Another chill day

 Last night we went out to the dock to test out a fish pro camera. Dangling the camera by a measuring tape proved to be fickle and there where many particles in the water column that made viability less than ideal. I blame recent storms for that bit. Even so, we saw the nightly showing of spotted eagle rays, which are always fun to see. We also got to spot a group of six squid off the dock hunting, one of them even captured a fish right in front of us. Today we get another lecture and get to go out and practice surveying methods out in the water later. Looking forward to another great day here on the island! 

Bug invasion

 I cannot make these events up. Last night I go up to go to bed and there’s a few flying ant looking things around and I start squashing a few, then I get in bed and am like whatever they’ll go away. Then I turn on my fan and there’s a dead lizard that crawled IN my fan and died and I had to get it out and it sucked. But then I get in bed and my roomate comes up and sees a bunch of the little bugs so we start killing them and what not but then they just exploded and went to the lights and beds and such. And I look up and there’s like a whole COLONY in the ceiling and they are coming down the walls trying to kill us cause we don’t know what they are. So then we gave up and went down to the hammocks on the dock and got swung around hardcore by the wind, but at least was cold and no bugs. BUT THEN said roomate unfortunately drops the room key out of the hammock and into the ocean locking us out until morning. (Which we couldn’t find anyone awake to help us anyways) But before all that we used a special camera and got to look under the dock at the organisms there and saw eagle rays and baby squids, which was nice. Hoping that was the most eventful night of the trip and that it’s smooth sailing from here though. 🙏🏼

Jungle Trek

 It's our third day on the island today and after a few issues getting access to the blog, here I am. Today we went hiking across the island to visit East End village. The trek wasn't very long, but it was the altitude changes really wore us down. Spirits were kept high with our wonderful travel companion, a local dog.

After climbing up steps and rocks and sliding down the wet leaf litter we made it to the village where we got a nice tour of their schoolhouse and one of the fishermen showed off his catch. Only a bit further and we find ourselves at an beautiful beach. I'd love to come back with swim wear and see what kind of critters I can spot out there. 

 After climbing up rock walls and walking along the cliff side for a bit, we made it back just in time for lunch.

first 3 days on the island

Landed in Roatan on Sunday, July 5th, and it was so beautiful. Super humid, but getting out of the airport wasn't so bad. We then took a bus to where the boat docks are to take us to the island, and the ride to the island was insane. Because it was super windy, the waves were crazy, and we were literally rocking side to side for 2 HOURS AND 30 MINUTES. Heard Dr. Moscosso and Morgan throw up, and I literally couldn't watch or hear them without wanting to throw up myself. But we made it to the island, and I didn't throw up!! 

Next day, we woke up at 5am to head to Lion's Head, the northwest side of the island, to snorkel. Literally the most magical place I've ever been to. The corals and fish were insane; it reminded me of Finding Nemo. So many sea fans and sponges, and I saw my favorite fish!! Blue tangs!! 10/10 

Day 3 was a hiking day to the Comunidad Garifuna on the east end. I genuinely cannot feel my legs, and my thighs are burning so badly, so if my legs/thighs aren't sculpted by the end of this trip, I'm going to be upset. We took the jungle route to get to the east end and had a guide dog walk with us, and he was too cute. The community and its people were so nice to us! 

We're about to go to lecture now, and then I have to swim with Morgan and Dr. Wassink to hammer down some PVC pipes to the reef floor for our research project we're doing on Duskies and Gobies. Successful 3 days here :) (minus the mosquito bites all over my legs) 

Rock climbers

 Went hiking to the east village on the island today and had a very interesting hike. Took a short cut through the woods with a guide and definitely took a few tumbles down the hill side 😂. Then on the way back we took a different path along the coast and had to literally scale rock walls and hills to get back. But once we got to the village it was really cool, the buildings were super colorful and the water was beautiful over there. Plus the people were nice and showed us around. And they showed us this huge red snapper they caught with a hand line which was crazy! 

Day 1: sea sickness adds to character development

 Landed in Roatan and got picked up from the airport after making it through customs; then we had to make it through the WORST 2.5 hour boat ride ever. The waves were super rough from the wind and we had to push through to get to Cayos. Me and Dr. Moscoso were twinning and both yacking over the side about half way through. It was definitely a journey for sure. And after that I realized it was better to try and face the front of the boat to see where we were going for the motion sickness and ended up getting SOAKED. But everything was back to normal when we got to Cayos and tried to get settled. There will be an acclimation period to get used to no A/C and the bugs and such but so far the food and people are great and the island is so beautiful! 

Survived the Sea, Soared the Trees

Wow I can't believe my time here has come to an end. I think I started to get island fever towards the end but then when it was actually time to go I got so sad. Last night all the spotted eagle rays came out to the dock to say goodbye it was so cool! There was like 10 or more!

Ocean angels 

We left to Roatan a day early because the waves were getting bigger and bigger and it wouldn't be safe. We left for Roatan this morning at 8 am. We said our goodbyes and began our treck across the caribbean. I am not going to sugar coat the boat ride, lets just say it was one of the scariest moments of my life, but all that matters is we made it safe. The boat captain said he had been through worse waves before but I was holding on for dear life, and I was completely and utterly drenched afterwards. After the boat ride the captain told me that from La Ceiba to Cayos its only 300 feet deep but the ride from Cayos to Roatan that we had just done was 4200 feet deep!!! Let's just say that I am so happy he told me that after the fact or else I would have been freaking out even more than I already was. Once we made it to the island we checked in to our hotel at the Roatan Yacht club which is extremely nice! There is a little restaurant and I have a nice bedroom that has a balcony over the harbor. After a quick lunch we decided to spend our last day doing something fun! So we headed down the island a little bit to this awesome zip lining place! The view at the top was unbelievable! 

Us before flying through the jungle

The tour guys taught us how to do cool zip lining tricks! They were doing backflips, front flips, handstands, hanging upside down, everything! Heres the trick I mastered! Nothing beats the view zip lining down!

So fun!!

Then, when we got to the bottom they had an area where we could see so many cool animals. We got to play with a monkey and let her crawl all over us. Then we got to hold macaws! They were so pretty! 

Pablo the Macaw

pure joy

We got to see ant eaters, white tailed deer, guinea pigs, capybaras, and even a sloth. The sloth kept reaching for me but I was too scared to hold it. It was an absolute blast. Today was so fun and such an amazing way to end this trip. We went out for one last dinner before heading back to the hotel to get some rest before our long travel day tomorrow. I had the best sushi of my life. I will never forget this trip and I am inspired more than ever to continue traveling the world. There truly is so much to see! 

California Tempura Roll