The Boys are Back In Town!

I sat down to start typing this at 10:45pm on a Saturday night; and I just finished work for the day! No complaints, I just find it amazing!

Mark and Tim came back yesterday afternoon to LSI after an adventure back into the real world. They brought back presents for Flower and I and after dinner we hung out while they played Christmas. It was really thoughtful of them and super exciting for us. The most prized gift for me I think were the short wetsuit booties I requested. Now my awesome tanline will be around my ankle and look slightly less awkward than it did part way up my shin. (PS. There will still be nothing I can do about the shorty tan. I keep rolling it up so at least it's a reasonable shorts length. However short shorts don't help combat firecoral (my arch nemesis) much so the bad tan might have to win out.) From all the stories, ICRS appears to have been a big success for Team Hixon. Darren, Chris Stallings, Mark Christie, and Mark Albins all got good feedback about the work they've been tackling. Also, I guess one of the world's leading coral reef biologists told the entire conference if anyone is serious about wanting to protect corals and ensure reefs survive for future generations you need to learn to use a condom! I laughed pretty hard and I guess a lot of the science community was a little stunned but the whole talk led back time and again to overpopulation being the key stress needing to be alleviated from nature. I say way to go that-guy! There were also plenty of social events from the sounds of it and accordingly both guys spent their first afternoon back sleeping off the night/week before. This was nice cause it gave Flower and I one more afternoon of naps and movie watching before we were back to the grind. I couldn't wait for getting back into the routine of a normal work day but admittedly stretching out on the big couches for a nap in front of the TV is pretty amazing sometimes.

I'm very excited to have the long-term summer team all together on the island now. Tim, Flower, and Mark are all extremely bright and a lot of fun to be around. I foresee many good stories and fun adventures on LSI in the next two months.

This morning we were back at it full bore. A week has passed since the last recruit censuses of the trans-reefs so Mark and I had 8 reefs scoped out for the day. Recruit censuses mean diving on the site and counting/sizing every fish under 5 centimeters. By recording the number of small fish able to recruit to a site we are able to measure the relative impacts of the different predators on our reefs. Censuses happen every week from here on out through the summer and take up 2.5- 3 days a week. It was really nice to get back into the rhythm of working with Mark. I have gotten very used to us working as a team and it's nice to have a predictable pattern to the day of work. The morning kicked off with all reefs looking awesome and all surveys going really well. Throughout the day we realized one coney and one lionfish had wandered away so we had a bit of extra work measuring new fish and adding them before we could start our afternoon session of surveys.

The boats we use can be the butt of a lot of jokes around the island. They are nice boats but sit unused 9 months of the year which makes them a little rocky when summer comes around. I guess the jokes finally got to one of the boats today- unfortunately it was ours. We were ready to pull anchor after delivering the missing fish and Lusca's engine wouldn't turn over. It wouldn't even pretend to turn over. We just had to laugh it off as we called for rescue from the interns on LSI. During the afternoon there are often little thunderstorms that blow through. It usually includes some big thunder, a couple lightning bolts, and maybe 5-10 minutes of rain. Right after making our call for an assist from the interns it started to rain. The afternoon showers are one of my favorite things cause it will be well over 90 degrees, sun shining, and rain falling. It was only a tiny storm but Mark and I got a good laugh out of the rain falling all around our little broken boat. A battery change, a lot of wire wiggling, and a couple choice words seemed to have no effect on the engine's desire to help us out. So a big chunk of the afternoon was spent with one of the station's weaker boats slowly towing in our big studly boat with no engine. Worst part was after getting all the way back to the dock, as soon as the mechanic hopped into the boat and wiggled a wire, she started first time. The afternoon was not a complete loss; we were able to kidnap another boat and finish all the surveys we had planned on. Also, the flat, scoop front of Potcake (our afternoon vessel) meant Mark and I had a totally sweet cartwheel-into-the-water contest in between surveys. I ate it super hard when my first roundoff didn't quite rotate enough but won some points for style later in the game by cartwheeling over the anchor cleat and line. Needless to say, I really enjoy working with the people I am here with. I'm with awesome people in the setting of an unreal opportunity! The whole saga this afternoon was just too hilarious that after all the trash talking the boat finally had enough and mailed it in. I guess it's a classic example of the Bambi rule- If you can't say anything nice, don't say nothing at all.

Someone asked me for the date today and I was completely shocked to see it was the 12th. It made me think a lot about how crazy time can be. A year plus a day ago I stepped onto a plane to move to Townsville, Australia. Five months ago I left Boston for Tahiti to join up with the crew of the SSV Robert C. Seamans. Two months ago I was in Newport, celebrating my 21st birthday with the Hatfield crew. And amazingly enough a month ago I was furiously packing to come to this island the next morning! It's hard to imagine a month of the summer having flown by so fast. It's also hard to imagine that time has gone so slowly. I think about you all at home often and wonder what wonderful adventures this first summer month has brought to you. Please let me know what craziness has ensued outside the boundaries of Exuma Sound.

I miss you all at home (yes, all of my homes all around the world) and I am very very happy here. The drive out to our study sites is a few miles both ways and we go out both morning and afternoon most days. During the commute the water varies in depth from 50ish feet to 1ish feet among the channels and the sandbars. In the same way the color of the water changes from almost black navy blue to aquafresh toothpaste blue green, to electric blue highlighter shades. It's really the most beautiful thing. There are always great clouds along the way too and most days I spend the whole commute just marveling at how gorgeous this place is. I feel super fortunate to be here and am really glad I have such great support to chase down opportunities like this one.