Greetings all! We are literally fresh off the plane coming back
from Lizard Island, (see pics below) located right on the Great Barrier Reef,
where we have spent the last 10 days of the program.
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| Location of Lizard Island in proximity to the mainland |
I am tired, a bit stressed
(read below about this week’s “to-do” list, I’ve swallowed enough sea water to
comprise a small ocean, but happier than ever. What an awesome 10 days it’s
been! The island is a true tropical paradise complete with white sands and
turquoise waters. We lived at the Lizard Island Research Center which is the
equivalent to the Woods Hole of Australia, and thousands of researchers and
scientists from around the world come there every year to do work. The center
has a state of the art marine laboratory, complete with aquarium tanks, water
systems and special tanks for scientists to conduct experiments. In order to
get to the island we had to take several of the smallest planes in the world,
only about 4-5 people per plane! The noise was deafening, since the motor was
located just behind the back seats. (Mom and Dad – it reminded me a lot of our
trip to Osa in Costa Rica. Luckily this time we were able to land on the first
try and did not have to turn around.)
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| Our teeny-tiny plane |
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| Buckle up! |
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| First glimpse of the island |
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| Turquoise waters |
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| Tropical paradise!
While we were on the island we also got to
conduct our own surveys, counting fish abundances and monitoring behavior. This
meant that we got to go snorkeling every morning (our schedule was literally:
wake up at 6:45, Breakfast at 7:00, brief class period to check in about where
we were in the research process, then hit the boats by 8:00 and be at the reef
by 8:30-9:00) and then again in the afternoon. The morning snorkel was always
at the same location, Watson’s Bay, where we would conduct our observations,
but then in the afternoon we would go to a new reef and get to explore and
snorkel for fun. For the project, my partner Chelsea, and I had to pick two
species of the same family (we picked Trigger fish. See the pics below), so we
spent the mornings watching them and counting how many were. I have learned
that this is not as easy as it seems: fish do not like you to follow them and
watch their behavior and if you do they will often run away and hide under
rocks. It is also sometimes very hard to spot a single individual among a swarm
of other fish species, and all of this while trying to fight the current and
wind that is buffeting you around. :P
But nonetheless it was a complete blast!
Getting to snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef every day for more than a week is
not something that many people can claim to have done. We saw an enormous
variety of fish and marine life, including: parrotfish, coral trout,
damselfish, anemone fish (like nemos), surgeon fish, pufferfish, several
stingrays, and even a few sharks! Surprisingly these are not as scary to swim
with as you might think since they mostly just want to get away from you as
fast as they can. The two species we saw the most were the Black-Tip and the
White-Tip reef sharks. I actually got to pull on a shark’s tail! (ha ha but no
worries, it was a special type of shark that has no teeth. Chelsea and I found
one that was tucked into a hole and all that was sticking out was the end of
his tail.) But that’s not something that gets to happen every day! For me the
scariest thing to see was the giant eel that Chelsea spotted. It came out of
the rocks completely several times, giving us a chance to see its full size.
(it was very large). We also got to see a beautiful Eagle Ray, which
actually jumped out of the water once, right in front of us! (it managed to get
at least 3 feet in the air!) that might have been the coolest thing I’ve ever
seen!
I also got to
celebrate my 21st birthday while on Lizard Island (yay! I’m
officially of legal drinking age in the US!) It was actually pretty uneventful.
My birthday coincided with the weekly barbeque that happens on the island once
a week so everyone on the island was gathered together anyways, and it gave us
a chance to meet some of the other researchers on the island. We played a big,
group game of volleyball and had some delicious burgers and veggie burgers.
(fun fact: the brand of veggie burger they serve here is called, “Bubble and
Squeak.” How adorable, right? They’re also the best veggie burgers I’ve ever
had – I can eat them totally plain, without any sauces, and people who have
eaten veggie burgers before can attest to this phenomenon.) My friends
surprised me with a brownie cake, which finished the night perfectly. I
definitely do not feel old at all and definitely not 21 :P
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On the second to
last day of the trip, a group of kids had the idea to try and see the sunrise
from the local mountain, Cook’s Look. (Named after Captain James Cook who
discovered the island in 1770 and gave it the name due to all the lizards
(Goannas) he found there.) The whole group was going to hike the mountain later
that day anyways, but we wanted to see the sun come up. Unfortunately we missed
the sunrise since we got lost a few times (to be fair, we had to get up at 4:00
AM so it was absolutely pitch black, and we were trying to rush in time to see
the sunrise, we had gotten bad directions from Tony, and we were trying to run
in sand. We still got to see the sunrise anyways, and in the end it was lucky
that we didn’t attempt to climb the mountain in the dark since it was extremely
steep at the beginning and one of us was bound to have sprained an ankle if we
had tried. Once we got over the initial part, the rest of the climb was fairly
manageable and we were able to make the complete hike in a little under an
hour. The view from the top was absolutely incredible and definitely worth the
hike.
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| VIew from the top of Cook's Look! |
The next day we
were leaving Lizard island and since I had missed the sunrise the day before I
decided to get up with several others to witness the sun come up from the
beach. Even though I’ve seen the sun come up a hundred times, there is always
something special about watching it and reminding yourself about how incredible
the whole planetary and solar system is. (as my friend molly put it as we were
watching the sun, “The sun is not rising, we’re just tilting towards it.”) Plus
the beauty of a sunrise is unparalleled.
So now we are
back in Cairns, back at our old home the Northern Greenhouse. This week is going
to be a tough one work wise and the stress is mounting. (part of the reason why
I’m stressing is that I can’t motivate myself to alleviate my stress and
actually start working :P) I also can’t believe that the program is basically
2/3 over – this Saturday I’m flying to Sydney to go work with my advisor,
Sandra Vogel, and help her conduct population surveys of the penguin colonies
of New South Wales (NSW). I’m so excited that the dream I had for my ISP is
actually becoming a reality but also a bit stressed since I still have no idea
where we’ll be living. My friends Greg and Chelsea are also coming to Sydney
with me for their projects and we were hoping to find an apartment together
somewhere near the University of New South Wales (where my advisor is going to
grad school and where Greg will be doing his work). But so far we haven’t
managed to find anything solid. (yikes!) but I am holding strong that something
will work out. Until next time! :)
Peace, love and Triggerfish.
Katie
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