Slight change in scenery

 As I get ready this morning I noticed a scorpion hanging on the curtains, and a few babies crawling around the floor. It seems a whole clutch was hatched in the room. I think scorpions are neat; so I go about my business, trying not to accidentally step on any. A few hours later and I get told that I'm to switch rooms because of an infestation of scorpions. Oh well, I would have been fine staying there; I used to live in a house that would get them all the time. A change in scenery is nice though, after 2 weeks that room was getting boring I suppose. Our new room is much smaller, but at least the bathroom isn't 90% screen facing outside. Win some, lose some as they say. Most of our time is spent outside anyway. 

Bugs should pay rent

 Had to move out our room this week since there’s a winged ant infestation living in my bed now🤩. They absolutely chewed on me during the night and I’m absolutely miserable now from all of the bites. The new room looks better but sleeping while being this itchy SUCKS. I’m definitely ready to be on the main land and be bug free. With everything that has happened in that room up until this point I don’t know why we weren’t moved earlier but now I just reap these consequences until we leave 🥲. Only a couple days left though! 

less than a week to go!

Less than a week to go back to the States. Although the island here is beautiful, the water is clear, and the ocean animals are so colorful, I miss home. I've got tons of mosquito bites all over my body, but looking at the clear water and the animals, corals, and sea fans from above the water kind of makes up for it. 

I wanted to show my favorite picture I've taken so far. Blue tangs are my favorite fish, so being able to see a school of them swim past me was truly magical. One of my favorite moments!! 

Tomorrow we're supposed to go night snorkeling, and I'm terrified of seeing the barracudas. Hopefully tomorrow helps me get over my fear of them. I will blog all about it tomorrow! 

Good weather at last

 It is the end of our second week here already. With only one week to go, I'm beginning to feel the pressures of deadlines. The weather however, is starting to clear up. It had been unseasonably rainy up until now, but with sunny skies field work can continue smoothly. Of course, with sunny days comes greater heat. I think I'll be sticking to the shade and the water for now. 

sunny days!

Last week it was constantly raining, and now these past couple of days have been super sunny! Our mood definitely changes depending on the weather, so I'm glad the sun is finally coming up. Today I went out on the water with Morgan for our thesis and our final project. The water was so clear you could see the corals and sea fans from above, especially when I paddleboard. 

Sometimes, the pictures don't do justice. Underwater looks amazing and super clear!! Definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip is to be able to see all the fish and corals. Every dive/snorkel feels like a new adventure because there's always something different I see every day. It's made me appreciate how beautiful these reefs are and how lucky I am to be able to experience them firsthand.  

Today is the final World Cup game, so we're putting up a projector to watch the game :) Argentina for the win! 

tarantulas! bugs! sea urchins!

I can't believe we only have a week left of this trip. Time truly flies when you've got a final project to do, and you're constantly being bitten by mosquitoes. Also, this woke us up in front of our door. It took about 30 min to even get out because we were so scared. I'm pretty sure it was living inside my sneakers that I left outside. 

The good part of the trip was all the sea urchins Morgan found! Since we've been out in the water almost every day, working on our thesis and final project, we get to see the coolest finds. All the paddleboarding I've been doing lately, I hope to see crazy back muscles by the time we go back to the States. 

It's about to be lunchtime soon, and I'm finishing up on the final poster. Besides the bug bites all over my body and my shoulders being red from the sun, the cool finds underwater is keeping me going! 

Field Work and Found Items

Gathered the first days worth of data for my project today. I have to agree with the others, those barracuda are not afraid to get up in your space. While collecting data at the dock, I look down and what do I see? The room 8 key that has been missing for about a week at this point. After a quick dive, the key was safely clipped to my gear, only a little rusted from its time in the ocean. All in all, it has been a productive day for me so far.