Last week of data collection! Well, ...at least for the data that will go into our final reports.

Monday started with a snorkeling survey for everyone at Colihaut, with clear visibility and calm seas.

On Tuesday snorkelers started southern half of Grande Savanne and worked their way south (yellow line) towards Salisbury Beach. This beach is also the base of East Carib Dive (just past the Salisbury river), from where our group's SCUBA trips go out. The SCUBA peeps hit up Nose Reef and Rena's Reef (red dots), surveying at depth of 50 ft at Nose and swimming through an underwater tunnel at Rena's.

Wednesday (red circles) saw the last day of data collection right off Batali Beach and finishing at Dou Dou Reef, near the Macucheri River. These dives much closer to shore and evidence of Omar's disturbance was still very apparent, taking the form of torn up coral framework and sponges immersed in sediment.

The last three days have been dedicated to starting the results and discussion sections of our paper. We have also been deciding which photos from each of our organism groups will make it into the our papers.

With the hurricane behind us, the skies cleared to give us a wonderfully warm and sunny week, which has flown by in a craze of Creole colours. The island is hopping with a music festival, and Dominicans worldwide have flocked back to celebrate the country's 2008 Reunion.

Needless to say, it's been busy-busy! We have gotten into the rhythm of surveying in the morning, enjoying lunch and some siesta time before cracking down data into our log books, grouping for a debriefing session (which includes a lot of data entry-thank you to our very patient TAs), chomping down dinner and finally reveling in the night's freedom. With progress reports every week and every one of us getting a handle on our topics, the surveying is smooth sailing and we are all enjoying our research.

We also made time one morning to help our friend Harald, owner of our mainstay East Carib Dive Center, rebuild his beach and boat ramp, which were ravaged by the hurricane. With all 8 of us in the water collecting as many rocks as possible and throwing them with increasingly perfect aim onto what was left of the ramp's foundation, it became a fun game with laughter as the soundtrack.

Due to the week's special nature (ie. it being Creole festival), some creative rescheduling has allowed us to attend Creole in The Park (with every other Dominican on the island) and the Mahaut Creole parade (which consisted mostly of the primary school kids dressed up and dancing down the street). Some of us got involved by helping a local lady prepare food and sell refreshments to the ravenous crowd gathered at the market, while others simply stood by in amazement and snapped pictures of the town's big event.

   
I'll be watching you!

Welcome back! After a relaxing semester break and without delay, we hopped back in the ocean to begin our data collection for our research paper. . But first, here's a brief update on week 6 and Hurricane Omar.

We spend Monday and Tuesday (of last week) practicing our field research techniques. On Wednesday (the final day before our mid-term break) we had our 3rd infield organism identification exam. Poor visibility and choppy waters made this challenging for all, including the staff who had to set up the test which was like a treasure hunt. The treasures were the organisms that had to be named or classified. It turns out that the choppy seas were the prelude to what came next. Although Hurricane Omar was far from Dominica, it's southeastern wind bands, pushed large swells towards the western shores of the island. The swells were much larger than anticipated and caused coastal erosion in many places. In some cases flooding and infrastructure damage were the results. Schools and businesses were closed and so our break began indoors in the safety of the station. As of Friday we spent the rest of the break doing short day trips to various locations around the island.

Now to week 7: Monday and Tuesday we practiced our methods and tried to work out any quirks within our data collection. We surveyed sites at Scott's Head and Salisbury. Many adjustments had to be made, some included adding rulers to dive slates, collecting specimens and working on a steady swimming pace. We gathered later on that day (debriefing) to discuss the findings and any problems encountered. The debriefing sessions are also used or log/store all field data in a consistent and centralized manner.

Ready or not, Wednesday arrived and it was time to conduct our first research survey. We visited two sites near Portsmouth: Douglas Bay and Cabrits' Pier. Douglas Bay offered poor visibility, a strong current , waves and deep water, but we toughed it out and were rewarded as the next site was Cabrits' Pier. This site offered those who SCUBA dive to study the pier posts which housed an array of beautiful and unique sponges. The snorkelers took advantage of the calm, clear water and completed a survey within the shore and the pier. After debriefing, data entry and supper, we decided to treat ourselves and enjoyed a group outing for ice cream!

We traveled to Espagnol Bay Thursday morning and were able to study two habitats there. The first being the shallow unconsolidated rocks close to shore and the other being the deep rock boulders further out from shore.

By Friday's site, we felt like survey pros and not only studied the species at Fond Cole, but did so in the turbulent waters! After being tossed and turned in the waves, we couldn't wait to get back to the site and record our data into our field logs. After debriefing and data entry, we drove to Roseau for burgers and beer. We decided to hang around Roseau and enjoy the night life afterwards and caught a bus home well before curfew for a good night's sleep.

After Saturday morning breakfast, half of us decided to shoot some hoops at the Mahaut basketball court while the rest of us joined ITME' s weekly supplies run to Roseau's produce market. We met up later on in the morning for site clean up. It was a beautiful day and the afternoon was spent soaking up the rays, either from the balcony or a river rock. We presented our progress reports in the classroom later on in the afternoon which helped everyone gain perspective of the week's work to come.

It looks to be a scorcher on Sunday and everyone is looking forward to spending time enjoying the weather. With the Creole Festival just around the corner, it is to be a very exciting week to come.

The Fall Research Team 2008

Wow, what a full week! It started Sunday as we began to research our individual project proposals. With each student being excited about their research topic, we all made the most of the extra day given us to begin the information gathering process!

Before we could hunker down for the week to focus solely on our research topics, Monday threw the big in-the-field Fish ID exam our way. We were promised a surprise regarding where along the coast we would snorkel for the test, and a km hike through bush to the "Secret Bay" did not disappoint in its adventure value (by the way, the "Secret Bay" is a little south, about a km or so, of Portsmouth…shhhhh!). Too bad it was not a secret from everyone, as we were delayed in getting into the water by fishermen demonstrating seine net fishing techniques we had learned about in lecture. The afternoon was spent finding two papers we will present on the 13th relevant to our projects, and learning about Dominica's national park system history. Traditionally, the focus has been on preserving terrestrial habitat as opposed to a focus on the marine environment. Hopefully, our time and research here at ITME will play a part in balancing the island's conservation focus!

Tuesday saw us SCUBA just north of Salisbury in one of the few developed spur and groove zones off Dominica's west coast while practicing our underwater photography skills…and when we got back, we worked on our proposals.
Wednesday was a full lecture day…and the rest was spent working on our proposals.

Thursday was Part 2 of our island tour. We made it up to Calibishie and Woodford Hill on the NE side, where true fringing reefs exist. These produce…wait for it…white sand beaches! A lecture on sea urchin population numbers unique to Dominica were had while smooth grains flowed through our toes. The highlight of the week was no doubt, our surfing the waves and attempting dives of off a floating, 5m long dead tree trunk! After a heavy downpour accompanied our ride back through the mountains to Mahaut, we were excited to get to work…on those wonderful proposals.

Friday's morning lectures were the last of the entire semester; pretty crazy to think about! We had a great discussion about conservation philosophy and the role of individuals and country's freedoms vs. sacrifices needed to be made in order to benefit the planet. We learned the good doctor is subject to digressive tendencies when the proper subject is broached, though credit must be given for his control of these tendencies until the last lecture. After our great discussion and lunch…well, you can guess.

Saturday morning saw us complete our last written exam! We turned in our proposals to those affectionately known "TATAs" for quick suggestions and editing before handing them in by our final deadline time. Some (ok, one) of us pushed right to the edge of the 6 pm cliff, and fortunately, this entity was able to hand it in. All in all, we are glad to be done with the proposals, and we are all looking forward to finishing strong this next week before our mid-term break as we present our papers, have our final organism ID exam, and revise our proposals. Check back next week to see if we have made it to the break!

The Fall Research Team 2008

This week we welcomed a new guest to the field station, Murphy, and he brought his laws. Monday we snorkeled at Anse a Liane and did some new Fish ID.

It wasn’t until Tuesday that Murphy showed his true colors. Tuesday began like any other day with breakfast at 7:15 sharp. We had a minor issue with the classroom door not opening but with a little elbow grease that problem was solved. We then headed to Barry’s dream to SCUBA and snorkel. When we began swimming, we realized the reef was too far and the currents were picking up. So off with the SCUBA gear and we headed to the other end of Mero beach to snorkel and study fish there. On our way back in Jimmy suddenly realized he couldn't find his camera – which floats. Jimmy and Keira swam down to St. Joseph in search of the camera. The rest of us took the truck to St. Joseph where we met up with them. No luck in finding the camera.

We woke up Wednesday with the hope that this day was nothing like the previous one. We headed to Rodney’s rock to do our first Fish transects. Upon swimming around the rock we realize that there were a lot of jellyfish in the water. Only little ones, however, so we decided we could deal with the minor stings. We decided the other side of the rock would be much safer – little did we know there was a box jellyfish waiting for us. Upon seeing it we said a few choice words and immediately got out of the water. Concluding that Murphy really had it out for us.

Thursday was our first island tour. We headed to Dublanc, Cabrits, Morne Au Diable, Vielle Case and Anse Soldat. There were many stops along the way for photo opts and we spent the bulk of the day on a beach in northern Dominica enjoying the scenery and snorkeling in the Atlantic. We tried some local cuisine that was caught, cleaned, and cooked before our eyes! It was a day full of learning new things about the island and integrating ourselves into their culture. Luckily Murphy didn’t come along for the ride.

Friday was our second field exercise. This time we studied territorial fish behavior at Champagne beach. We realized quickly how this beach got his name when we entered the water and noticed bubbles of sulfuric gas peculating to the surface at a constant rate giving it the effect of a champagne glass! The fish were very cooperative for this field study and we all learned a lot about which fish were easiest and most interesting to observe, and those that did not move at all. We returned to the field station, data in hand, had a quick debriefing session and got started on our field exercise write ups.

Well, last week ended on a high note with a Sunday excursion to Trafalgar Falls: a somewhat treacherous climb took us to the top pool under a massive waterfall, and we frolicked our way down, discovering a hot spring on the way. It was a jungle paradise, and it set the mood for the busy week ahead:

On Monday we were pioneers, set to explore a portion of the coast that had yet to be documented. We had trouble finding the path down from the road, but indulged the trailblazing spirit with some serious bushwhacking (good thing we had a machete). Told not to expect much at the site except maybe some sea grass beds, we were thrilled to discover a large and thriving patch reef along the 1 km stretch that we swam. Shabang!

Tuesday saw us testing out our field exercise techniques for the first time, recording coral species' richness and abundance along carefully laid-out transect lines in order to collect data for our first field exercise write-up…which we all managed to churn out after several very long hours with our noses in our books.

Wednesday was a dry day, meaning we traded the ocean floor for a proper classroom in order to cram in some lectures on Mangals (mangrove forests), Mollusks, and Echinoderms, as well as a brief how-to for underwater photography. Our evening was dedicated to studying for our first-thing-in-the-morning Organism ID test.

With our heads stuffed with Latin nomenclature, we descended upon a reef to identify what was pointed out to us; with only 16 species to name out of a gazillion, it was humbling to recognize just how much is down there, and how relatively little we can ever know (and store in our brains). Once our slates were handed in, we hopped back on Big Bubba and headed off to a "secret destination"…which turned out to be a sweet spot on the Layou river not far from our usual route, where we jumped into the cooling fresh water without qualms or complaints. We noticed quite a bit of driftwood and tree trunks scattered about, which spawned the idea to have a bonfire on base, and thus the process of lugging wood onto Big Bubba began. The machete made its second appearance of the week.


Dr. Steiner's Instant Shoe Repair (..hike)

What would we do without Sundays! We've been keeping ourselves very busy here at ITME , so much so that by the time Sunday rolls around no one feels the need to do much of anything. Who could blame us though?

This week we traveled to three different dive sites to view the coral reefs. Monday was Scotts Head, a site just past the town of Soufriere that allowed us to snorkel along the reef wall. Everyone seemed to clutch their dive slates a little tighter than usual as we peered down into the ocean's abyss below us. The calm visibility allowed us for consistency training and practice using and identifying organisms under transect lines, a useful field technique. With a quick sprint to the other side of the point, all of us were able to say that we swam in both the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

Tuesday's field work brought us to Dolphin Beach, a boulder field encrusted with coral. Those who were SCUBA certified descended ten metres, while the snorkelers seemed quite content playing in the bubbles that rose to the surface. This was again another great opportunity to review our organism ID as well as to witness the fishing industry on the coastal shores.

Starting Wednesday night, we experienced our first tropical storm. The rain however, did not hold us back and we pushed on with lectures on everything from seagrass beds to scientific writing. Many of us also made the trip into town to experience Roseau and Mahaut during the day and night.

By Friday, the storm that hovered above us on satellite showed no signs of resting, and neither did we! After hopping the barrier that lines the highway, we learned how to use quadrats, another field research technique, while snorkelling. Not an easy task when there's a current!

We wrapped up the school week with our second written test and a site clean up. Our storm made another appearance, knocking tables over, upsetting vases and slamming doors. This excitement combined with the threat of coconuts falling from the trees tired us out and by lunch most of us had retired to our rooms to make use of our siesta. This has carried over to today, with most of us laying low and soaking in the rays.

So luckily our arrival in Dominica was surprisingly uneventful. Despite the hurricanes whipping through the northern Caribbean, we all made it to the Dominica (eastern Caribbean) without delays on Monday, and with all our luggage. Landing on the island eastern shore we crossed over to the western side where ITME is located. After settling in and the eagerly awaited dinner, we met for a general orientation about the semester ahead of us.

On Tuesday we went through a more specific orientation and had a first chance to practice our snorkeling skills. Lectures commenced on Wednesday covering introductions ot the oceanography of the Caribbean, systematics, and marine algea. Those of us that were SCUBA certified also did their checkout dive in the afternoon. The others got a head-start on identifying marine organisms in the field.

Thursday and Friday mornings were spent learning how to identify algae and invertebrates. In the afternoons we meet to discuss what we had seen that day and also for lectures.

Our first written exam was Saturday morning. Taking advantage of the cool part of the day we all did a little site clean up after the test. We were free for most of Saturday and some of us went to the capital Roseau. We met again in the late afternoon to learn about field research techniques which we will start applying next week.

The Fall Research Team 2008