On Recycling and Relocation

Well I'm finally all moved and settled into the new apartment with Julia, Caroline, and Kristal, three other girls from the CAOS department. Interestingly enough, between the four of us, we represent three countries: Kristal (my roommate) is from Jamaica, Caroline is from Toronto, Canada, and Julia is from Washington state. How's that for multiculturalism?

On the work front, things are quite busy with spring break in full swing. Most of our programs are filled to or over capacity, so I haven't been getting too much time off, and you all know what that means - recycled pictures from last week's scuba trip!


Some rather lumpy coral polyps. During the day they all tuck in like this to expose the algae living in their skin, as they get up to 98% of their food from their symbiotic relationship with this algae. We often use this relationship as an example of sustainable living in our CAOS programs, as each partner's waste products are necessary for the other to live, forming a virtually closed nutrient cycle. The remaining 2% of the coral's food comes from plankton caught by the coral polyps at night. The polyps unfold to extend their stinging tentacles, so if I were to go back and take a picture of this same coral head at night, it would look very fuzzy.


This is a closeup of a sponge. Just like any kitchen sponge, these guys clean the area around them. They feed by filtering water through their bodies, drawing it in through the sides and out through the large hole on top. It is for this very reason that coral reefs can even exist - the sponges remove particles that would otherwise block the sunlight, allowing corals to grow. This removal of nutrients from the water also keeps algae from overgrowing the reef, as only self-sustaining, closed nutrient cycles like those found in the corals can survive. Also, they look pretty cool.


My apologies for the relatively bad picture quality on this one, but I didn't really feel like getting too close to this particular subject. For those not familiar with their marine carnivores, this is a barracuda. Barracudas are actually given a pretty bad reputation. Yes, they have sharp teeth, and yes, they have bitten humans in the past, but that's about as far as their interest in humans goes. People act like these guys are the Great Whites of the Caribbean (Great Whites also being vastly misunderstood, by the way). This fish is about 3-4 feet long and really quite skittish. It would like nothing more than to be rid of those darn humans with cameras and simply float along in peace. Vilification is not the answer, people!

And now for a Postcards first: pictures NOT taken by Andrea! These photos are both courtesy of Ollie, my dive buddy, and are of me swimming through the cave-tunnels described in last week's post.

On Submarine Spelunking

Well, yesterday I managed to check two things off my "to do" list: scuba diving in Arrecife (yeah, I know it's about time) and cave diving. My friend/coworker Ollie and I went diving at a site called Eden Rock, at the southern edge of Jamestown. It's about 35 feet deep on average, but we went as deep as 48 feet in some parts (according to the ol' dive computer). The coral formations down there are absolutely awesome! There are so many different kinds, with fish all over the place too. The caves themselves were great as well - they are actually natural passages between two ancient coral heads that started growing about 5-10 feet apart, but started growing closer together as they reached toward the surface. There isn't too much inside the caves - mostly sponges and encrusting algae - but the cavern structures themselves were really cool, with light filtering down through the remaining cracks at the surface. Since they're open at both ends, I suppose they're technically tunnels, but caves sounds cooler so I'm going with that.


This is a shot just coming out of one of the caves. The corals get a lot closer together at the top, but it's pretty hard to take a good picture of that. Besides, I took videos of my swimthroughs instead.


This is a type of sea anemone (I haven't looked up what type yet) we found growing on the seafloor at the base of a coral head. I love the structure and the way that parts of the tentacles are opaque and the rest are transparent.


This is another of the omnipresent Mutton Snappers, who decided to follow us around a bit.



Coral formations everywhere!


This is a Lettuce Sea Slug (no, not a nudibranch, though I admit that's what I thought when I first saw it) I found in a little crevasse on the way to another one of the caves.


Another (currently) unidentified anemone, one of the varieties more commonly found in these parts. Zoom in and check out the patterns on the tentacles - very cool.

That's probably enough pictures for now - I'll save the cavern videos and scary barracuda pictures for a later date... (just kidding... sort of...)

On Island Tours and New Ports of Call

Big news here in Arrecife! I'm moving out of Port Royale and into a lovely apartment just south of Jamestown with a few friends from work. The rent is significantly cheaper, the area is significantly nicer, and the house itself is significantly better than the motel room I've been living in for the past three months. Observe:


This is the view from the upper window in the front of the apartment. Jamestown is a little less than a mile away, and the beach is a 5 minute walk from our door.


The exterior of our apartment. Note the heavy-duty hurricane shutters on all of the windows - much better protection than most places have around here!


This is a shot of the interior downstairs. It has a rather large kitchen, 2 bed/2.5 bath, a pool in the backyard, and chickens running around everywhere (outside). The neighborhood itself is rather quiet, and many of our friends from work live within a 1 mile radius.

Today we signed the lease on the apartment, then set out on a grand island tour since we all had the day off. After looking at the apartment one more time (two of my roommates still hadn't seen the property), the third roommate and I set out on a garage saleing expedition. We made it halfway across the island before finally seeing a few signs. Most of them turned out to be dead ends, but we did manage to locate one sale that was still going on, where we purchased a few decorations for the apartment. By then it was lunchtime, so we got some fixings at the grocery store and headed back to my roommate's boyfriend's place and feasted on homemade gyros. After hanging around there for a while we went to the island's animal shelter, where we went to their secondhand bookstore. I've been to a couple of other bookstores on the island, but nothing like this one. The place had literally tens of thousands of books - a far better selection than any of the other places I've seen - and they were all $1 each. My roommate and I ended up staying there for about an hour (bookstores will do that to you) before pressing on. After spending some time looking at other shops in the area and trying on some rather ridiculous clothes for fun, she headed home and I went grocery shopping before wandering back to Port Royale. A busy day to be sure, but tons of fun.