Rounding out February

As black history month winds to a close, my life continues to be full of fun and excitement.

On Friday I went on another shark trip. I was in charge of writing the blog for the day, so I will insert here the entry I made for the program:


Preparation for the trip this morning was carried out with efficiency and enthusiasm. Interns and students alike were itching to get out on the water and start reeling in the sharks. There was an unmistakable excitement in the fresh early morning air that built as the Miami-Dade College students volunteered to load the bait-crates with our collection of assorted fish parts. Watching them jump in to help without hesitating at the sight of sliced fish reassured us that this was going to be a fantastic day for catching sharks.

[The level of anticipation was very high as the hooks were being baited and dropped]

When all was ready, we set forth on our way seaward. Everyone pitched in when the time came to set the drumlines out with the tasty fish steaks attached. An efficient round of setting the lines brought us to our lunch break right on schedule. We used the opportunity to get to know the students, share shark stories, answer questions about sharks and shark research, and demonstrate exactly what will happen when we do catch one. The atmosphere became electric as soon as the time came to pull back around to the first line.

[There was a slow start to the day but it quickly picked up from there]

One of the things we have to deal with is nature's biting sense of humor. All of the buildup for reeling in sharks started to fade after 9 consecutive lines were pulled up empty. Just as hopes were starting to fall, I felt a good deal of tension on the 10th line. Sure enough, a 7ft nurse shark was on the other end.

[A total of 4 nurse sharks were pulled in today. All of them were large and were therefore not brought onto the deck.]

Like clockwork, everyone assumed their proper positions and we geared up with the tail rope. Nurse sharks have tougher skin than other species thus we do not bother with the muscle biopsy. They are notorious for putting up a fight making it difficult to safely bring the larger ones on board, hence the decision to rope the tail and make our measurements without pulling the shark out of the water. After an exhausting struggle, we successfully brought the nurse to the boat, roped the tail, and stabilized it without causing it any harm. Measurements were taken and morale was boosted as each student was able to come and feel the rough scales of this bottom-dweller.

[Here a black tip is being measured. The pump in its mouth causes water to flow across the gills allowing the shark to maintain oxygen levels.]

We let the shark go and with a renewed vigor proceeded to the next drumline. Throughout the rest of the day we managed to pull in 3 more nurse sharks, two black tips, and one lemon. The nurses tested our strength and tail-roping abilities but the black tips and lemon were brought to the deck, measured, sampled, and tagged with the precision and efficiency expected of an experienced team.

Alex Rodriguez Park

That night I ended up going to a UM baseball game where Appalachian State U upset us 7-5. That was my 4th UM sporting event I have attended and it was the 4th loss I've witnessed. Yes, it is sad.

Viola Day concert

On Saturday, there was an event at the Frost School of Music (in the heart of the main UM campus) called “Viola Day.” Yes, there was in fact an entire day devoted to sharing the love for the best instrument ever. I attended a couple of the forums and heard the concert. It was really quite nice to be back in the music atmosphere, albeit very brief.

Today was another early morning with a wake-up at 6am (30 minutes later than Friday morning!) but with plans of diving, it was completely worth it. I should mention I have the freakish ability to be wide awake within about 2 minutes of waking up without needing any energy supplement: it works about 90% of the time but it's amazing. Anyway we made it out to the marine campus, loaded up the van, and headed toward Miami Beach to load the boat at the marina. The dive boat was disgustingly full: there were 49 people on a 50 person capacity boat and easily a hundred tanks (2 per diver plus spares). One of them was a good friend I work with at the dive shop. It was completely overloaded but the diving ended up going very well. The dives were with my graduate “scientific research techniques in diving” course and we spent our time working on positioning, finning techniques, and skills. The highlight of the dives actually was on the descent of the first dive when I found a dive knife. This is a piece of equipment I've been thinking of buying for a few months and now no longer have the need for one. After the dives we came home, showered, changed, and met up at one of our classmate's houses for a bar-b-que. We made our own burgers, had great conversation, and ended up on the roof. Since we met at the marine campus at 7 and some coconuts caught my eyes, I'd been dying to have one but had no way to get up the tree to retrieve one. Earlier in the afternoon I had spotted a coconut tree that was particularly close to the roof of the friend's house. When we finally decided to go up to the roof, I went straight for the tree, grabbed a loose palm branch, and after about a minute of shaking, successfully dislodged the branch and several coconuts in the process. About 5 minutes after grabbing a large knife from the kitchen and hacking away, we were passing around the freshest coconut water many of them have ever had. By the time we finished drinking them, cut them open, and scraped out some of the meat, it was time to go. What a spectacular end to a great weekend!!!

Run of the Mill Update

I have several small bits of news. This time I will provide plenty of visuals!

Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to work for the dive shop again. It began as a transportation job but turned into me being an unofficial guide so that I could dive for free. I happened to bring my camera along because for me, it was a free fun dive and I had no official responsibilities until deciding to be the unofficial guide for the customers. We arrived at the first site and were told there was a bit of a current. Little did we know it was absolutely ripping. The short swim from the boat to the descent line proved to be so difficult that I had to rescue several customers, two people bailed before going down, another one panicked, and the remainder of the divers had about a third of a tank of air before descending. Once we reached the bottom, the current

Diving the Neptune

was much weaker but remained quite noticeable. The dive was actually nice in the end despite the incessant battle against the current. One of the divers had a great time, one got seasick, and the others hid their anger pretty well. It turns out the boat captain got a stinging furious online review from one of them the next day for taking us to the site with so much current.


Living in Coconut Grove

Artist explains her pieces to an art show-goer

(a quaint village in the heart of south-central Miami) has tons of perks. Small shops thrive here, it's the only truly pedestrian friendly area within miles, there are great restaurants and bars, residents get discounts from said eateries, and there is an annual arts festival of biblical proportion. Natalie and I went on Saturday. I knew the crowd was going to be large but I had no idea it would be in the thousands. Judging by the distance we covered and how thick the crowds were, I would guess there were upwards of 10,000 people there at any given point during our

One of many very crowded streets.

time there. The streets were shut down and filled to capacity with tents, people, and wonderful art from all over the country. I didn't make any purchases as the cheapest thing I could find was a small print for 75 dollars. In all honesty, I have no use for art now anyway so it's a good thing I didn't find anything worth buying. Don't get me wrong: there were some incredible pieces on display.

I've ragged on Ohio before; I know this. However, I willingly chose to stay there for 4 years of undergrad. To this day I don't regret going to Denison for a minute. It is a great school and I had a fulfilling experience there. Despite our incredible athletic program, one of the things Denison lacked was school spirit and nationally televised sporting events. Well what the University of Miami lacks in Physics department and close-knit programs, it easily makes up for in sports.

Shooting a free throw

A week and a half ago I attended my first college basketball game of my life and had an absolute blast. We lost to Duke (current national champions) but it was a good game and the atmosphere was electric making the experience well worth every bit.

I am a chair for an event coming up called Ocean Awareness Week and while you may hear me talk about it in the next post or two, I would rather not think about it right now.

Things with Natalie are going very well.

At the bowling alley

We're getting along swell and still learning new things about each other. This whole dating thing is really neat after all.

Finally, my job in Dr. Glynn's lab is going very well. I'm so productive that Dr. Glynn (THE Dr. Glynn who is world-famous in the coral world and THE Dr. Glynn who will be writing my letters of recommendation) invited me to lunch. I have no pictures from that but I hope to continue to make him happy for as long as I'm working for him.

Keep my cousin Claibourne in your prayers as she is going through pregnancy complications and almost had to deliver the baby two months early today.

Well, until next time, thanks for tuning in. That's All, Folks!

Why I Love My Life, Chapter 51,459

Friday and Sunday were the first two days of my internship with the shark lab. I would like to fill you in on what happened. Details specific to equipment and the catching process are difficult to explain and not quite as crucial to the experience so please forgive my lack of detail in those areas. I was picked up at 6am and rode to the station in Islamorada (southwest of Key Largo) an hour and a half away.

There is something to be said about warmth being breathed into the dark canvas overhead set in front of innumerable scattered palm trees. As the sun turned the sky from dark to a gradual orange glow, the silhouette of the trees literally took my breath away. I could not stop staring out the window in silent bewilderment at the beauty of the dawning day which held untold excitement.

From Islamorada, the boat ride to the Everglades took about an hour at top throttle and I bid my time with rest, conversation, and hypnotizing myself by staring at the boat's wake for miles. Nearing the destination, we baited the hooks with large chunks of fish about the size of softballs. The moment before picking up the first fish steak was the last time until the evening my hands were not covered with blood, guts, scales, and fish stench. I happily wiped as much as I could onto my pants almost as if it was a ceremonial moment in my life as an intern: the first stain of honor on my clothes.

The bait is attached to a hook that is attached to a large weight (we wouldn't want the fish at the surface where the birds can scavenge it all) which is then attached to a buoy. When we came back around to the first line the real fun began. At the end of our line was a lemon shark as big as I am. My duties had been explained to me but I'm the type of person that likes to see everything in action before it makes sense. However, I'm also the type of person to jump into anything if I think I know what's going on so I grabbed the sling (imagine a 7ft long, 3-4ft diameter orange pipe with a little give to it that's been cut in half long-way and had ropes attached to the edges). I put the sling in the water and held it in place as instructed. With a lot of hassle on the tiny lower platform, the team was able to pull the shark into the sling while it was still thrashing.

Laura measuring a lemon shark

When there are 5 people on a platform confined to about 3ft by 5ft trying to pull a heavy shark onto the deck, it gets rather crowded and hectic. Luckily we managed to keep everyone on the boat and successfully bring the shark up to us. As soon as we pulled her to the deck, the team pounced on her. The first thing to be done was to put a pump into her mouth that flows water over the gills and gives something to bite down on. As long as there is water flowing across her gills, the shark will be able to get a healthy supply of oxygen. Just as we had planned, 3 measurements were made, small fin and tissue samples were taken, 2 tags were attached, and the shark was released. This was the first time I had ever laid my hands on a living shark larger than 3 feet and I will not forget it anytime soon. Over the course of the day I began taking on responsibilities without being asked. If I had it my way, I'd be doing most of it (a testament to how much I love doing the dirty work), but that would make me a pretty lousy team player, wouldn't it. I continued to feel more comfortable around the team, boat, equipment, and especially the sharks and even though it meant waking up at 5:45 it was totally worth it. Between Friday and Sunday, we caught, measured, sampled, tagged, and released 8 lemons, 6 nurses, 2 bulls, one Atlantic sharpnose, one blacktip, and a hammerhead. I love my job.

In other news, my more or less sparse romantic life has taken an exciting turn. Last semester I met this girl named Natalie. Right away I thought she was someone that I could see myself being good friends with. Alas, our paths did not cross very frequently the first semester although we did leave for break after sharing lunch that lasted literally 6 hours. After coming back from break, we hung out much more and when we couldn't work out a time to meet up for lunch I cleverly suggested that we may as well just go for dinner instead. Well, things started to really click form there and before I knew it I had blurted out that I thought it would be a good idea to start dating. A week has gone by and things are going even better than I had expected. She's a senior at UM from southern California, impressively bright, only 2-3 inches shorter than I am, outgoing, adventuresome, and loads of fun to be with. Eventually I'll post a picture but until then my description will have to suffice.

My first picture with Natalie

This will do until we get a better one together.

In other other news, my uncle Rick is back home from the hospital. He's not out of the woods because he still has the kidney stone that was there when everything started, but all the other complications have more or less been taken care of and he's recovering in the comfort of his own home. Thanks for the support.