Halo! e Bon nochi!

I know it has been a while since I've last blogged, so this is gonna be a long one...

Over the past few weeks I've been busy with a number of things: eating Iguana stew, experiencing Carnaval, jetting around on mopeds, camping on the beach, biking 44 km, and swimming with 2 manta rays... just to name a few. This may explain my slack in blogging. So here goes...

Iguana stew: tastes just like chicken! It really does! We had it homemade by Gibi, the local man who makes us dinner. It is rather bony, as you can imagine, and there were some unidentifiable parts that I avoided, but for the most part the meat is tender and flaky and tastes like whatever it is cooked in. Plus, it's one of the only meats that is actually sustainable (and local) on the island since it's nearly impossible to raise any livestock here.

On to the next adventure...

Carnaval: We had a week off of school (from Feb 18-26) for "carnaval vacation," a much needed break from all the heavy diving and hammocking I've been doing. Thank god for that! In my opinion, we spent our time off wisely. For example, on Fat Tuesday we drank for 14 hours. I know, I know, it sounds like it's all fun-and-games, but drinking all day in the heat of the Caribbean sun is no easy task. Don't worry, almost everyone remembered sunscreen. There really was more to Carnaval than just plain partying. There were several parades throughout the week, and on Tuesday night we joined in and danced through Kralendijk with one of the floats. Also on Tuesday night we got to experience a yearly Carnaval tradition: the burning of the "MoMo." Apparently on some islands the "MoMo" represents the "white man," however its significance to Bonaire wasn't exactly clear (this is a common theme here. I've just stopped asking). The parade ended at the stadium, where there were rides set up, music blasting and massive celebrations and dancing. The setting closely resembled the Tech Fair, except for the public intoxication and the giant statue of a king that was burning and spewing out fireworks way too close for comfort. It was an incredible cultural experience, to say the least, and I'm glad I was able to participate in something so obscure (and fun).

Fat Tuesday festivities

Burning MoMo

Part of the parade

I spent the latter part of Carnaval break well too, but in more constructive and perhaps healthier ways. On Thursday, Devon and I rented a moped for 3 days. Mopeds are common and practical commodities on the island, and it's a great way to see all of Bonaire in a short amount of time. After the initial ride, Devon really got the hang of driving the scooter, and I almost got the hang of not being terrified on the back. We encountered minor obstacles such as dirt cliffs and donkey crossings, but the moped (deemed 'Betty') was returned without a scratch 3 days later! During our time with Betty, we checked out the North end of the island and went "cliff jumping" (the boys jumped 50 feet... I'm working my way up from 10). We also checked out the South end of the island and hung out at Lac Bay, a beautiful beach with the best windsurfing conditions in the world. Moped-ing is a surprisingly tiring activity, but not nearly as tiring as our next adventure.

Devon and I with Betty the moped

Saturday, when we reluctantly returned Betty the moped, we had already scoped out some good campsites about 5 miles north of Kralendijk. Devon, Max, and I rented bicycles, grabbed our hammocks, some food, and our snorkel gear, and headed to Tolo dive site for the night. Of course we picked one of the only rainy nights thus far, but it ended up making the expedition even crazier. After debating whether the trees at the campsite were poisonous or not, we hung our hammocks from them and built a fire. Devon now has a rash covering his whole body. Sleeping in the hammocks was okay, but I awoke several times throughout the night to the sound of near-by goats. The next morning we all woke up with the sun and enjoyed the comfort of our campsite for a few hours. Then, we packed our bags, strapped our fins to the back of the bikes, and set out on the journey that Max had planned out for us. 

Our campsite-- red hammock is mine!

The idea was to take the bike trail indicated on our map to the Northern-most dive site  before reaching the protected no-dive zone. Once there, we'd snorkel for a while, have lunch, and slowly make our way back to Kralendijk, stopping to snorkel at various other sites. It seemed easy enough and didn't look too far on the map. After an hour of biking up and down dirt/rocky hills, I realized that this was an undertaking of far greater magnitude than any of us had anticipated. Max kept assuring us that our destination, Playa Frans, was only right around the big mountain. At this point we were too far in to back out, and after making several wrong turns/detours, we made it to Playa Frans in just under 3 hours. Whoever claimed that to be a bike trail is either in incredible shape or seriously, seriously deranged. We were the only bikers on the whole trail and the few other people we encountered were all in trucks. Playa Frans was like an oasis. There were a few old houses that appeared to be abandoned aside from a greenhouse and some clothes left out on the line. We were greeted by dogs and a flock of chickens, but for the most part we were the only people around. The snorkeling immediately made the treacherous bike ride totally worth it. The structure of the reef is completely different than anything I'd seen before. There was a forest of Elk horn coral so shallow that parts of it stuck out of the water. Almost all the Elk horn coral is destroyed in Bonaire (and other islands) due to a variety of factors. The reef was so shallow that you had to weave in and out of it to avoid bumping anything. Since it's so close to the protected area there were tons of fish, many of which I had never seen before. I spent a lot of time hanging out with two giant Rainbow Parrotfish, each about 60 pounds. I had a great time following them around and watching them go about their every day business on the reef. We spent about 3 hours at Playa Frans and then repacked out bags and started the long journey home. 

Needless to say, the trip back over the mountain wasn't nearly as fun as the first time around; however, the view of the open ocean was breathtaking. We stopped to snorkel and relax at an other popular dive site, Karpata. The reef there was also beautiful, with some of the biggest stony and soft corals I've ever seen. The reef at Karpata explains why Bonaire is rated as the best diving in the Caribbean, so you have to see it while it lasts! This coming weekend we plan on diving it. We made it back to the campsite just in time to watch the sunset, and we pedaled home just in time for dinner. It was hands-down the biggest adventure I've ever been on--we covered a total of 44 km-- but I can't say I'd do it again, at least not without a vehicle.

en-route to Playa Frans

This is my first blog update from my newly purchased hammock! (pictures to come soon).  There are now 6 hammocks set up in the trees in our front yard.... I think I might stay in here forever. Last Thursday we did our first recreational dive at the Hilma Hooker! For those of you who don't know, this is the shipwreck in Bonaire that was sunk in the 80s and sits in 100 feet of water. Devon is my dive buddy and we had an awesome time getting narc'd and exploring the wreck... so awesome that I didn't even care when my brand new dive light flooded and busted apart (luckily the company is sending me a new one). The reef surrounding the Hilma Hooker was in much better shape than the one we've been diving.

This past weekend was like the others. We seem to have fallen into a routine of eating and drinking at the dock, heading to the bars, and then making our way back to the dock for a late night swim (just have to look out for fire coral!!). On saturday a few friends and I went snorkeling and were asked to be in a photo shoot for the local dive shop... as if we would say no to riding around on a boat with foreign dive instructors in exchange for beer, ha! Hopefully the pictures of us will be up on their webpage soon, and I'll provide the link. We spent the rest of the day lounging around on the dock, casually jumping into the Caribbean Sea when it got too hot... just another Saturday in Bonaire! On Sunday about 10 of us decided to swim all the way to Klein Bonaire, a small deserted island about 800 meters from our coast. I don't know why I agreed to it, but I made it all the way there and back! Anyway, it was well worth the swim-- since Klein is protected and uninhabited the reef we snorkeled was incredible. It was so refreshing to see that healthy reefs still do exist! It's just a matter of keeping them that way. The shallow reef (literally in 3 feet of water) was flourishing with fish, and we saw about 10 Sea Turtles!! Klein is a popular Sea Turtle nesting site, which is why it is heavily regulated.

On Monday we went on a somewhat recreational dive for our Conservation Biology class. We spent about an hour underwater writing down every fish species we saw. I actually enjoy doing those kind of tasks underwater, because it allows you to realize how much diversity and life there is in such a small area. Yesterday we finally got to do a night dive!! My favorite! Although the reef we dove on was pretty beaten up, I still enjoy seeing all the weird sea creatures that come out to feed and reproduce at night. The Tarpin that hang around this area use divers' lights to hunt in at night, and every once in a while they'll get really close to hide behind you and sneak up on their prey. They followed us around the whole dive, and even though I knew they were there, I still jumped and screamed every time one swam by. Night diving is a truly exhilarating experience.

On a different note, I have finalized my independent research project, which as of now is entitled, "The effects of Damselfish gardening on the prevalence of yellow band disease in the Montastrea species complex." In case you are confused about what this means, Damselfish are small fish that bite corals so that algae grows in its place. They manage and protect these "algae gardens" because they feed off of
them. However, the Stag Horn coral they used to inhabit has died off for the most part, and consequently they've moved into the slower growing, Star corals that aren't able to keep up with the biting and slowly get overgrown by algae and die. Also, most of the star coral in Bonaire is infected with Yellow Band Disease. I am looking for a correlation between the Damselfish biting and the presence of the disease, with the idea that Damselfish weaken the corals, making them more susceptible to this disease. Phew.

Well, I'm off to my afternoon swim in the ocean! Bon Nochi!

                                        Salt Mines at the South End of Bonaire

Historic Slave Huts

Wild Donkeys

Hilary, me, Catie, Amelie, and Shelby

So it's been a while! I've been falling behind on this blogging thing partly because I'm so busy here, and partly because when I'm not busy I'm exhausted from being so busy. Last week was packed because we were finishing up "dive boot camp." The dive program here is extremely thorough and intensive and it's been really helpful to review skills and learn new things. We did get to do a boat dive in Klein Bonaire, but I was shocked and sad to see the poor condition of the reef over there. The conditions were rough, and the visibility was poor, but the decline of the reef is still entirely too obvious. I never thought I would get sick of diving for school, but it was such a relief when the weekend came and we had some time off! On Friday we went out to dinner at "Pasa bon Pizza" (Have a Good Pizza in Papiamentu) which is the best (the only?) pizza place on the island. After that, we all hung out on the dock for a bit and then went out to one of the four or five bars in Kralendijk to celebrate a group member's 21st birthday. We seem to be some of the only young people in the area, and because of that, we stick out like sore thumbs. The other few young people here are obviously thrilled to have us, and because it's such a small island we see them everywhere and have become friends with a few of the locals.

On Sunday we took a field trip all around the island (which only took a few hours). First we went to the South end of the island to the renowned salt refinery and slave huts, and then to Lac Bay, where I've never been before. Lac Bay was beautiful! It's one of the only natural sandy beaches on Bonaire, and apparently it's one of the best places for windsurfing in the world. There were a ton of windsurfers in the water, and we plan on going back one day to take lessons. We then headed over to the North end of the island, where it's more "mountainous." We visited a few important sites, like "1,000 Steps" and Rincon (the other "city" in Bonaire). While Kralendijk has a lot of Dutch/ European influence, Rincon is primarily native Bonaireans, most of whom are descendants of slaves from the slave trade. It was great to experience that side of the island and the differences in culture and geography. Towards the end of the trip we stopped at a small bar in the middle of the desert that has indigenous Bonairean music and dancing every Sunday. We all got drinks and learned some native harvest dances. Afterwards, we went back home to watch the Superbowl, like any good Americans would. Although Bonaire is tiny (it probably takes 2-3 hours to drive around the entire perimeter of the island) it is full of diversity, which a lot of people don't realize. The director of the program, Dr. Peachy, took us on this "Cultural and Environmental" tour and seemed to know everything about the island. It was great to learn about things other than the ocean in Bonaire, however at every turn there seems to be a new environmental catastrophe occurring.

Closely aligned with that, we took an other field trip on Monday with our Marine Conservation Biology class. We got an extremely detailed tour through the mangrove marshes from one of the naturalists on the island. We learned more about birds than I ever wanted to know in my life. Nevertheless, it was quite informational and we got the chance to snorkel and have lunch in Cai (a separate part of Lac Bay). At the end of the day we watched the following video, which I'm posting in hopes that everyone will watch it and share it with others. It may be depressing, but it's so important to be aware of these things and spread the word!! (Our homework for this class is to come up with a "happy" environmental story, so if you know of any, please inform me).

http://www.ted.com/talks/jeremy_jackson.html

Anyway, this post is getting lengthy and I am getting tired. But just a few more fun updates: I have been learning to skateboard, an octopus lives at the dock next to my house, we are learning how to do underwater videography, and I make sure to spend some quality time in a hammock every day :)

Sunset from Kralendijk

View from the roof

Front of the house

Common area

My bedroom

So it's day 4 in Bonaire and I already never want to leave. This week has been jammed full of orientations to the facilities, the classes, the dive shop, and the island. So far we've done 5 dives for refreshing skills and working on underwater navigation and buoyancy. We are diving with Yellow Sub, the Kralendijk branch of "Dive Friends," which is right around the corner from our house on the waterfront downtown. We did three dives yesterday, one today and will do one tomorrow. On saturday we're going on a boat dive to Klein Bonaire. Each dive for the next few weeks are geared toward a specific goal: mapping out a site, identifying corals, working on rescue skills, etc.

Today was the first day it hasn't rained since I got here. Apparently the rainy season is just ending, so it's been very humid and the visibility has not been that great (for Bonaire). We spend a lot of time with the interns (who live on the second floor of the house and help out with classes) and also with our professors. It's a very diverse group of people from all over the world and everyone is extremely nice and insightful. Oh, and the director of the program is from Huntington, PA... weird. Last night we attended a lecture by Ramon de Leon, manager of the Bonaire National Marine Park, on the health and status of coral reefs in Bonaire. Although Bonaire is consistently rated as the most pristine reef in the Caribbean, there was a drastic decline in health and abundance of the reef in 2011. He projected that if things go on as they have been, only 5% of the reef in Bonaire will be around by 2053 :(. The speech was very informative, depressing, and a little bit hopeful, because there are new management plans in the works. I will get to learn about this a lot more through all of my classes.

Other than that, our days are really busy and I've been exhausted at night. A local man named Gibi cooks us lunch and dinner and brings it to our house. The food is great, but due to the limited resources on the island there seems to be a lot of chicken and rice. Nothing to complain about though!

So day 1 of my adventure was a rough start, but hopefully the worst has passed. After driving, or rather sliding, to the Pittsburgh airport down 376 at a maximum speed of 30 mph at 4:00 am I thought the rest of my journey would be smooth sailing…. But that was just the start. My flight in Pittsburgh boarded on time, however de-icing the plane proved to be the first of many obstacles standing between Bonaire and me. After spending half an hour at one de-icing station, we were informed that the machine was broken and the plane had to move to a different station, which also took half an hour. Almost to Atlanta, we were informed that the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport had closed down due to Tornado warnings in the area. Not to worry, we were told; it should only be a 15-minute wait. After circling the area over and over again, the plane finally landed…in Knoxville. Once re-fueled we were again en-route to Atlanta—a 35-minute flight turned into an hour and a half of turbulence. Because of the closings, the airport was bombarded with incoming flights, meaning my plane, along with many others, was stuck in the air, aimlessly drawing circles in the sky. At this point, the “fifteen-minute” notices the pilot kept promising over the intercom gave us at least one thing to laugh about in the cabin. I had a window seat and, when we weren’t in the middle of lightening and thunderstorms, the view was incredible. The cumulus clouds looked like a range of snowy mountains, and other delayed planes drifted along side us, waiting to finally touch ground. In Atlanta I was re-routed on a flight to Aruba Sunday morning, and thanks to mom and dad, I got on a flight from Aruba to Bonaire that night (tonight).

As soon as we landed in Bonaire (me, another girl from my trip also named Juli, and Devon from WT) we went straight to the director's waterfront house for a bbq and beer. I have three roommates and I am in a top bunk. 

I packed way too much.