My Little Life Adventures: 10 surveys, 3 frogfish, 2 injuries, one inflatable crocodile and lots of stupid rules

Date: 01 November 2010

Status: In the mood for whining - and also reviewing the first 4 weeks

It’s been nearly four weeks now. It makes me feel like looking back a little and thinking about how has the reality (so far) matched the expectations. This will be more of a brain dump than a structured analysis. I’m on holiday :)

The best part has been the science, the surveys and the people. I’ve just really enjoyed learning about the corals, the sealife, doing surveys with my head down and feet up in the water. That’s good – because that’s why we are here.

My biggest surprise has been that I’m not bored yet. I thought it would be too quiet here and I would get bored quickly. So far I’ve been bored only momentarily and found ways to entertain myself – like taking a lilo or a crocodile out in the sea. Boredom reduced instantaneously.

The worst is the silly rules. It’s like being on a kiddie summer camp. We did have kiddie summer camp rules in the military camp on the peacekeeping mission in Eritrea – but that was almost understandable since it was a crisis area. They seem to have a similar line of thinking here at coral cay as they have in the army. Rules that don’t really make complete sense but are imposed since they were put in place. I’ve taken the stand that I’m not going to argue with the rules but I don’t agree with them. One of our other volunteers, expressed it even better: “I’m not arguing with the rules I just think they are stupid.” Amen. You could not have selected better words, Jon.

Here’s a few examples on the rules. You can only leave the camp on Sundays and you are only allowed as far as the nearest village (about 40 minutes walking) and you have to be in the company of at least one other person (volunteer or staff). Even on Sundays you must be back by 5pm sharp. I know because I was once back at 5.45 and the project scientist and scuba instructor gave me a go for “reporting back late”. (Am I 5 years old?)

The rule of not leaving camp also means I can’t go for a run –ever. On weekdays I can run up and down the hill to the nearest shop – and on Sundays it’s pretty much the same as I’ll never be able to find another volunteer here who wants to go for a run.

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That's enough of whining for one blog post. Moving on.

We’ve seen some nice creatures on the surveys which makes up for a lot of the stupidity. Last week we did several surveys on a transect that had frogfish, midnight cowries, mantis shrimp and one big orangutang crab. Not bad at all! I’ve managed to do 10 surveys in total so far and am only looking forward to more.

Froggie (Photo: Jakob Blom)

Midnight Cowrie (Photo: Jakob Blom)

Orangutang Crab (Photo: Jakob Blom)

We did one of our Saturday fun dives at the survey site area too since the survey teams who have been there have kept raving about the site. I’ve been on almost every survey done at this site so I’ve been a happy bunny. The great thins is also how much more you see on a dive now that you know what the things that you see are called. Sponges have somehow turned from weird colourful lumps into really fascinating lumps (haha - they are still lumps!), feather dusters are really interesting, sea stars have now got names (weird latin ones though) and corals just look completely different. Even algae is almost exciting. I’m turning into a marine life geek here soon. But it’s ok – most people here are a lot worse than me so I pass for a normal person.

On a survey (Me, Mike - don't know who is in the background. Photo: Jakob Blom)

Looking less glam trying to find the shrimps while doing the Algae&Inverts role (Photo: Jakob Blom)

Jon & Gareth after finishing the survey. (Photo: Jakob Blom)

Gareth & Neasa. (Again Jakob's photo)

Well, maybe not quite. I’ve also managed to get a reputation for being a little bit weird (“a proper potty” as Mike expressed it) for taking a lilo and an inflatable crocodile out for a little spin in the sea. According to the audience I gave the crocodile a good humping. It probably wasn’t very far from the truth of what I looked like on the crocodile paddling with my arms and kicking with both legs. But it’s ok because the crocodile really liked it. It said so.

The Croc

I’ve also managed to gather some injuries and they will keep me from diving for a few days. I got a small scratch on my leg from pole dancing on the flag pole. The flag pole surface was not nearly as smooth as a proper dancing pole and as a consequence I got a scratch on my leg. It was only a surface scratch but it did not like getting wet and seeing salt water twice a day during the dives. The wound was not healing, it only getting worse by day and eventually I had to decide not to get in the water for a few days. We had two public holidays when we did not dive and following that I’ve also stayed out of the water. It’s just not fun not being able to dive, boohoo….

Leg looks prettier when covered up

I’ve been boat marshalling for the survey teams. Since I can’t get my leg wet I’ve had to use some acrobacy to get on our boat. We don’t have a jetty and hence need to wade in. I’ve been piggybacked to the boat or hopped on one foot and climbed in on the side of the boat where the water is shallower than by the steps. A bit of a pain for the people who have been piggybacking me. I must have looked hilarious too having hanging from the side of the boat trying to pull myself up on the boat deck.

Boat Marshall slate

Today and yesterday have been just boat marshalling days. A little boring – but made myself useful with saving one fin that fell in the sea. Probably the only useful thing I’ve done. Tomorrow still off diving but after that I’m hoping to get back in water.