Ms Big Bucks

Horray! I got $3,000 in grant money to cover my thesis expenses! It's not a LOT but it should cover supplies and hopefully most of the boat costs. I may even have enough to get me to a conference or two to present results. I bought some supplies to make cages today and I hope to start constructing them tomorrow (even though its Saturday).

The summer is going by quickly even though I'm not that busy. It seems like most of CMES is gone for the month of July so it's pretty quite and slow at work. But that doesn't bother me! I have plenty to keep me busy and if I get bored I can always squeeze in a swim or entertain myself by watching a tv show online. Since I don't have cable at home I have to stream online if I want to watch something. I don't mind not having cable though. It's actually nice not having a tv on in the background all the time. I think I get more done without it and I definitely read more. Right now I'm reading George R. R. Martin's series called "A song of fire and ice". It's all about kings and knights and magic and stuff. I'm enjoying it a lot. It's nice to read something fun and simple after reading so many dry scientific articles!

A few days ago I bought an orchid. I'm 90% sure it's going to die in my care but I'm doing my best. You'd think that I would have started out owning an easier plant to care for like a fern or something but the orchid was just so pretty at the store! I bought special orchid food and am trying to follow all the instructions that my friend Megan has given me. She's a plant freak and has all kinds of orchids so I figure I'd better listen to what she says if I don't want my new baby to die. I tried to get a special orchid pot at the store today and the lady in the greenhouse section of home depot didn't even know what I was talking about. Sigh. Sometimes I just can't wait to get off this island. But not yet! I still have work to do!

Here's a few pics of my new flower:

Summertime

Well it's been about four months since my last entry. It feels like longer though. I even had a hard time remembering how to get to my own page! But now I am here and ready to take the time to post a brief update. It's getting hotter but living on top of crown mountain certainly has its advantages. The nights are not unbearable and I haven't even turned on the window a/c unit yet. I just have my trusty box fan at the foot of my bed. Of course, Ivan always lays right in front of it blocking my air! I guess being a black cat in the Caribbean can be kinda hot.

School is out for now. I've started working 40 hours a week at the university so I'm there every day anyway. It's not bad though, I like my job and it keeps me active. My thesis took a rather sudden turn last month. I didn't get the funding I was counting on so I've had to modify the experiment to make it cheaper. I'm no longer going to work with deep reefs but instead and going to do the same nutrient enrichment/herbivory exclusion design on nearshore and offshore reefs. This gives a gradient of human impact (mostly in the area of how much sediment is entering the water). Offshore reefs are less impacted by development and tend to be healthier in general. So hopefully my results will reflect this and the nearshore reefs will respond quicker and more intensely to the treatments because they are already compromised somewhat. I have no idea when I will get to start my field work. Hopefully I will get some small funding soon and I can go buy supplies to start making cages. I've accepted the fact that I won't be graduating next May but probably more around December 2011. No big deal though. That's what most people end up doing anyway at UVI. It just takes so long for things to get rolling in the Caribbean that it takes an extra semester, especially if you have time-dependent field work (which I do).

I've been doing a lot of recreational swimming and reading lately. It's nice to be able to just relax and do what I want instead of constantly working on the next deadline. I've even had time to start playing a video game on the wii!

Beautiful weather puts me in a good mood

The weather is so beautiful this time of year. Not too hot but not too cool. The breeze comes in through the living room and rushes through my bedroom door and out my window. I love it! It's like the most wonderful spring day in North Carolina where everything feels so good outside, except that instead of only one or two days of that feeling I get half a year! At times like this I almost forget how unbearably hot it can be in the summer. It's strange to think that back home in NC it's in the low 30's. I'm probably going to freeze to death when I go home for a visit next week. But despite the cold and threat of freezing, I'm looking forward to being home for a while. It will be nice to see everyone and just get away from the island. I may even get to go snowboarding!

I have finally decided on a thesis project. I'm going to be working on the interaction between herbivory exclusion and nutrient enrichment on coral reefs at two depths. Basically I will be testing to see if coral/algal community structure is governed more by the fish grazing on the algae (top-down) or the nutrients available (bottom up). The issue has been hotly debated in the past with strong supporters of both extremes. Personally, I believe it's a mixture of the two factors with herbivore grazing pressure being the most important and nutrient enrichment taking a secondary role. There have been multiple experiments on the topic (with contradictory results) and none have included the deeper reefs. Hopefully I'll be able to make clear comparisons between all these factors. Of course, this is assuming that we get sufficient funding to cover the expensive costs associated with working on a deep reef (40m). If all goes well it's going to be the first experiment of its kind and I'm sure I will be able to get it published which, after all, is the ultimate goal here besides simply getting a masters. In the meantime, I have quite a lot of work to do to get ready to start this thing as soon as we get word regarding the funding. Wish me luck!

Christmas in the tropics

The first two weeks of December passed by in a whirl of assignments and finals. I don't think I have ever spent that much time writing and studying on my computer. I learned that "take home finals" are not to be desired because instead of taking a 2-3 hour final you end up spending 30 hours researching and writing your 12 page answer section. Needless to say, when it was all over and done with I was wholeheartedly ready for a month of vacation! I am proud to report that I did well on all of my finals and ended up with all A's and a 4.0 GPA this semester.

On Dec 21st my two younger sisters, Sara and Rosemary, came to visit and spend Christmas down here with me. I'm quite glad they came because it would have been a lonely and most likely boring holiday without them. We were able to go snorkeling almost every day they were here. We saw loads of fish, crabs, conch, corals, sponges, seagrass, turtles, squid, urchins, eels, and even a little baby octopus. We went on a 4 hour hike on St. John which was quite beautiful. We saw mongooses, spiders, hermit crabs, forest birds, pelicans, and even a few deer. It was a good hike and we were all exhausted after it was over. To celebrate Christmas we watched Christmas movies, made some Christmas cookies, and I opened my presents on Christmas morning. It certainly wasn't a grand Christmas but it had it's own charm. I think the girls had a good time all around and they are welcome back any time!

Since their departure I have been passing the time by cleaning, playing mariokart, reading Wicked, researching about seagrasses and queen conch for a potential thesis project, cooking, and lazing around the apartment. Last Wednesday I did go out with some fellow researchers at UVI to collect sediment samples in Fish Bay. We also got to watch some parrotfish spawning and dove around a small island looking for invasive lionfish. It was fun despite the rainy, somewhat cold weather we had that day and it was nice to get out and dive again.

Here are some pictures of the week the girls spent with me!

Christmas 2009