Moyer Family Visit

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!

Borrowed Camera

Jessee and I will have to wait until she returns from her first aid training in Boston at the end of the month to get to use our own underwater camera, but yesterday I was able to borrow one from a student and take it on a dive at Admiral's Aquarium, a small patch reef nearby.

Four-eyed Butterflyfish

Violet Feather Duster (Bispira brunnea) - a type of Segmented Worm

A school of French Grunt and a school of Blue Chromis.

Banded Butterflyfish

Bluestriped Grunt

Brain Coral

A Barracuda doing what it does best, lurking.

A French Grunt and a Vase Sponge

Flamingo Tongue

Back in the Water

Like Jessee mentioned, the stormy weather has passed. Going two days without getting into the water whatsoever is quite a long time here. But I think I made up for it today. I went out on two fish ID snorkel sessions and a dive just before dinner. Jessee joined me on one of the snorkels too.

The students go out on regular species identification trips and this week their focus is on fish. Fish are much more interesting to me than the various algae and even corals. I went along with the group for some of it, but mostly I was attempting to ID fish on my own using a waterproof guide book. We snorkeled at two locations - Admiral's Aquarium and Shark Alley - and I dove at "The Bell."

Queen Triggerfish

It's been a while since we've been able to go to Shark Alley, which is my preferred snorkel spot. The current can be strong there, and since the center had been using the wrong tide chart, we kept going there at the wrong time. Every time, we had to leave and go to Admiral's Aquarium. I did some searching and was able to find a tide chart that (so far) seems to be giving us better information.

Four-eyed Butterflyfish

Admiral's Aquarium is a "patch reef," which is exactly what it sounds like, patches of reef instead of a contiguous reef system. It's considerably more shallow and farther from the open ocean (which means calmer waters). It's a really nice place. The water is super clear and there's an incredible number of fishes.* The afternoon snorkel, at Shark Alley (which is proper reef), was eventful and a lot of fun (even if we didn't see any large animals besides a Nurse Shark). Shark Alley is quite a bit deeper and closer to the open ocean. The waves are still pretty big, and you can tell that everything has been churned up in the last few days. When you cross over the reef to the deeper parts there was a noticeable drop in water temperature. It was quite refreshing to be in the cooler water as it is probably around 88°F (or higher) elsewhere.

Black Durgon

Jessee and I were able to ID loads of fish. Here's the list of all the ones we can recall (be sure to check our updated Species List on the sidebar for more information on these fish):

• Peacock Flounder
  
• Banded Butterflyfish
  
• Four-eyed Butterflyfish
  
• Queen Angelfish
  
• French Angelfish
  
• Blue Tang
  
• Bar Jack
  
• Great Barracuda
  
• Yellowtail Damselfish
  
• Nassau Grouper
  
• Tiger Grouper
  
• Stoplight Parrotfish
  
• Spanish Hogfish
  
• Hogfish
  
• Bluehead
  
• Trumpetfish
  
• Honeycomb Cowfish
  
• Black Durgon
  
• Queen Triggerfish
  
• Nurse Shark
  

At Admiral's this morning I watched a Hogfish shift colors before my eyes. It is one of many fish that can vary the intensity of its colors. The one I saw today was fluctuating from light to dark every 10 or 15 seconds. When its spines were extended, it had darkly colored spots that were highly contrasted from the lighter body, and when its spines were lowered, it quickly changed to low contrast - almost completely white. It didn't seem alarmed and didn't seem bothered by me, so I'm not sure what the purpose was.

Juvenile Yellowtail Damselfish

The dive this evening was just before dinner. I went out with a couple of the staff, and I'm surprised they even wanted to. They had been in the water twice as long as I had been (they took two groups each to Admiral's and Shark Alley), and I had already been in the water for at least two and half hours. The dive site is named for the "bell" that is resting on the seafloor. It's probably not a bell at all, but nobody is really sure what it is. It's a large conical metal object that could fit at least a couple people inside. I guessed it might be an old "diving bell" that people used to use before SCUBA, but I was just pulling that out of nowhere. It certainly doesn't resemble a bell that might have gone on a ship. We didn't see any large animals on this dive, but it's really an entirely different experience to see fish from an angle other than above and to not have to return to the surface for air every few seconds.

Queen Angelfish

This evening we're planning to meet up with some of the staff in town to celebrate one of the interns' birthday. We're going to "Rooster" which is a place that has a pool table. The table is quite lopsided and the balls often roll towards one corner, but if you play with that in mind, it can still be fun.


* I learned several days ago in a lecture that the plural word "fish" refers to several individuals of one species of fish and the word "fishes" is used to indicate that there are several fish of multiple species.