22.11.21

Hello All,

Here is the quote of the month:

“Two things are infinite. The universe and human stupidity.

… and I’m not sure about the universe”

-Albert Einstein

This quote doesn’t have much relevance besides the fact that my mind feels like its running on a Firefox browser… constantly buffering, freezing, and crashing. I can’t believe November is already winding down, it feels like we just celebrated Halloween! This is my third to last Wednesday of the program and I haven’t come to terms with it yet. Perhaps it’s because the weather here doesn’t change much or maybe its because trees don’t get their autumn colors here; in any case, it feels like my mind is playing a catch up game.

Classes came to an end about a week ago and looking back at the courses timelines, I’m amazed at how much I’ve learned in a short amount of time. I won’t miss the classes too much though because now we get to spend our time outside and in the community collecting data for our directed research (I will talk more about shortly), making crafts for the local kids, conducting beach cleanups, going on dives (night dives too!) and snorkels, etc. One of my favorite activities we’ve done so far have been the night dives. All sorts of critters come out at night and diving in the evening gives us a new perspective on old dive sites. My favorite animals to see are the comb jellies, they don’t look like much during the day but at night they iridesce all sort of colors vertically down their bodies, it is quite the show! I also love looking at the small zooplankton that come out to feed, they are small but they are so diverse and always surprise me! At our dive stop I take the 3 minutes to look up and watch the moon shine through the surface of the water, a perfect time to reset and give my mind a break.

Despite being done with classes we’ve been surprisingly busy with other things like our direct research projects! I am working with five other students to assess the prevalence, composition, and accumulation of marine debris, including micro plastics, on the windward and leeward shores of South Caicos. It is our hope that we will be able to offer the government insight into whether a majority of marine debris are of local origin and also offer ways to mitigate accidental deposits of debris into the ocean.

 

 

Here is the schedule for this week! Lots of cooking and direct research time!

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Lovely Snowy helping us clean and sort trash… my heart

 

Started this Monday off with a double rainbow!

 

Happy Holidays!

Natalie

 

 

 

 

 

20.10.21

Hello All,

Here is the quote for this week:

” These are the 7 steps that you need in life to get anywhere:

1. Go somewhere safe
2. Find your tools
3. Loosen the nuts
4. Jack it up
5. Sometimes you need to change the subject
6. Tighten the nuts
7. Replace the temporary

… and that’s how you change a tire” – Morgan Cleary

The month of October has flown by and I’m SPOOKED. Our mid-semester break is fast approaching and I’m so excited we finally get to see the different islands on the TCI (Turks and Caicos Islands). This is a little different from how they’ve done it in the past. Typically the students have flown to Provo and spend their time there but because of COVID the break has turned into more of an extended field trip with minimal people interactions. I’m very much looking forward to this break because it is well deserved. Within the span of a week we’ve had 6 major assignments due and everything just seems to be going by so quickly!

I’ve finally gotten used to the weather here but now the rainy season has set in and its gotten a little colder during those storms. As much as I love the cool breeze, the mosquitos after the storm are…. awful. I have been very adamant about not using bug spray and what a naive person I was!

On a different note– I wanted to talk a little bit about the Advanced Open Water Course (AOW) and what we have done so far. The AOW course is an optional certification for those already certified to dive. In it, you strengthen your skills in navigation, handling emergencies, being a good dive buddy, buoyancy, and breath control. You also get to go on cool deep water dives! You have to be careful on deep water dives because you can get narked which is essentially feeling inebriated underwater! On our first deep water dive, a huge hawksbill turtle decided to swim right up and greet us, this was a special treat because normally they keep their distance (and so do we because #gooddiveetiquette) but this was the unique exception!

      

from left to right: Miles & I, Miles & I again, and miss Missy- the newest addition to the family (photos by Michelle K.)

Top to bottom: fish survey and me facing my foe…trash (photos by Conrad P.)

 

      

From top left down: Moray eel, lionfish, southern stingray, Psuedodiploria strigosa (don’t quote me on that), and the spotted moray eel (photos by Heidi)

 

FEX’s:

FEX’s are field exercises that are done for our classes and directed research. Some of the types of FEX’s we’ve done so far were on seagrass, lion fish, and conch. The aim of the seagrass FEX was to collect data on the density of three different types of seagrass at Long Bay and Family Beach and analyze the data to determine the composition of the seafloor. The objective of the lion fish FEX was to practice laying out transects (its a really long measuring tape) and looking/catching lion fish in the area. Any lion fish that we caught during the FEX was then dissected the next day to look at the anatomy (specifically gonads and stomach content). The conch FEX was by far my favorite because we snorkeled and collected live conch for 4 hours over the span of 3 days. we counted the number of live and dead conch as well as measured the shell length and shell lip thickness. We conducted transects at multiple sites inside and outside of the MPA (marine protected area) to see if the conch populations differed. Turns out there were a TON more outside of the MPA, this could be because of a multitude of different reasons but I think that it is because the MPA is not enforced and so fishers still fish in it. Since the MPA is closer to shore, it’s more accessible option.

Potcakes on South Caicos:

As you may or may not know the Turks and Caicos Islands have a large population of stray dogs and cats. Here they are called potcakes because locals feed the dogs the burnt/caked on remains of the cooking pot. I bring this up because there is a potcake shelter on Provo that have many dogs looking for homes. The link to the shelter is here so take a peak if you’d like and feel free to contact me with any questions you might have!

 

                                                       22.09.2021

Hello All,

Here is today’s quote:

“When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps“- Confucius

I’m going to break this post up into 3 sections: academics, community activities, and diving. So read it in whichever order you choose!

Academics:

Classes started last Monday (6/9/21) and we really hit the ground running. Unlike college where every class has a set time and schedule, there is lots of variation day by day. Some days there are 6-7 hours of lectures, other days it’s recreational diving and community service. Other days we only have a couple classes in the morning and spend the rest of the day (after lunch) out in the field. What I really love about this program is that you form such great connections with your professors and the interns. Our first quiz was an immersive experience… literally.  We went around Moxi Bush (a mangrove island) identifying species that the interns or professors pointed out, wrote those names on our slate (underwater note and pad), and turned that in! If you’re someone that needs to see it to believe it, I cannot think of a better place to learn than here. You can’t get more hands on than this!

There is only one classroom here so instead of switching classrooms, the professors rotate in and out. There is usually a break between each class which normally fall around snack time which are at 10am and 4pm; some of the best cuisine is served then :). Something to note is that because direct research starts around mid November the paces of these classes are really fast. They’ve got to fit a full semesters worth of info into about 10ish weeks. We are three weeks in and have already completed a research paper as well as an exam. Despite the fast pace of the courses, all the professors work together to make sure they aren’t all piling assignments on us at the same time. Each week (it seems) emphasizes one class specifically and they the switch.

Here is a picture of the classroom (comes equipped with an icy breeze curtesy of the AC unit) :

Computer room ( Take your late night reading into a sweat free zone thanks to AC):

The Commons (good wifi and good place to work or play games ):

Community Service:

Like I said in my last post, COVID has impacted our ability to interact with the community to some extent. Normally one of our biggest events is swim lessons for adults and kids. The idea of having a swim clinic with fully vaccinated adults is in the works. So far we have started a compost restoration project within SFS which entails restoring the former compost section and putting in freshly decaying matter every week. Last week there was a government (Turks and Caicos Ministry of Health) lead walk for health that students of SFS participated in. The walk focused on self care and health so the event started with some light stretching before taking to the streets!  One of the most recent community projects we did was a beach cleanup at the fishing docs.

 

Diving:

The location and academic focuses were all reasons that factored into my decision to study abroad here but the ultimate reason was the diving. I got certified right when the pandemic hit and ever since then I’ve wanted nothing more than to improve and become a more confident diver. This program has offered two dives a week (Wednesday and Saturday) which–over the course of 14-15ish weeks– is a TON of dives. Some of the dives are recreational, some are for for class/research. If you aren’t certified coming into the program and would like to dive they offer open water certification as well as advanced open water.

 

Here are some cool critters we spotted!

The great thing about this program is that if you aren’t inclined to dive, the water here is crystal clear and shallow and almost all opportunities for divers are accessible to snorkelers!

 

Have a fintastic day!

Natalie

 

                                                                  03.09.2021

Hello All,

Everyday we start off our mornings with breakfast (or brekkie) at 7am and a morning meeting at 7:40am. During these meetings someone shares a quote of the day, so here’s one of my favorite:

“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain” -Dolly Parton

Now if these aren’t words of wisdom I don’t know what are. Getting to this amazing island was not smooth sailing, there were so many hurtles to overcome and stressful delays– days where this program wasn’t even possible for me to go on because of COVID. But I pushed through, and I’m so glad I did. Now that I’m here, soaking up the rainbow, all of those anxiety inducing moments are fading fast and all I can see is the picture in front of me. Getting to meet the faculty, staff, and my cohorts after a long 17 hours of nonstop travel made it all worth it.

I’ve settled into my 2 bunk dorm room with my roommate and made the place feel a little more like home. The rooms all come with 2-3 bunk beds, a closet to hang clothes and shelves to place stuff (somewhat chaotically). The rooms also have their own bathrooms and one desk. Since freshwater is a limited resource here the toilets are salt water and we can only take one freshwater shower a week. It is a popular custom here to live solely off of saltwater showers which actually get the job done just as well.

Although classes have not started, we have been incredibly busy with orientation talks and activities and have been filling up the rest of our free time with snorkeling right at the front of the center. The diving training for the open water cert is underway and the rest of us who are already certified are waiting for our first dive which will be offered tomorrow (about 5 days into the program). There are a couple of individuals who chose to snorkel and –now that I’ve been in the crystal clear and shallow waters– I can tell you that everything that is accessible to divers is to snorkelers as well. I would highly recommend bringing a GoPro to document your time here because the sea life is so vibrant and diverse, it serves as a great way to look back on all your excursions.

Some things have changed here because of COVID but the staff have worked hard to find alternate ways to engage us in the community. Right now we are quarantining in our little bubble here, we are not allowed to enter the town yet or interact with any staff that come in from town, this is for both their safety and ours. Usually Wednesdays and Saturdays are community days in which we offer programs or fun ways to interact with the locals. Previously, swimming lessons for kids were offered but ~again~ this had to be adjusted according to what is safest. We might offer swim lessons to fully vaccinated adults and wear masks when engaging with other locals.

*As if living in a tropical paradise wasn’t enough… there are four adorable dogs that life full time here at the center! Ella, Miles, Louie, and Patchie are the stars of the show and will always take belly rubs and ear massages. Barbra is the one cat here are she runs the center while still maintaining her elusiveness.

       

View of the ocean from the dinning hall^

 

From left to right: Louie, Miles, Ella, Patchie, and Barbra

 

I’ll be shore to keep updating!

 

Natalie