Day 13 - June 19: Go with the flow

This morning was full of options; you had the choice to go back to Mermaid Pond to collect mangroves and jelly fish with Dr. Cross and Dr. Erdman. Kate, Kat, Gina and Debbie decided to go on that adventure. They were attacked by the blood sucking mosquitoes that inhabited the surroundings of the lake. They came back covered with bug bites and mud, but thank fully no one dropped the bucket with the jelly fish this time.

One of the other options was to go scuba diving, only a handful of us that are certified went. Many of the divers didn’t go because a lot of them have been sick and congested (the crud runs rampant). Katie, Yebba, Elizabeth and Rob were the only ones who went scuba diving. They saw five reef sharks, a bull shark, as well as a hawksbill turtle. The option that most of the group chose was to stay on campus, do laundry and sleep in. This is probably the most favorable option because we all went out the night before to hang out with the British students (Sunday morning is our only day off). A few of us went to the conference to hear about giant land crabs, it was a very interesting talk by Tami LaPilusa. She talked about the effects of harvesting had on blue land crab populations using genetic analysis.

After lunch we all loaded up and headed out to Pigeon Creek. A few of us including; Ashley, Kat, Gina, and Dr. Cross went to collect some mangrove samples while floating along with the current. After making it all the way back to the ocean house we all started looking for shells to take home. There were a lot of gorgeous shells that were found. Some people got the pleasure of seeing a green moray eel. Afterwards we headed back on one of the worst truck rides ever; we all miss our little white truck because this new one (a really old diesel flatbed) beats the crap out of us on the rough roads. This truck ride got even worse when Kat brought a baby conch shell on the truck that smelled like rotting flesh, a few people were about to jump out and just walk. Dr. Erdman was trying to knock a few of us out of the truck as well with trees and shrubbery as he dodged the potholes on the road. Once we finally made it back alive we had to rush to make it to the conference social, it’s really hard to take showers when there are 10 girls and only 2 showers (the guys are so much luckier). After dinner we had a an hour to just relax before we had to go back to the conference final remarks. Then we headed to our lab to do some last minute project work and then it was study time! No one went out since we have a big day tomorrow with exams and presentations plus we were all so tired and in need of a goods night rest. Hard to believe that tomorrow is our last day on San Sal.

- Ashley and Kat