was diving chose to remain at depth longer than planned (something I'm still angry about). The other times I planned the dives so that I could familiarize myself with the procedures and with my dive computer's functionality (so that I would be prepared for times when unplanned decompression occurred). In my tech course, I'm learning to undertake significant decompression.

Some people wonder why I would want to do this. Why accept greater risk while diving? Well, there is a lot to see and do underwater that can't be seen or done without decompression diving. But most of all, decompression diving is not that much different from a dive without decompression (i.e. a shallow or short dive). If being in decompression means a diver cannot make a direct ascent to the surface: EVERY DIVE IS A DECOMPRESSION DIVE. Even the simplest dive to 10m has a decompression obligation of 1 minute (due to mandatory slow ascent rates). A dive to 5m has an obligation of 30 seconds. Ascents must be slow even on shallow dives.

Recreational divers can dive to 40 meters and ascend to the surface in as little as 4 minutes (more typically 7 minutes). Already, this is a significant obligation (it is highly unlikely a diver could ascend safely to the surface from that depth in the event of equipment failure or an out-of-air situation). So why do people view this differently than a "true" deco dive with a 20 minute decompression obligation? It isn't! The only difference is that the technical diver preforming the "true" decompression dive has more redundancy in his or her equipment, better knowledge of how to safely carry it out, and greater skill and control underwater. In my opinion, it is far safer to dive with a good technical diver (even in decompression) than it is to dive with a novice (or even somewhat experienced) recreational diver.

The point I'm trying to make in all of this is that becoming a technical diver is not all that crazy. Nor is it an acceptance of undue risk. If nothing else, it is development of important skills and methods to keep me safe in routine recreational diving settings.

First Day of the Course

2010-04-20T18:17:00.001-04:00

It looks like most of my blog posts here in Santo Domingo are going to lag behind by a day because of an unreliable internet connection in my hotel. Today (Monday) I had my first tech diving lesson. It was a small first step, but an important one. All I did was use a technical gear configuration (twin tanks on a trans-pac) and an EAN30 breathing gas. After a few hours in the classroom and a tasty lunch at an Arabian place, we went for two dives.

I was early.

I have a lot of reading to do.

I was delighted to find that the diving here was much nicer than on the North Coast! Visibility was still a little poor (to be expected at sites so close to a large city), but the reef looked much healthier. Many of the larger, commercially valuable fish were still missing, but the coral looked good and there was a greater diversity of fish species. There were loads of Jessee's favorite Sharpnose Puffers (more than I could count!), including one so tiny that it was no bigger than the tip of my little finger! And (she's going to be so jealous) TWO juvenile Smooth Trunkfish - the little black and yellow spotted fish that is shaped and looks very much like a jelly bean! One was a true juvenile, pea-sized, and the other was a bit smaller than a golf ball but still in the spotted juvenile phase.

This is an old photo I took on South Caicos.

We dove at La Caleta Underwater National Park. Notice how fat my knuckle is from my turtle-catching injury a month ago.

I also saw a small octopus (quite unusual during the day). And I watched a Mantis Shrimp lunge out from its hole and snap at a passing fish. I don't know why it did that because the fish was much larger, but there was half of a clam shell involved, so maybe one was trying to steal it from the other. And I only saw two Lionfish - not bad! I didn't bring my camera, which is unfortunate because there was lots to take pictures of, but I thought I should focus on the new setup rather than be distracted with something else.

I was so hungry at the end of the day! Chow Mein. This whole thing plus a bottle of water cost about $4.25

The room at this hotel is nicer. But their network connection is crappy.

Technical Diving

2010-04-19T20:04:00.000-04:00

** The wi-fi in the hotel is not working tonight, so I'm writing these posts in Notepad, and I will transfer them to the blog next time I get the chance.

Monday I begin my technical diving course. I'm not really sure what time, because I don't know when the shop opens, but I'm just going to show up sometime between 8 and 9 in the morning and hope they are open.

If you are wondering what interest I have in "technical" diving or what technical diving even is, I'll explain here. While there is a world of difference between technical and recreational diving, most technical divers are still diving for recreational purposes. Technical diving is not commercial diving (diving to carry out tasks, usually construction, underwater). Technical diving simply allows divers to push beyond recreational depth and time limits through more rigorous training, more thorough education, and by using special equipment to mitigate hazards. The purpose is to allow divers to explore "riskier" environments (such as deeper depths, caves, and wrecks).

Pretty much anybody who pays for a recreational diving course will receive a recreational diving certification. In as little as two days, a monkey could become a SCUBA diver. (And based on what I saw in Sosúa, some monkeys might actually make better divers). You are taught not to go beyond a certain depth and not to stay beyond a certain amount of time, but you are never really explained the reasons why. In technical diving, you learn how to surpass these "recreational limits" and remain safe.

In this course, I will be taking just the first few steps into the technical diving world. I will be using twin tanks, breathing gases other than air (namely Nitrox in mixtures from 40 to 100% oxygen), learning decompression procedures, and extending my depth range to 170 feet. I've already read several books on this stuff and understand most of what the course will cover, but there's no substitute for actually being trained by a professional.

Most of all, I hope the diving on this side of Hispaniola is better than it was on the other!

Santo Domingo

2010-04-19T19:57:00.000-04:00

** This was written on Sunday, but posted today because of internet problems.

I made it to Santo Domingo. In fact, the journey was quite nice. I'm accustomed to Latin American bus systems (i.e. ones where they cram you in like livestock, often among livestock, and then barrel around with reckless abandon). So I was pleasantly surprised to find this:

I knew they called it a "first class" bus, but I didn't actually expect it to be one!

And it got me here early. Early enough, in fact, that I wasn't sure we had arrived at the final destination. The first thing I did was locate my hotel. The bus station was more than 6 kilometers from it, so it took quite a while to get there. I walked much of it (something Dominicans seem to find peculiar) and eventually got on a público (which are banged-up old vans and small buses that run set routes around the cities). Two people work it - one drives while the other hangs out the open sliding door shouting things only native Spanish speakers could ever understand.

Sugar Cane fields just outside of Sosúa.

I walked around in the Zona Colonial for a little while, and then got a soft-serve ice cream cone (something Jessee and I have been missing ever since arriving on South Caicos). I'm hoping I'll have time to explore historical parts of the city considering how busy I expect to be with my diving course. Santo Domingo is one of the oldest European settlements in North America! Unlike the speculation that Christopher Columbus first set foot in the New World on Grand Turk, it is certain that he first settled on this island. Santo Domingo (formerly Nueva Isabela) is the first successful European settlement in the Americas.

Leaving Sosúa

2010-04-17T18:53:00.000-04:00

I'm wrapping things up here in Sosúa. I'll be spending next week in Santo Domingo, the country's capital and largest city. I've got my bus ticket for tomorrow morning. Now I just need to pack. I said goodbye to my new friends at Tauchschule Merlin this afternoon and left them with a DVD of the photographs I took while I was here. Juergen, the owner, seemed to be pleased with the exchange (photos for diving). Even though the diving wasn't the best, I feel it was a fair trade and I'm glad to have gotten to see the area, especially Cueva El Dudú.

Here are a few more of the photos I took while here:

Smooth Trunkfish

A group of Squid

The tiniest Lionfish ever. It was as long as my finger is wide.

Yellowline Arrow Crab

Smooth Trunkfish looking for scraps.

Scorpionfish saying "I'm Deadly!"

Lionfish on a Sponge

And I'm off to the Caribbean side tomorrow:

That's 320 pesos, not dollars. That's less than $9 to all the way across the country!

Dudú Caverns

2010-04-15T17:43:00.000-04:00

Today I went on a cave dive at La Cueva Dudú outside of the nearby town Rio San Juan (http://www.dudubluelagoon.com/). The cave was actually discovered by a group that included Juergen, the owner of Tauchschule Merlin. I wasn't aware of that until this morning, but he and his group were the first to map the outer portion (the portion we dove today).

La Cueva Dudú

We started in the central pool and went through three separate passages, each in the range of 100 meters long. The first leads from the central pool to a secondary pool, the second leads back to the central pool, and the third dead ends but has a submerged air chamber where we surfaced and spent some time floating around.

I was really amused by the fact that "el dudú" and the bathrooms were in the same direction.

The central lagoon, where we entered the caves.

Getting briefed on the dive.

Map of the Cave
(the bottom left shows the three passages we dived)

It was a really good dive, but I probably would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't brought my camera along. It was difficult managing my gear with the camera in one hand and my dive light in the other, all the while being in an unfamiliar environment. Most of the pictures didn't even turn out that well because (big surprise) there's not very much light in a cave. But I felt this blog post just wouldn't be the same without some visual media. Besides, I'm supposed to taking photos in exchange for my diving!

In the central pool. Look closely and you'll see Christian is recovering a pair of lost sunglasses.

Video in the Cave
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH2xlaAD95U)

A way-marker.
In the event of blackout due to silt or failed lights, these are your only hope for getting out.

Arriving at the second pool.

On the surface at the second pool. Though the opening is on the surface, all three passages are completely submerged.

Stalactites

The water was a couple degrees colder than the ocean (77°F) which doesn't sound like much, but it made a big difference. We spent something like an hour and a half in the water (including the time we spent at the surface in the external pools and in the submerged chamber) and I was freezing! I had been warned that it would be cold and had been offered a second wetsuit, but I declined because I was too lazy to adjust the amount of lead I would have had to carry (an additional wetsuit would make me more buoyant and I would have had to counteract that with more weights). Although, since it was fresh water, I probably could have gotten away without changing anything because without salt you are less buoyant anyway. Oh well. I warmed back up in the end.

Fossilized Sea Biscuit

Freshwater Shrimp

One of the best parts about diving in fresh water is that there's no need to clean the salt out of your gear afterward! That's a very tedious part of diving. And after being in the fresh water for an hour and a half, it's never been so clean!

Inside the submerged chamber.

Video in the Chamber
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iUNUMFNmFM)

It was a pretty big area.

This rock looks a lot like icing dripping over the edges of a cake.

There is a second area of the cave that branches off from the third passage, but it requires technical cave training and can only be reached by removing your SCUBA gear an passing it through a small opening ahead of you. Once you're through, you then replace your gear and continue further. I found out, also this morning, that this deeper section of the cave was first explored and mapped by the person I'll be taking my Tech Diving course with next week. It's a small world. I guess, the dedicated diving community is just not that big.

This sign is posted at the narrow entrance of the technical section. But it used to be on the inside. People would pass through to read it, but once you pass that part you've already crossed the most dangerous section. Bad planning. They've moved it to the outside.

Clowning around on the safety stop.

There are also some terrestrial caves.

Gray skies on the ride back to Sosúa.

Rocky's Dogs

2010-04-14T19:42:00.000-04:00

Rocky's Hotel, where I'm staying, has two resident dogs. They're nice. The big one is Bruno (yeah, another Bruno), and he's a Rhodesian Ridgeback. Ridgebacks were bred in Southern Africa as Lion hunters and are known for their bravery. I don't know the other one's name, but she's really friendly.

The "ridge" on his back is actually a strip of fur the runs in the opposite direction from the rest of his coat.

She wants my pizza.

He's a ferocious Lion hunter!

El Museo

2010-04-13T19:47:00.000-04:00

Since there was only one dive today, I spent the afternoon at the Museo de la Comunidad Judía de Sosúa (Museum of the Sosúa Jewish Community). About 350 families relocated to Sosúa during WWII after the Dominican Republic became the first, and in fact only, country at the Evian Conference to open its borders to refugees.

El Museo

Rafael Trujillo, the Dominican President at the time, not only set an ambitious quota of 100,000 people, he offered 26,000 acres of his own property for their relocation. Trujillo believed it would be advantageous for his country to accept European-educated refugees. He apparently disagreed with the belief in Jewish racial inferiority. Not as much can be said for his policies towards other races (Trujillo is infamous in Hispaniola for anti-Black racism, authoritarian practices, and massacres of Haitians).

Museo Judio

In the end only about 5,000 Jews made it to the Dominican Republic, most of whom eventually left for the United States. A letter written by a Jewish woman who arrived in the DR at the age of 13 was on display at the museum. It gave some insight as to why so few made it, despite the government's willingness to accept them. She said they had to travel from Switzerland, through France, Spain, Portugal, and the United States to get here. They needed a separate visa to pass through each of the countries. By the time one had granted passage, the visa for another had expired. Eventually all the stars aligned and their family made the voyage. Evidently, most others weren't so lucky. Also on display was the Nazi passport of one of the refugees with a big red "J" stamped across the holder's name.

The thing that had the greatest impact on me was another letter (dated 1990) from a man whose parents had brought him as an infant to Sosúa before moving permanently to the United States. The purpose of the letter was to express regret that he would not be able to attend a reunion of Sosúa refugees and to offer his old Dominican passport for display in the museum. He added a personal note that he had two children born in the United states, who therefore held passports that allowed them to travel to just about any country in the world at just about any time they pleased. It struck me just how much we Americans take for granted our freedom to move about. Most of the world, even today, must apply for visas far in advance and pay prohibitive fees before they can travel.

Mediocre Diving

2010-04-13T13:07:00.000-04:00

The diving here on the North Coast is decidedly mediocre. I've been on 5 dives so far, and I'm pretty glad I'm not paying for it. I'm supposed to be giving pictures in exchange for my diving, but without subject matter, I can't produce much. I've gotten a few good shots, but I'd have gotten several more in the same number of dives on South Caicos.

The reef is pretty sickly here. There are barely any hard corals. There is good coverage of soft corals, but they are sort of gray and sick. Fish are sparse and big fish are non-existent, not even Barracudas! Lionfish are everywhere, and the most abundant fishes of any healthy reef (Grunts and Parrotfishes) are dwindling. I haven't seen a single Snapper or Grouper (the fishes with the highest commercial value).

I took about 100 pictures of this Spinyhead Blenny. They are so small, I just could not get it to focus.

This one would have been great!

That said, there are some things to see. Scorpionfish are pretty common and there are loads of Lizardfish. Butterflyfishes seem to be doing okay. And I've seen several of Jessee's favorite - the Sharpnose Puffer. And there are eels.

Scorpionfish

Bearded Fireworm

Yesterday morning we went out to the "Zingara," a wreck sunk for diving. I was really looking forward to it (and it was good), but a purposefully sunk ship just doesn't have the same draw as something that has history. It's also stripped of anything dangerous (a good thing), so it's really just diving to see a piece of trash.

The Zingara

Looking Inside

This morning Tauchschule Merlin had no clients. The agreement was that I could dive for free as long as the boat was already going out. So instead, Christian (the instructor) and I hitched a ride on one of the other dive company's boats and went Lionfish hunting. He has a proper spear gun, which is far more effective than the metal rod we were using back on South. He got about 10. I was just there taking pictures and providing support. The fish were deep and it ended up being a decompression dive. I was a little bit annoyed that he hadn't planned it as a deco dive to begin with, but all ended fine.

Christian hunting.

A casualty.

I'm not sure how many people they'll have tomorrow either, but I'll show up again in the morning for the same routine. They have a planned dive at the Dudu Caverns for Thursday, for which one person is already signed up. They need at least 3 to go. I'm really hoping that it will. They are fresh water caverns outside of a nearby town. It's only for experienced divers and it sounds really good.

Food in Latin America

2010-04-11T12:05:00.000-04:00

There are two things that are fairly certain about food in Latin America; the rice is good and the pasta is bad. Apart from that, you can count on it being difficult to things such as quality pizza. So far, however, the Dominican Republic has proved otherwise. The pizza I've eaten here outdoes pretty much everything I've had west of Delaware (yes, I realize there's an awful lot west of Delaware). So what explains this anomaly?

I'll venture a guess. According to my guidebook, by 1990 nearly 900,000 Dominicans had emigrated to New York City (that was 12% of the total population!). Most probably put down roots in The City and stayed, but some (including a man that later became president) returned. My suspicion is that they brought with them the knowledge of how to make truly excellent pizza.

I kept this one safely on the table.

First Dives in DR

2010-04-10T22:06:00.000-04:00

I used my first full day in the DR to go on two dives. And now I'm really worn out. They were pretty shallow dives (compared to what I'm used to), so they lasted a really long time. The first one was to a site called the Airport Wall, right in front of the airport where I arrived. I'm glad it wasn't my only dive of the day because I wasn't all that impressed with it. There was really dense soft coral cover, but hardly any hard corals. The visibility was quite poor, and the "wall" is more like a ledge compared with what we have on South Caicos.

This fish here seem to be more skittish than back in the TCI. The divemaster warned that we shouldn't expect to see any big fish because there are so many "big fishermen." That's probably the reason none of the little ones let you get close. That is, all except the Lionfish. And ohhh, the Lionfish! We thought the TCI had a problem. The Dominican Republic has a Lionfish problem. On the two dives I counted 26, give or take a couple. And that was even after another group had taken 11 off the same reef that morning.

Goldentail Moray

Christmas Tree Worms

The second dive, to a place called 3 Rocks, was much nicer. Visibility was quite good and there was a lot to see. It was super crowded though. It's mostly the same species of fish here as in South Caicos, but there are a few new ones and the composition is different. Spotted Drums, for example, are abundant and there are almost no Barracudas. And I saw a Yellow Stingray for the first time.

A Fireworm

Some Barracuda-like fish I haven't identified yet. They're smaller than Barracuda and Barracuda don't school like this.

Most of the client divers are frighteningly unskilled. They are worse than most I've seen. They have very poor buoyancy control, kick up silt, and somewhat destructive to the reef. There's visible damage from years of this going on too, such as broken corals and torn sea fans. It was also apparent that people have been feeding the fishes at 3 Rocks. Yellowtail Snappers and Sergeant Majors swim right up to you looking for food. One even nipped me on my knuckle while I was taking a picture.

The dive shop is closed on Sundays, so I'll have to wait until Monday for the next dive. The plan, I believe, is to go to the Zingara, a boat that was intentionally sunk for diving.

Doh!

2010-04-09T23:00:00.001-04:00

Yum!

Ooops...

La República Dominicana

2010-04-09T20:51:00.000-04:00

I've arrived in the the Dominican Republic. It took most of the day to get here, despite only being about 100 miles away. The first flight (to Provo) was 20 minutes and the second flight (to Puerto Plata) was only another 40 minutes. But I had a layover of about 5 hours in between. It wasn't so bad though, because it gave me the chance to walk down the street and get some Chinese food. It's simple things like that, that I really miss living on South Caicos.

Lunch in Provo

The very first thing that stood out about the Dominican Republic is that it is green. When you fly over the TCI you mostly see scrub vegetation on sandy, rocky terrain. But flying into the DR, everything is green, there are plantations and palm trees. It's a far bigger island with high mountains, so a lot of rain falls here, making it much more lush environment. This, however, I expect will have a detrimental effect on visibility underwater (more runoff, means more sediment in the water).

After landing, they led us through an absurdly long maze of corridors to immigration, where they charged me $10 to get into the country! It was a little bit silly how they did it, but there was an official looking desk and the immigration officer wouldn't let me through without paying, so I'm pretty sure it was legitimate.

The hotel I'm staying at offers free pickup for guests who stay longer than a week, the person who was supposed to pick me up from the airport was late. I waited for a while and told at least a dozen people that I didn't need a taxi or a "motoconcho" (motorcycle taxi). Eventually I found a way to call the hotel. Apparently the website for Air TCI said my flight hadn't taken off yet. I wasn't at all surprised. A Canadian who works at the hotel came to get me finally. The place I'm staying at, Rocky's Hotel, is pretty dingy. But I can't expect much when my method for choosing a hotel was to scan the listings for the lowest possible rate.

My Room

After I unpacked, I went into town with three objectives: find the dive center I'll be diving with, buy some cheap sandals (mine broke recently), and find a place to get some water. I achieved two out of three, and I'm feeling a little bit parched at the moment.

The city of Sosúa is a pretty typical Latin American tourist town from what I can tell so far. The exception, however, is that it seems prostitution is big business here. The guy from the hotel told me already that most people come to Sosúa "for the girls." I made it clear I was here to go diving.

The Street

Tauchschule Merlin

I'll be diving with Tauchschule Merlin (Diving School Merlin), a German-run dive center right down on Sosúa beach. They gave me a great welcome, and I'm really excited about diving with them. They told me to meet them back at the shop at 9am tomorrow morning for the first dive. I can't wait.

Playa Sosúa

Tourist Traps

A boat at the beach.

Right around the corner I found a place to get some sandals. I bargained down to what I was pretty sure was a fair price, but after purchasing them I promptly found them for $8 cheaper at another place. Oh well, they were still less than what I would have paid on South Caicos or Provo.

More likely than not, they're knock-offs.

I decided to come back to the room to write this up, and I'll attempt to find some dinner a little later on. My first impression of the place wasn't so good (tourist destinations centered around nightlife don't really appeal to me), but after meeting the people at the dive center, I'm feeling a little better about things.

This is Your Captain Speaking

2010-04-07T15:15:00.000-04:00

Jessee just got back from Provo, where she was dealing with student medical issues. On the way back she got to fly as the copilot! The plane was full, so they just let her ride in the cockpit. I doubt there are many places in the world where they'll let you do that.

I encouraged her to write about the experience herself, but she's really busy writing incident reports for the medical issues, so I'll do my best to recount what she told me. It's just too good of a story to go undocumented.

Their trip over to Provo was pretty last-minute (they just left yesterday evening), so they had to fit in whichever open seats there were. Going there, that meant flying standby. Coming back, it meant riding on somebody else's charter and sitting in the co-pilot's seat!

Jessee said just sitting up there made her nervous. There are hundreds of switches, dials, levers, and gauges. One switch, she said, was even hanging out of the console by its wires. Luckily it was only for the de-icing mechanism - not critically important down here. She even had her own steering wheel. When the pilot came, he leaned over and said, "Okay, ya know what you're doing?"

"NO!," she shot back at him. He was obviously amused by her uneasiness with the situation. She said she was worried she'd actually have to control the plane in someway. When there are two pilots, both of them push on the throttle and each plays a role making the plane fly. Or if something happened to the pilot, she'd be the only one there to deal with it. I think it sounds like a lot of fun. I hope I get the same opportunity when I fly on Friday.

Good as New

2010-04-06T15:22:00.000-04:00

The "23" (our 23 foot boat), which was smashed up on the shores of Long Cay when a mooring line snapped, is back in the water. Good as new. And reincarnated as the "Emily Ann," named for the girlfriend of the site manager who did much of repair work.

The Emily Ann

The only drawback is that the new paint is really slippery. I've nearly taken a spill a few times just stepping onto it.

Breaking Even

2010-04-05T11:38:00.000-04:00

I took a gamble not going on the last Dominican Boat, hoping that the next one would arrive exactly when I needed it to. I found out it won't. With some help, I called our contact who crews the boat, and he said the boat was out of the water all week for "Semana Santa" (Holy Week) and he wasn't sure when it was going back in. I was pretty bummed out for a few days thinking that I was either going to have to wait several weeks to go over the Dominican Republic or pay a lot of money to fly.

Then I got an email back from a dive shop I had emailed. I took a long shot and made an unlikely offer; I would give them the rights to use all the photos I take while diving with them if they let me dive for free. And they agreed! They said as long as the boat was going out with other customers, I could go along free of charge! I wasn't expecting that at all. But I guess it's a good deal for both of us - a professional photographer would charge thousands for that much work and me going along with them costs them little. Win-win.

So I started thinking, now that I don't have to pay for diving I can fly over and my budget stays just about the same. Not only that, but I don't have to deal with the hassle of the boat, the long journey, or the seasickness. The flight is 15 minutes to Provo and 45 minutes to the DR, whereas the boat is no less than 18 hours.

This morning I went and bought tickets. I leave on Friday and stay for about 3 weeks. I'm excited to get off of isolated South Caicos for a little while.

Spring?

2010-04-05T11:33:00.000-04:00

Somewhere along the way it must have become Spring. I missed it. Like I've mentioned before, down here we don't really get seasons. We get a warm season and too hot season. That's it. I just noticed the other day that a tree was covered in flowers, so I guess somehow the plants can still figure things out.

The Catacombs

2010-04-04T19:48:00.000-04:00

Today we got the chance to go around to the East side of South Caicos. It was a little bit rough and I got a tad seasick, but I had a great dive at "The Catacombs," a series of underwater caves. They were the same once I'd been to once before, but it was good to go back. Here's a video one of the caves:

The Catacombs
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgdz10MsjSA)

March Photos

2010-04-01T13:09:00.000-04:00

Here are some of the photos I took in March:

March Slideshow

And a video of a Smooth Trunkfish scavenging the seafloor for food:

Smooth Trunkfish
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htrLQ-TAS_c)

Shipwreck

2010-04-01T10:11:00.000-04:00

My recent interest in shipwrecks inspired a little exploratory diving. We have a site here called the "Spanish Chain." Ever since I arrived, I've wondered where the Spanish ship to which that chain was attached ended up. After my first dive at the site, I asked that question. I was interested in the Spanish gold that might have been inside it. The others laughed saying they were pretty sure the ship had just lost one of its anchors. Anyhow, I convinced some others to go with me to explore an area adjacent to it. In the worst case scenario, we'd get to see some terrain we'd never seen before.

Old Planks

Incredibly, we found something! How could it be that people have been diving here for decades and never found this?! Maybe somebody had, but they didn't think much of it. These didn't look like much more than a few boards laying half-buried in the sand. I tried to keep myself from getting too excited, we probably weren't the first to find this and the odds of it being full of Spanish gold are laughable.

We poked around in the rubble and sifted through the sand for a little while and, would you believe it, we found an old coin!!! Treasure! It's stamped with the date 1767. We dug around for as long as our air supply lasted and found two more. We couldn't believe our luck!

Silver Coin

After the dive, I went straight inside and looked up the phone number for the Turks and Caicos museum. I spoke to a lady that promised to have the curator call as soon as possible. I'm waiting now for him to call back.

The Ship's Anchor

By the way, APRIL FOOLS!

The Local Hotel

2010-03-31T17:58:00.000-04:00

I have to relay a funny story about the local South Caicos hotel, the only operational hotel on the island. It's funny only because it didn't happen to me. From outward appearances, the hotel is modest, but fairly nice. From what we've heard, however, they charge exorbitant rates and provide dismal service. Budget accommodations at luxury rates.

The South Caicos Ocean & Beach Resort

Recently a student's mother came to visit for Parent's Day. She, of course, had no choice but to stay at the "South Caicos Ocean & Beach Resort" (the hotel's official name). One of the mornings she was here, she decided to have breakfast at the hotel.

She ordered french toast, and a few minutes later the waitress came out with two pieces of buttered toast. Just regular toast. The student's mother politely informed them that she had intended to order the french toast, to which the waitress replied "this is french toast." Taken aback, the student's mother wondered if, in the Caribbean, they just had different names for these things, and she decided to explain what American french toast was. "Normally, french toast for us is bread that's been dipped in a cinnamon egg batter and fried in a pan. But thank you, I'll have this toast and order something more from the menu."

"Oh, we can't make that kind of toast. We don't have any eggs," the waitress told her as she handed back the menu.

The student's mother looked down through the menu a second time:

French Toast
Omelet
Fried Eggs
Scrambled Eggs
Eggs Sunny-Side Up
Hard-Boiled Eggs
Soft-Boiled Eggs
Poached Eggs
Quiche
Eggs Over Easy
Bacon and Eggs
Sausage and Eggs
Egg and Cheese Bagel
Pancakes and Syrup

After a moment's hesitation she said, "I'll have the pancakes and syrup, please." All but one item on them menu called for eggs, but the hotel was somehow unprepared for such an unusual request.

Eventually the waitress returned with a short stack of pancakes and an open can of Hershey's chocolate syrup. "Enjoy," she told the only customer she'd likely serve for several months to come.

This is the "beach" at the Ocean and Beach Resort

As described on the official website of the Turks and Caicos Tourism Board (http://www.turksandcaicostourism.com/stay-south-caicos.html), the South Caicos Ocean & Beach Resort is "simply 'Out of the Ordinary.'"

** This is my own narrative of an actual event as it was explained to me. I've never been to the hotel, ate at their restaurant, or even seen their menu. But I've heard more stories than this about their "out of the ordinary" service.

Shadow Divers

2010-03-29T22:43:00.000-04:00

I've just finished reading Shadow Divers, a historical novel about divers who discovered a sunken U-Boat in New Jersey waters that was unknown to history. The book is exciting, very exciting at times, and I highly recommend it. Best of all, though, it's a true story (I don't care much for fiction).

Yes, I actually read this one and didn't just listen to the audiobook.

The book follows a group of pioneering divers as they spend years diving the wreck and researching naval records to identify the sunken boat. What makes it a good story is that they weren't just treasure hunters attempting to make some cash off of recovered artifacts. They were attempting to solve a mystery and set the historical record straight.

Synopsis from the back cover:

In the fall of 1991, in the frigid Atlantic waters sixty miles off the coast of New Jersey, weekend scuba divers John Chatteron and Richie Kohler made a startling discovery under decades of accumulated sediment: a World War II German U-boat, its interior a maze of twisted metal and human bodies. Equally astonishing: All the official records agreed that there simply could not be a sunken U-boat at that location. Over the next six years, an elite team of divers embarked on a quest to solve the mystery. Some of them would not live to see its end.

My only complaint is that I don't feel like the book is very realistic about the sentiments of German soldiers at the time. When the divers finally identify the boat, there is a chapter that paints a picture of the lives of the crew that perished (based on accounts from surviving relatives). It valorizes the soldiers and completely avoids the fact that these people were Nazis. In fact, the only harsh words in the book are directed at Hitler himself, as if he was the only bad guy among them. Perhaps some of the U-Boat soldiers held unspoken dissenting views, but they were all complicit and they all fought to expand Nazi power.

I can appreciate what these divers did, though. They pushed the boundaries of what was possible and they proved the inaccuracy of the historical record. I'm inspired by their philosophy, purpose, and determination. It makes me want to start diving wrecks (something that hadn't really appealed to me as of yet), mainly because it combines two things that I really enjoy, diving and history.

A matter of pure coincidence, before reading this book, I had contacted a dive operation in the Dominican Republic about their technical diving certification courses. When I re-visited their website today, I noticed that Chatterton was featured on their homepage and is somehow affiliated with their business. I looked back in my old emails, and it was his wife that had responded to my original inquiry. She said the staff is not available for training at the moment because they are "engaged in a commercial diving project." Something tells me they've discovered a new wreck.

Market Mayhem

2010-03-27T15:00:00.000-04:00

I've been planning a trip to the Dominican Republic recently. It costs just about as much to fly there from here as it does to fly back to the United States - far too expensive - so I've been looking into stowing away on the Dominican fruit boat that comes periodically. It's considerably more complicated, though, and I can't really plan ahead.

I talked with the captain of the boat when they were here two weeks ago to let him know I was interested in going. He told me, "no hay problema" (there is no problem). He even offered that I could stay on the boat during the stop at Grand Turk. When I asked how much it would cost, he said again, "no hay problema." That made me a little wary. What was he going to do, take me there and then say it cost $500? But my Ecuadorian friend reassured me that in Latin cultures it was a good sign, that it meant it would be very cheap or even free. I had gone with that crew before when I went to Grand Turk and they wouldn't accept payment then, so I decided they were worthy of trusting.

For the last two weeks, I've been keeping an eye out, waiting for the boat to return. My plan is to go in the second week of April, but it depends entirely on the boat's unpredictable schedule. Today it returned, but with an entirely different crew (I think the owner of the boat must lease it out to several customers). I was considering going earlier than planned because it doesn't look like their schedule will match up with what I had in mind, but this group was far less "tranquilo" (relaxed) than the crew I'm familiar with.

We went down to the dock first thing in the morning, shortly after they arrived, to see if we could buy some fruit and talk about going with them, but it was complete mayhem. There were loads of people there (mostly Haitians, but also many Belongers) trying to get first pick of the fruits and vegetables, and the crowd was getting impatient. Eventually the customs officer shouted that everybody had to leave because it was getting too out of control (the area is actually supposed to be secure). As we were leaving, a local guy (presumably frustrated by the whole scene) sped through the area in his truck, spinning wildly and throwing gravel into the air from his tires. It's lucky nobody was hurt.

The Storefront

We decided we'd return to the shop later, after things calmed down, to get the information I was looking for. I realized in the meantime that this crew does business primarily on South Caicos, whereas the one I know only comes here as a side stop after doing full business on Grand Turk. That was why it was such chaos. They had much more to sell.

After lunch we went down to their shop, expecting things to have calmed down, but if anything they'd gotten worse. I was highly entertained by the scene and entered if only to watch (there was no way to have a discussion about riding with them back to the DR). They had a guy stationed at the door as a way to manage the crowd. He'd let you in, but he wouldn't let you back out until you'd waited to get through the checkout line - that way people couldn't just walk off without paying. It felt a little bit like being trapped inside though, and some of the local people voiced (quite loudly and forcefully) their displeasure at this. The husband of the Russian doctor wasn't buying anything and he started shouting and pushing his way through to get out. It's surprising it didn't break out into a fist fight.

A woman was shouting ahead asking the price of some cookies. The man holding the crowd back told her they were $5. She protested fiercely saying she could get 3 for $5 in Provo and that they only charged her $3 last time. The man, however, had turned his attention to another customer and didn't respond. The woman continued to shout about how high the prices were, worked herself into a frenzy, and eventually threw the cookies (and what I think was a bag of onions or avocados) across the room. She didn't stop there though. She was determined to raise hell and began rallying the others around her. By this point, we'd moved to the front of the line and the doorman let us out. I paid for my watermelon (which I'd found buried beneath some trampled vegetables), and backed away before I got caught in the riot. It appeared, however, that things didn't escalate any further.

My Watermelon

After all the rowdiness, I decided that going to the DR two weeks earlier than planned wasn't really necessary, and that I'd just hope the next boat would come (with the preferred crew) around the time I need it to.

A Haitian woman carrying to goods away on her head.

Turk's Head Cactus

2010-03-26T10:59:00.001-04:00

The name "Turks and Caicos" makes you wonder about the connection between this country and Turkey. The fact is, there isn't one. The country's name comes from a cactus that grows here and the Lucayan term "caya hico," which means string of islands.

Turk's Head Cactus

The cactus got its name from its cylindrical red flowering top, which to some early botanist must have resembled a Turkish fez. The cactus is now the national plant, appearing on both the national seal and flag. Amusingly enough, I read once that when the original draft of the seal was sent to the UK for approval, a British artist mistook the cactus for an igloo, added an entrance way and painted it white. So the igloo briefly became a national symbol of the Turks and Caicos! The UK is supposed to produce the world's best geographers, but somebody overlooked the fact that 21.5°N latitude is a little warm for igloos.

Turks and Caicos Flag

Shark Video

2010-03-23T19:07:00.000-04:00

I had a great look at 3 Caribbean Reef Sharks yesterday on an afternoon dive. Check out the video:

Sharks at The Grotto
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc_BNhoIB8Y)

Caribbean Reef Shark

100 Hours

2010-03-21T18:00:00.000-04:00

As of this afternoon, I've spent just over 100 hours underwater since arriving on South Caicos. That's more than 4 full days! It took me 138 dives to do it.

100 Hours

I've been diving quite a bit in the last few days - 2 to 3 times per day. The students are on Spring Break, so the staff have had lots of time on their hands. We've done and seen a lot. First off, we did a little more exploration and re-discovered another lost dive site - The Cone. This site is at the far end of the allowed range and has been missing for quite some time. It was listed on a paper map that we found, so we estimated it's coordinates on a digital map and located it using GPS. Once we were underwater, we located the mooring and marked the exact location.

There's no good reason it's called the cone - at least we haven't found anything distinctly cone-like yet. It's not an overly impressive site, unlike the last one re-discovered. There's a lot of sand and some sickly looking Gorgonians. At the drop-off, however, there are some nice coral blocks, but they're very deep. My low opinion of it might primarily be due to coincidental poor visibility, so I'll give it a chance before I write it off completely.

On our first dive to The Cone, Jessee stayed on the surface - something one person is required to do ever since one of the boats was lost. She missed the dive, but lucky for her, she got to see whales because of it! They passed right by the boat. If only we had gone 15 or 20 minutes later, we would have seen them from below too (we had already passed through the area where they were). So close!

Jessee did go on another dive where we had a really impressive sighting. We saw a swarm of 39 Eagle Rays! And, today we saw them again, but there were only 20 this time around.

39 Eagle Rays

39 Eagle Rays
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1pfXps9VPY)

Here are a few more photos I've taken in the last few days:

Rainbow Runners

Jessee

Diver and Horse-eye Jacks - my favorite fish.

Butter Hamlet

Diver and Hawksbill Turtle
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N48IbwBrD0)

There's also been a lot of big Groupers around lately too. Some of them are quite fat - as if they are carrying eggs. Groupers spawn in large aggregations at precise times of the year. This makes them particularly vulnerable to fishing because the whole lot of them can be scooped up at once. Fin-fishing (i.e. not conch or lobster), though, hasn't been very big in this area so Grouper populations remain relatively high. The spawning aggregations are supposed to occur in December or January, but seeing so many has made us wonder if they could actually be getting ready to do it soon. I caught the following footage of a couple Tiger Groupers on a dive at The Cone.

Strange Grouper Behavior
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wdW3G2GS3s)

To top it all off, it looks like the health care bill is finally going to pass! I've been checking in on C-SPAN throughout the day - which has been surprisingly exciting - and it looks like it will just squeak through.

Governor's Meeting

2010-03-17T10:14:00.000-04:00

The local news reported on the Governor's meeting last week. Apparently he held a second meeting on Salt Cay, where he was met with the same sort of anger. The audio in a couple of the interviews in the report is absolutely terrible. I can't believe they aired it that way.

Governor's Meetings
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4qqiFkEh0A)

Fish Cay

2010-03-16T22:36:00.000-04:00

I was invited to go along on a turtling trip today. The destination was Fish Cay (a small island South of here frequented by the fishermen) and Middle Reefs (a series of patch reefs between Long Cay and Six Hills Cay). I got the day started early and was down at the dock waiting a few minutes before the arranged time (8am) this morning. In typical island fashion, though, we set out around 10:30 after running several of errands.

The boat was called "El Cacique" (or "The Chief")

The wind was out of the West today, so the water was very flat behind Long Cay. When we were passing through, I was hoping so much that we'd see the whales. We were in one of the DECR boats instead of one the School's boats, so our range wouldn't have been so limited. I kept an eye out all day, but unfortunately we didn't see them.

The water didn't stay flat all day though, and made much of the ride quite jarring as a result. It wasn't possible to stand (which allows you to absorb much of the shock in your legs), so I just had to sit tight was the boat slammed against the waves.

When we arrived at Fish Cay we went to shore briefly to check for nests. The Turks and Caicos isn't a very popular nesting area (likely due to over-harvesting in the past), but there are a few beaches that are regular nesting sights. I didn't know it until today, but adult females can lay eggs as many as 8 times a year. Though, most years they do it far fewer times and often not at all.

We didn't find any nests, but we did find some tourists that came over for the day from the nearby (and privately owned) Big Ambergris Cay. I bet they came halfway across the world (on a private jet, no doubt) to have that beach to themselves, and there we came trudging over the hill salty and disheveled. You wouldn't have believed the number of diamonds this lady had on her finger - an essential accessory of sunbathing.

We "manta towed" around Fish Cay for a couple hours. I was a little wary of manta towing in that area because of the reputation it has for sharks. The fishermen claim to see Tiger Sharks around there, and it was there that the recent attack happened. Being pulled around by a boat makes you feel a lot like bait. Luckily we didn't see anything more than a Nurse Shark (which do not have teeth and are not predators). We did see lots of Eagles Rays though (which, of course, are harmless).

I had 4 turtle sightings (all Hawksbills) and we had 2 captures. The two that got away may have just been one that got away twice - it was a fairly big Hawksbill both times. I captured the first one (the smallest of them all) with ease. It could barely swim faster than me with it's tiny little flippers. It only took about 10 seconds to get him.

My little Hawksbill. We'll call him Felipe.

The other one that we caught at Fish Cay was also a small Hawksbill, but he really ran for it. He was also in much deeper water, so getting to him was much more difficult. We slipped free from each of our hands once and really tired us out before Tom finally brought him to the surface.

Tom's Hawksbill. We'll call him Manuel.
(Hawksbills often have dirty, algae covered shells).

We wrapped things up at Fish Cay and headed over to Middle Reefs. It's not far from Six Hills Cay (which from our angle looked more like 7 or 8 Hills Cay). I'd never been to that area before. Visibility was quite bad today (likely due to the Westerly wind), but it's probably usually really nice. We only had 1 sighting there, but it was a successful capture. Tom nabbed a little Green that was not much bigger than the one Jessee got last week.

Tom's Green. We'll call him Gustavo.

Releasing Gustavo
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx68ajLMNWM)

Bonnethead

2010-03-15T13:21:00.000-04:00

We decided that the Hammerhead Jessee saw last Friday was actually a Bonnethead. It seemed funny to us that it was so small (other Hammerhead species can reach sizes of 12 to 20 feet!) and that she initially mistook it for a Nurse Shark. Hammerheads are one of the most distinct looking sharks you can find. So we looked through the ID book and found the Bonnethead.

From certain angles, it's understandable that a Bonnethead could be confused with other round-headed sharks. Photo from Reef Fish ID.

Bonnetheads and Hammerheads are a members of the same family, Sphyrnidae. But Bonnetheads don't get to be anywhere near the same size - usually about 2-3 feet. They also have an oddly flat shaped head like Hammerheads, but it's rounded at the front rather than broad.

Photo from: http://marinebio.org/

Bonnetheads are a viviparous species, which means that it gives birth to live young. That seems like a very strange thing for a fish to do. But they don't raise or protect their young after birth. The ID book says they give birth to up to a dozen foot-long pups. The book also describes their teeth: "The front jaw teeth have narrow and erect smooth-edged cusps, those on the sides are oblique and smooth-edged, and the posterior-most teeth are broad and flat ('molar-like')." Sounds odd for a shark, I wonder what they eat.

Bonnetheads are pretty uncommon around here, so I'm super jealous I didn't get to see it. And we're both disappointed that we didn't have time to stop and watch it longer.

Turtle Tagging

2010-03-12T14:29:00.000-05:00

We had the chance to do some more turtle capturing today. This time Jessee got to bring one in. The group got three in all - two small Greens and one big Hawksbill. Jessee spotted the Hawksbill first and called us over for the chase. And chase we did! We were after it for probably 50 minutes or more. The water was really rough and Jessee and I followed it from one end of the bay clear across to the other side. The big ones can go longer without getting tired because it takes them less effort to move a given distance. I got really tired and called to the boat to shuttle me ahead. Jessee kept on its tail and kept on eye on it.

It was heading out towards deep water, so I dove down in front of it and tried to scare it back in the other direction, but it was determined to get out there. It was around this point that Jessee looked to her side to see a Hammerhead. A Hammerhead! I was oblivious. I didn't even know about it until well after things settled down. She says it was a really small one, a juvenile less than a meter long, and that it took a few seconds for her to realize what she was looking at. She kept her eye on the prize, however, and kept following the turtle.

At this point we'd been giving chase for quite a while and were completely knackered (so was the turtle though). I decided to call to our boat to radio the other boat for assistance. It's a good thing too. Jessee really needed a break. By this time the turtle had made it to significantly deeper water (about 30 ft) and wasn't far from drop-off. Fortunately John, a practiced free diver and the fastest swimmer of us all, arrived with the other boat and took over. It took him another 15 minutes or so, but he finally got it. He was in water well over 100 feet deep and just waited at the surface until it had to come up for air. When it started coming, he dove down and grabbed on. He didn't say, but it must have taken him for a ride. It was so big that it wouldn't have been possible to overpower it in the water. The only thing you can do is hold on and point its head where you want to go. You face the head upwards and it brings you up for air. Then you just have to keep its front flippers out of the water until the boat gets there - easier said than done when the water is as rough as it was and turtle is as heavy as it was (it weighted 32.5kg, about 71lbs.!). But we got there quickly enough with the boat to get it on board. In the process though, it bit John and nearly got a couple more of us. It wasn't major, but these big turtles can really do damage if they try.

Back at the Dock

The Hawksbill had a strange spike in it's neck as if it had mistakenly swallowed something sharp. It was old, though, because the skin was completely healed around it.

We removed it and cleaned the wound.

Measurements

We took this one to the dock straight away to take measurements and samples. I stayed to help with that and the others went back out in search of more. They eventually came back with two little Greens, one of which Jessee spotted, chased down, and caught all on her own!

"Pearl" - Jessee's little Green

Pearl weighed less than 5 lbs!

Waiting to go home.

The other little Green was missing a back flipper. It's not uncommon to see turtles missing limbs, but this one looked like a birth defect rather than a wound because there was no scaring.

Without ever trying it, you'd think there'd be no way humans could keep pace with a sea turtle. And certainly when they sprint we can't, but we're surprisingly good at out running them over long distances (especially if you can keep them come coming up for air that often). I once heard a story on NPR about humans being particularly well adapted for running marathons and, in fact, can even out run horses in a distance race. The same goes for sea turtles, I guess.

The Release

p.s. If you've been wondering about Suzie, she's still at home in the Black Rocks Bay area of East Caicos. I've been checking her location periodically to see if she's coming down to visit South.

Licensed to Kill

2010-03-11T23:10:00.000-05:00

I've mentioned that I've pretty much given up on the Lionfish hunting, but we recently became licensed TCI Lionfish Hunters. The DECR created official regulations for catching Lionfish and so the School put our names down on the application for permits.

It looks like somebody forgot what year it is because the expiration date preceeds the issue date.

The Governor

2010-03-11T21:56:00.000-05:00

His Excellency The Governor Gordon Wetherell (as he is called) was on South Caicos tonight. Such a formal title, however, did not impress the unruly mob that turned out. They were angry with an array of issues, and they let the Governor know it. They shouted at him, talked loudly over him, and pressed him over and over when he gave answers they did not like (all the while at least one inebriated man walked around the room with an open container). Since the British deposed the elected Premier, overturned the government, and suspended the constitution of the TCI last summer, things seem to have only gone downhill.

Anti-government rallies have been in the news recently.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJe4H6b6jrg)

The top issue (by far) was a recent decision to cut the pay of all government workers by 10%. This measure was taken in an attempt to reduce the country's deficit, and (I suspect) is a major reason for the recent anti-government protests. The people in attendance were relentless in their attacks about issue. Person after person stood to challenge the government officials on this, and with each one the whole community in attendance shouted in support. At a couple points it seemed as though the whole thing was going to break out into a riot. People were shouting from the back "get out of this country!" and one man told the Governor over the microphone that his administration was worse for the people of South Caicos than Hurricane Ike had been (the crowd exploded in cheers over that one). Eventually the member of the administration who was fielding the pay cut questions starting to respond simply by saying, "I'm not sure there's much more I can say on the topic."

News Report on Paycuts
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSj0mVfWtrY)

This seemed to diffuse the situation. After they had gotten it all out of their system, the mob calmed down and more sensible questions were raised. They asked about the depressed fishing industry (of particular concern here on South Caicos). The Governor responded that low market prices for seafood in North America were the cause of the struggling industry and that they were looking into expanding exports to European markets where prices remain higher. He gave no indication whether or not they were addressing the issue of low catch due to environmental degradation.

They asked about assistance for families still displaced since Hurricane Ike nearly two years ago, to which the Governor responded with a promise to look into assistance. And they asked about development of the South Caicos airport (which will be necessary if the two tourism developments are ever to go into operation), to which they responded that they are looking into restoring a plan that was put on hold during the transition.

I had half a mind to raise the question of whether or not the TCI would sign a financial transparency agreement with the United States to crack down on tax evaders. Had I known the this townhall was taking place, I might have come prepared to do so. But I wasn't even aware the Governor was going to be here. I only found out because I was jogging by and recognized him standing at the podium. I was sweaty and thought I'd look a little funny addressing the highest government official in the country that way.

The Sacred Queue

2010-03-10T14:06:00.000-05:00

Being a British Overseas Territory, I would have thought that the Turks and Caicos Islands would have mastered the art of line standing. The British, as well as us Americans, will instinctively form lines whenever the opportunity presents itself (sometimes for no reason at all). Apparently the Empire failed to export its appreciation for the orderly "queue" to its Caribbean territories.

Standing in Line

Here in the Turks and Caicos, when important business needs to be conducted by many at a single point of service (say when banking or visiting the clinic), people form more of a mass or cluster than anything from which a system of priority can intuitively be drawn. Instead, who has priority seems to be based upon one's own self-assuredness, sense of entitlement, or the audacity to step forward before others. This presents an array of anxieties, frustrations, and downright confusion among those of us unaccustomed to such methods.

Standing in lines is ingrained so deeply in our social code of conduct that we find ways of simulating it when it becomes impractical to physically do it. When there is the potential for an inordinately long wait (e.g. at the DMV) or when layout does not lend itself the formation of a line (e.g. at the Deli), we use numbered ticketing systems that allow for virtual queueing. Absent of such technological aids, we will carefully take note of each individual that arrived before and after ourselves, creating mental queues according to length of time served standing in wait. "I'm sorry, yes, you were here before me. I believe it is your turn to go next." In the Turks and Caicos, however, there appears to be no such socially agreed upon self-ordering. Or, at least, I have not yet figured out how such things work here.

This morning I went to the bank (which, by the way, is only open for half a day each week). For weeks I've been trying to get a $5 money order so that I can renew my driver's license. The Washington State Department of Licensing will not accept cash or credit payments. In my opinion, checks are out-dated and I don't use them. All but once or twice a year, this isn't a problem. But we're still in a technological transition period where some are slow to let go of antiquated systems. Until paper checks become completely extinct, I'll have to deal with these periodic (though increasingly infrequent) headaches over their necessity.

Western Union and the Post Office don't sell money orders and, after waiting for nearly an hour in line-less chaos, I was simply told at the bank that they won't sell them to people who are not "customers." Apparently, the desire to purchase a money order is not sufficient qualification for the title of customer. I'm not sure at what stage in the process of purchasing something one becomes a customer, but I seem to have missed a very important step this time around. With my failure to earn the credentials necessary for the purchase of a $5 money order, I simply went home. What's next? I'm not sure. But I miss my bicycle, and I'm happy to say no driver's license is needed for that.