This is a personal journal in a public space, kept by Jessica Moyer and Brett Matulis. We are not so vain as to believe that complete strangers are interested in our daily lives. Rather, this blog was created when we decided to move to the British West Indies. It is intended to serve as a way for us to share news, post photos, and eventually, revisit memories. It was created for us and for those of our friends and families that are interested in our lives on the remote island of South Caicos.
I came across a report on Channel 4 News about a plan to open a lobster farm in the TCI. The report indicates that the top person at the DECR (Department of Environment and Coastal Resources) is in support of the idea and enthusiastic that the research is being fully funded by Darden Restaurants (which includes Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and others).
The DECR only has one scientific officer responsible for fisheries, so collaborating with Darden saves us money and time and provides us with expertise. I cannot over emphasize the benefits of research. We can ask the scientists to collect information on additional parameters and use the data for modeling the TCI Fishery.
I'm stunned. Did this guy ever question this corporation's motives? The Darden Group has a direct interest in seeing that aquaculture is implemented, so I'm sure we can count on their "scientists" to find that it will have no detrimental impacts on the environment.
Fish farms are notorious for being environmentally disruptive. It's logical to assume that raising captive animals for consumption would be better than catching them in the wild - you are in a sense protecting the "natural" ecosystems by only consuming the captive animals. But these farms have all sorts of problems, such as breeding disease that can affect wild populations, polluting surrounding waters and destroying habitat, and reducing available prey in the wild. This is the case for farmed Salmon and I assume much of it would apply to lobster too.
I won't take the position that lobster farms should not be opened here though. Not without first seeing a study (an honest study) that says it shouldn't be. The current industry is struggling and something needs to be done. There are serious concerns (both social and ecological) for the way things are being done now. The amount of the catch and the size of the lobsters is lower every year, and the South Caicos community is entirely dependent on the fishing industry. If farming could be done with minimal environmental impact and deliver real social benefits to the community, I would be in support of it. But just I don't trust somebody like the Darden Group, which is so blatantly interested in one outcome, to conduct an honest study.
Wednesdays are "activities night" down here at the TCI Center. And for the last two weeks we've held volleyball tournaments. We've been able to field 5 teams each time, 4 student teams and one made up of only staff. The team names are the best part. There's Team Narinari (after the scientific name for Eagle Rays, Aetobatus narinari), Team CapistratASS (a modified version the scientific name for the Foureye Butterflyfish, Chaetodon capistratus), Team Cricket Invasion (after some incident involving crickets), and Team S.T.A.F.F. (or Super Awesome Terrific Faculty and Friends).
Despite an upset loss in the finals last week, the STAFF team is solidly the best. We've been playing together longer and we get a lot more practice. After our loss last week, we were sure to have no mercy last night and handily took first place. That makes us the team everybody wants to beat, and inspired one of the student teams to change their name to the more pointed, "Staff Infection."
There's talk now of expanding our competition to an island-wide tournament. I think our staff team is ready for the big leagues and a challenge of the island's allstars up at High Point. The Indian construction workers there dominate the South Caicos volleyball scene and will make a formidable opponent.
For about two weeks the wind died down almost completely, making for flat calm water and ideal diving conditions. Frustratingly, that period coincided with very few opportunities to go. It's one of the hardest things here to have such perfect conditions and not be able to take advantage of them. Eventually a few of us decided to get up early (before 6am) last Tuesday to get a dive in before the day got started. As if being mocked by wind gods, a storm like we haven't seen before blew in that night.
There wasn't much rain, but the wind was so forceful there was no way we could go. Still, I was up at 5:45 to check. I'd never seen the water so rough and so churned up. Waves were crashing into the rocky shoreline so hard that water was spraying 20 feet into the air, and the channel that leaves the harbour (where the waves are typically the biggest) was completely white-capped, one side to the other. Of course I couldn't fall back asleep after that.
We gave Wednesday a miss (Jessee's busiest day) and decided to try again this morning. The wind had mostly subsided and we thought it would work, but once again the wind kicked up and shut us down.
Reading the tea leaves.
Jessee found this quote on her teabag and brought it to me: "It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do." My problem is that I never enjoy idling. I might long for it when I don't have it, but I can't ever seem to enjoy it when I do.
You might have noticed already, but I added a feature to a couple of gadgets on the blog's sidebar. Click on the "view all" links in the "Species List" and "Dive (B)log" gadgets to view their entire contents on one page. Or use the shortcuts below:
The trouble with islands is that they are completely surrounded by water. This situation presents many difficulties, particularly with respect to coming and going. Recently I've felt like I need a break from South Caicos and the School for Field Studies, but getting away just isn't that straight forward here. I'm starting to understand why all those hit TV shows (the ones where they take a group of highly volatile people and force them to live in close quarters) often take place on islands.
I shouldn't make it sound like things are as dysfunctional here as they are on those shows. I've just been frustrated lately with my situation here. There's no official role for "partners" of staff, so I don't really fit in anywhere. I understand that I can't have, nor do I think I'm entitled to, free reign over all the schools resources (boats, diving, etc). Nobody thinks this place is a resort. But I'm not just limited in how I can take part in the enjoyable aspects. I've offered to help with the more mundane things like "staff of the day," radio duty, student activities (e.g. the solar project), and sitting topside while divers are down to make sure the boat doesn't float away (!). But I'm usually told that I'm not allowed. After a while it starts to feel like I'm just being told to stay out of the way. How do they envision my role here? Am I supposed to just sit in my room and twiddle my thumbs until Sunday each week?
What really grinds my gears is that I'm dispensable. When I'm needed, I'm happily included. When the new Dive Safety Officer needed to learn his way around the dive sites, they turned to me. When the new staff showed up in January, we were asked to cut our vacation short because somebody was needed to greet them at the airport and get them settled into the Center. When they needed to know how to run the compressor or tie a particular knot or lead the important guests from HQ on dives, they turned to me. But the rest of the time, it's: "SFS policy says that we can't allow you to _________." What's worse is that nobody's upfront about it. This information is usually passed through Jessee or just not addressed at all.
I rarely write about the struggles of life on this island, so I know this blog must really paint a picture of a life in paradise. More often than not, it is (I do recognize how fortunate I am to have the opportunities I have - dolphins, whales, diving, etc). But there's also a reason nobody stays here that long. You can't expect people to live in such an isolated place and stay completely uninvolved and out of the way. I have too much self respect to whine and cry until they grudgingly treat me like I belong, but if they were smart they'd recognize what I'm willing to offer (for free!) just to have a recognized place here.
It's only a few seconds, and you can barely see them at all, but here is my whale video. It is of when they started to move and I started to get uneasy.
I mentioned in my post last Friday that we successfully towed our damaged boat back to the dock the same night it was lost. Despite how serious the condition was, it still floated. We bailed it out and left it tied up for the night. In the morning several of us went to the crash site in an attempt to salvage lost belongings while a couple others took the boat out of the water.
We were missing a lot of things, some of them quite valuable (a spare SCUBA tank, a set of regulators, my sunglasses), some of them practical (a pair of eye glasses, a snorkel, my left shoe), and some of them sentimental (my ratty old green t-shirt). We were much more successful than I expected. Right away we found a floating dry-bag with the eye glasses and a floating water bottle. Once on shore, I found my bag and sunglasses. Incredibly, I also found my missing shoe floating in a cove. We turned up the tank and regulators, another shoe, a bag, a camera bucket, and even a set of keys. On a second trip out there yesterday, at low tide, we found a few more things including the snorkel, a pair of gloves, and my t-shirt! That shirt spent 48 hours being pulverized by waves, sand, and rocks and it's never been so clean.
Once the boat was out of the water, we were able to see the full extent of the damage. Truth be told, I expected it to be worse. Although, it still may never get back in the water. The prop is badly damaged and the steering mechanism is completely destroyed, but the others were guessing that it might actually still run (the engine itself seems to be intact). The hull of the boat is quite shaky, but there are no holes that go completely through, like I expected there to be.
This one nearly goes through.
p.s. Here are a few more dolphin photos taken by Jim, one of the interns:
As if dolphins weren't enough, today I swam with Humpback Whales! Two of them, a mother and a baby. It was a very brief encounter. A few of us went out on a salvage mission to recover lost items from our destroyed boat (more on that later) and a dive. When we surfaced from the dive, the two that stayed topside yelled excitedly for us to get in the boat. Apparently the whales had swam right by us without us knowing! I didn't believe them at first, but sure enough one of them surfaced moments later for a breath of air!
The baby surfacing.
We got the boat started and headed in their direction. They were in very shallow water (about 30ft) and moving very slowly. When they came to a stop, we jumped in and swam in their direction. I was out in front, and when the big mother came into view I got a bit nervous. Their size is quite intimidating. She was probably about 50ft long with huge pectoral fins (the fin in the picture below is at least twice as long as me!). The baby was on the far side hidden from view and I started wondering if they're protective of their young in the way bears are (sheesh, I'd hate to find out).
Big Whale, Shallow Water
Size comparison sketch from Wikipedia.
When she realized we were there, she lifted her tail very slowly and started swimming away. Her movement was very gentle, but the size and power was enough to make me hesitate. In seconds they were nearly out of sight. I called over to the others and suggested heading back to the boat was the only way we'd get to keep watching them. We did, and we followed them for about 10 minutes until they crossed out of the boundary of where we're allowed to take the school's boats. Even when they're not on the surface you can track their movements pretty easily. With each kick of their tail, the water churns with such force that it leaves a "footprint" of swirling water visible from the surface.
Slowly raising her tail.
And pushing away.
Seeing them isn't unusual, but also not very common. They pass through every year from the North to the Dominican Republic where they give birth, but they mostly travel farther East near Grand Turk and Salt Cay. I'm very hopeful we'll see them again. They're so incredible! I especially hope that Jessee will get the chance to see them. She didn't get to see the dolphins (work has been especially busy this week) and she chose not to come today because it was chilly (i.e. about 72°), gray, and a bit rainy. Now she really regrets it, and I feel guilty for seeing so much without her.
Suzie's in the news yet again. It's part of channel 4's South Caicos reporting. Since I last wrote about her, she's made it back to the exact location where she started, the location that is believed to be her permanent residence. She's been there for about 3 weeks, but I keep checking on her. The researchers told me they think she might actually come down to South because this is where the fishermen brought her and where she was tagged. They were speculating that this location is somehow recorded in her memory and she might feel compelled to return, despite the trauma she experienced here.
Suzie's Home
I mentioned that I gave some of my footage to the reporters last Sunday, but that I hadn't seen any of it used. Well, they used a lot of it in this piece on Suzie. Almost all the clips and one or two of the photos were taken by "yours truly." I feel like it really helped make for an eye catching segment. Watch it below:
It's only slightly relevant here, but I thought I'd mention it because people asked me if I care that they used my footage without paying me (or even crediting me). I gave my videos willingly because I wanted to see them used. I didn't care much about compensation in this case. I'm a believer in Creative Commons licensing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_commons) and "copyleft" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyleft). I do think it's okay for people to own and sell intellectual property (that's what allows for most high-end media to be created), but way too often people are over protective of media they'll never be able to sell (or don't need to sell) and it stifles the creative production people are capable of given abundant open-source media. It would have been nice to have been credited though. Okay, I'll step down off my pedestal now.
Copyleft
You can also watch an older story about Suzie from around the end of December before she had made it home:
Here's the much anticipated dolphin video. I hope it doesn't disappoint. It's only really little snippets of them swimming around. I wasn't watching what I was filming because I wanted to watch them in real life. I cut out all the jumbled shots of empty water and my feet though. Listen closely and you'll hear them using their sonar!
Today I had one of the most exciting marine encounters since arriving in the Turks and Caicos. A few of us were heading out for a dive in a routine fashion when one of the staffers spotted, out of the corner of his eye, something jumping. He wasn't sure what it was, so we didn't think much of it until a few seconds later when somebody shouted, "DOLPHINS!"
With almost no hesitation one of the interns grabbed his mask and camera and dove overboard. I was completely unprepared and scrambled to get my dive boots, fins, and mask on. I grabbed my camera and dove in moments later. It was absolutely amazing!!! They were so playful and curious. I was still completely out-of-sorts in the water though. My wetsuit was only halfway on (so it created enormous drag) and I had left my snorkel behind (so I couldn't breathe properly). But I still managed get a good look.
I guess it shouldn't be a surprise since they're mammals, but I was amused when I noticed (from this picture) that dolphins have belly buttons.
They swam all around us, spinning and playing. They would approach cautiously and then dart away quickly when you looked towards them. The whole time you could hear them clicking and squeaking. I couldn't keep track of exactly how many there were, but one of the interns counted 13. There were at least two little ones too. Dolphins are pretty rare visitors to this area (it's been about a year since the last sighting), so we were really lucky to see them. The whole thing only lasted about 5 or 10 minutes - the drag my wetsuit caused kept me from following too far.
Purely elated, we went for our dive. What came next, however, really put a damper on the day. There were no problems on the dive itself, but we were horrified by what we found when we returned to the mooring. Actually, we were horrified by what we did not find. The boat had torn free and was gone!! In the wrong circumstances that can be an extremely bad thing.
The mooring line dangling beneath the surface after the buoy and boat had torn free.
We ascended to our safety stop (a depth of 15ft) and continued swimming in the direction of the waves and wind, hoping we'd find it close by. The waves had gained considerable strength, however, and the boat could have been drifting for as long as 35 or 40 minutes. It was headed for Long Cay too, which meant it would be badly damaged against the rocks. Eventually we surfaced to see that it was. We still had a several 100 meter swim too (exercise isn't the best thing to do after a deep dive either).
When we got closer we realized there was no hope for getting out of there on our own. The waves had placed it almost completely out of the water on the rocky shore. One of the interns swam ahead, climbed onto the shore, and retrieved a cell phone from the boat. She called for help while we stayed in the water just off shore (the waves made it rather hazardous to get out). We floated there for more than a half an hour waiting for the rescue boat to arrive and we were running out of daylight.
Signal float extended and waiting to be rescued. That's one of us on land above calling for help.
It arrived, finally, and we shuttled our equipment back to the Center. A few of us stayed there to clean up our gear, but the others headed back out in an attempt to salvage what was left of the damaged boat. Even if they could pull it off the rocks, there was no assurance it would float. They eventually got it back (in the dark), but from what they told me, it nearly got much worse. First the tow rope got tangled in the rescue boat engine and caused it to cut out. The waves nearly took that one into the rocks too before our third boat (which arrived on the scene just minutes earlier) came to rescue the rescuers. They too had a close call with the tow rope and then nearly didn't have enough power to pull all the weight to safety. We could have lost all three of our remaining boats in one shot!
The damage to the one boat is serious and it likely won't be back in commission for quite some time. Fortunately, the center director seems to understand that we weren't acting irresponsibly and that the problem was caused by poor quality moorings that break loose way too easily (6 out of 10 are currently broken). It was an intense afternoon, but we're all safe and we have quite a story to show for it.
(p.s. I have video of the dolphins, but it will take a while to upload, so keep a look out for it soon).
A few reporters from the Turks and Caicos "channel 4" news were on South over the weekend. Their website (http://wiv4.wordpress.com) says they're committed to bringing news from every area in the Turks and Caicos. This week South Caicos is being featured. So far they've aired reports on the lack of development, the struggling fishing industry, and our very own School for Field Studies. When they were here, one of the reporters asked me for some of my underwater footage, but I haven't seen any of it used yet.
In another video, South Caicos fishermen plead for government assistance. They're sure to emphasize, however, that they're looking for help for native fishermen.
Today's video (above) is about the neglect of South Caicos infrastructure and development, especially after the 2008 hurricanes. It paints a picture of hard economic times for South Caicos residents. The piece provides a view into the struggles and frustrations residents have felt here. It also, however, gives a glimpse into local attitudes towards Haitians - one resident complains about aid that has been given to Haitians (presumably referring to the recent earthquake relief), when the people of South Caicos never saw that sort of support after the hurricanes.
To really drive home how people here feel about Haitians, though, watch the following segment they did back in January. It's pegs the troubles of the fishing industry squarely on the "foreign fishermen."
It's a flat calm day, so a few of us decided we'd go for a dive at a non-established site. Flat water is necessary to do that because without a permanent buoy you have to use the anchor. If the water is rough then the anchor won't hold.
Flat Water
We returned (approximately) to a spot that I had been to once before, which we've been calling the "East Bay Spur." We threw the anchor and went for the dive. When we got back to the boat we were surprised to find that our anchor had landed no more than 50 feet from an established permanent mooring! The East Bay Spur is actually an established site that was lost years back. It's really exciting to have found it because the area is really nice. Fortunately we had brought the GPS unit along and were able to record the coordinates.
East Bay Spur
(21.48376°N, 71.51434°W)
We're planning to replace the buoy. Once it's back, we'll be able to dive there more regularly, even when it's not that flat. Once we got back to the center, I told the people that have been here for a while about our discovery. It's turns out they knew the mooring was there and it was, in fact, called the East Bay Spur (it's funny how the name got passed along but not the fact that there was, at one time, a permanent buoy). They also told me there's one more site that is missing called "The Cone." I'm excited to go looking for it.
I read today in the Turks & Caicos Weekly News that a boat with 126 Haitian emigrants was intercepted off of West Caicos last week. Read the article here: http://www.tcweeklynews.com/link.asp?smenu=1&sdetail=1857&wpage=1. You can see from the article's grainy, thumbnail-size photo how small and cramped the boat they were using was. It's no wonder so many die trying to make these journeys. One sank in the West Caicos area last year when it struck a reef. And that happened in "good times." The article indicates that TCI officials are expecting a surge of these emigrants since the recent earthquake.
Photo of Haitian boat from TC Weekly News.
Apparently there is a level of empathy for Haitians these days because, unlike the survivors of last year's wreck, these refugees will not be repatriated immediately. Instead, they are being held at a detention center and a sports complex, "until the situation in Haiti improves." I can't imagine being held in detention is really preferable, but then again I don't really know what it's like in Haiti right now.
The students have returned. They arrived on Monday. Everything seems to be going smoothly so far, despite having so many new staff. In fact, things actually seem to be working better than before. The staff is more cohesive and burnout is far less of an issue.
I'm especially glad for all the new energy for diving too. The new waterfront staff are just like me and want to dive at every chance they get. This morning we anchored at "The Maze" for a dive (the permanent buoy was lost in a storm). We saw a Shark and a school of 5 Eagle Rays. I'm not sure what the reason is, but they have been gathering in larger groups recently. Since the returning, I've seen a school of 10, a school of 12, and a school of 5. Right now the students are out doing their "dive checkouts" and going on their first snorkel trips of the semester.
All the added diving means we've been running the compressor quite often. I've spent hours just sitting around waiting for tanks to fill. That's just the price I have to pay. It's a bargain.
Resistance is futile. I'm convinced there's nothing even the most dedicated SFS employee can do to stop the Lionfish invasion. Even since arriving here just 7 months ago, I've noticed substantial increases in Lionfish populations. On one dive the other day I saw 5. At another site, a few days earlier, I saw 4 on the same 3 meter section of reef. The TCI Lionfish population is exploding. And we're never going to be able to stop it.
At best, a committed group of hunters could keep a select area free of them if they regularly patrolled. This could be useful in areas particularly sensitive or valuable, but on the large scale it's impossible. It's sad because the damage these fish do, by out competing other fish and by wiping out stocks of larvae, is serious. They can decimate populations of fish necessary to keep the reefs healthy. Without those certain fish, algae grow uncontrollably and eventually kill the coral. Without the coral, everything dies.
Just because it's hopeless for the individual Lionfish hunter, there's one method that still has some promise. If there's anything that humans are particularly good at, it's depleting resources that have a commercial value. If Lionfish were a commodity, we'd have hoards of people going out to catch them. So the most realistic way to eradicate this pest is to create an industry that consumes them.
Successful promotion of Lionfish as a delicacy or as an environmentally beneficial fish to eat, could have very positive effects. Yes, they are edible. Lionfish are venomous not poisonous. That means they can sting with their spines, but that their flesh is no different than any other fish. They're quite tasty too. It's just that the industry would have to grow large enough, quickly enough to stem the damage happening now.
There's is one long term concern with this idea, however. What happens in the event that this approach is too successful? For instance, if an industry actually manages to wipe out Atlantic Lionfish. What then if they turn to the Lionfish's native grounds in the Indo-Pacific? Or maybe it catches on and people decide it's cheaper to farm Lionfish and actually contribute to the problem.
Realistically, though, I don't think an industry for Atlantic Lionfish would ever grow to a level that would wipe out Atlantic populations. At least not in the foreseeable future. That's just how prolific these fish are. And anyway, it's probably the best bet.
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