Christ is Risen!

Happy Easter everyone!!!!! Let's not forget why we celebrate! Because Jesus died and rose from the grave, we too may have eternal life with Him. If that's not enough to make your day, I'm not sure what will.

Sun peeking through storm clouds while rafting along Orange River, Namibia / S Africa border.

Series of Unfortunate Events

Last Sunday started off unsuspecting enough. I went to church and heard a great sermon about Jesus raising the girl from the dead. I came home briefly to prepare for the dive and went out on my way.

THE CAR:
Nearing the fork to go to the bridge to Key Biscayne, traffic suddenly seized up and became as thick as it was during the Sony Ericsson Open a few weeks ago. As I was stopped in the thick of it, my car suddenly jolted forward. Looking to make sure I hadn't stalled, I checked my rear view window and much to my dismay I saw a white Plymouth Neon too close for comfort. I turned on my hazards, checked for passing cars, got out and motioned the car to follow me. I led them to a private drive a dozen yards ahead, took down the driver's information, and turned to get back to my car. Before I could make it there, the passenger called out to me and asked me for directions to the beach. Classic. (Yes, I provided directions.)

THE FISH:
Arriving late (well, because it's Miami I was still one of the first ones there) to the dive, I started setting up my gear. Our instructor told us that instead of the regularly scheduled dive, we would be doing a “species eradication” dive. You see, lionfish are not endemic to Florida or anywhere in the Caribbean; they belong in the Pacific. They are an invasive species that have done nothing but ravage the reefs since they first arrived. We were given a crash course on spearfishing and before we knew it were in the water making our descents. After passing the second piling I looked back to see one of my buddies flailing her arms around. In less than 5 minutes, she found 3 lionfish together. Excited, I turned and followed her extended finger directly to their position. I cocked the spear, came in close to the largest fish, and released it. Although it was a direct hit, the tips were too blunt to puncture the skin. The two larger fish immediately bolted but the smaller remained in place so I tried again with the same result. To make a long story slightly less long, we saw about 8 lionfish before we (Heather) successfully speared one without it swimming free.

The idea is that once you spear the fish, the proper technique on this dive was to kill it with a knife through the head so naturally I offered the knife to Heather who shook her head at me. I shrugged and took the spear and fish down to the bottom a few feet below to give myself an operating surface. I positioned the knife and then pushed inward. Perhaps it was a lack of experience that did me in but since the fish was not secured very well, there was some movement as the knife pushed on one end and ultimately it moved when I went in for the kill. This alone wouldn't have been an issue if it were not for the fact that lionfish have conspicuous higly poisonous spikes all over their bodies. One of these spikes managed to pierce my work glove and prick my right index finger. I timidly stopped what I was doing, recoiled in super slow motion, dropped the knife which slowly sank to the sand, hesitated, slowly turned to my buddies, and then back to my hand. I cautiously removed the glove and when I pinched my skin, my fears were confirmed in the form of a tiny drop of blood.

I had been stung by a lionfish.

I slowly turned back to my buddies and when one asked if I was okay I shook my head and signaled to ascend. Rick pulled me aside before the dive and told me that he was putting me in charge of divers and wanted to make sure I understood all the safety measures of the dive. I made the difficult decision to end the dive for all 4 of us based on the “better safe than sorry” mentality though I really wanted to send them back down.

Here is the culprit, dead but still dangerous.  Photo: A. Porter

Frankly I didn't know what was going to happen to me although it turned out that the injury was not fatal. For anyone not allergic to lionfish stings who suffers a sting to the extremities will only have to deal with pain. It sets in a few minutes after being stung and slowly progresses. After 5 minutes, swelling will begin to occur and when another 5 minutes go by, the extremity will begin to go numb while the pain slowly spreads. When treated with hot water for at least 15 minutes (salt or fresh), the symptoms will subside...eventually. This may take days (I still feel evidence of the sting 4-5 days later), but the wounds will heal.

THE FALL:
Our team bagged the largest lionfish out of the bunch but unfortunately it was the only one with which we surfaced. We cleaned our gear and decided as a group to go to the dock and have some fun jumping off and swimming. Plenty of time and jumps, leaps, flips, spins, dives, and splashes later, we were all nearing the end of our swim session. I took a final dive into the water about 10 feet below and started swimming toward a nearby rope to hold on and rest in the current. Before I could reach the rope however, a jarring pain shot through my leg. I was stunned motionless for a few seconds but as I slowly came to my senses I pieced together that someone had just landed on me. Adding in what others said, I deduced that one of my classmates was pushed from the dock by another and landed knee-first on the side/back of my left thigh. Considering how it happened though, a lot went right: first of all she is the smallest one in our class and furthermore she landed on the strongest most durable part of my body. Had she landed on my back, neck, head, chest, hip, stomach, or any joint at all, it would have been a different story. Sure my leg was terribly sore for the following 3 days, but these things happen.

THE BAR:
Instead of quitting while ahead that night, I thought it would be safe to go out to chill with the same people at a bar in Coral Gables that had live music. I didn't end up ordering anything the whole night (true to form), but within the first 2 minutes of walking through the door, one of my classmates had her beer on a wobbly table and ended up spilling most of it on me. At that point I just laughed because really, what more could happen?

THE KEY:
I managed to make it out the rest of the night unscathed but had the need to quickly make the half-mile trip to the post office the following morning. I left myself enough time to go there by bike and rode straight to the closest bike rack. When I went to open my lock in order to place it on my bike, the key became stuck. It would turn 90 degrees but would not pull out or turn the rest of the 90 degrees to unlock it. I sat on the curb for 5 minutes trying to make it work to no avail. Due to my time constraints, I was forced to admit defeat and head home. The following day I took it to campus security where I originally got it and asked them for help. They directed me to the website of the manufacturer and said I need to sort out a refund/repair with them. At the time of writing, the lock has yet to be fixed.



All of these things happened within a 24 hour period but despite all of my misfortunes, I ended up having a marvelous day.

Life is good.

You Betta Belize It

Image: http://www.nahanni.com/

I am going to Belize to lead the Dolphin Studies trip for Broadreach/Academic Treks this summer.  Exciting!

Here is a link to the website describing the trip in detail.  I would be lying if I said it was my first choice (we all know how much I love sharks and the Pacific so I was naturally drawn to the Fiji Shark Studies trip), but it's going to be amazing.  To make things even better, I know of 2 kids that I had last summer in Egypt who will be going on this trip to Belize this summer!

Science Diving Weekend Extravaganza

BANG!!! My drifting mind was jolted instantly to full alert. The van was packed to the brim with luggage, dive gear, 10 people, and several scuba tanks of highly compressed air as it plowed forward at 65mph down Alligator Alley well after dark. My hands reached for the seat in front of me as my eyes focused on the road ahead. My mind was working at an inhuman pace as it processed everything around me: my classmates in the car waking up startled, the van to our right, the scuba cylinders beneath our seats, and the highway ahead as it swayed left and right across the windshield.

After what felt like 30 seconds of stumbling to a stop, Kevin (class TA) was able to control the van all the way to the shoulder on the median. We immediately checked for traffic and hopped out of the van, hearing another car grind its way to the median in front of us. I advised everyone to stay well back from the highway and went with 3 others to find whatever it was that we just hit while Kevin got back in the van to drive it to the other side of the 2-lane highway. A few hundred yards of scurrying down the median, we saw a shape on the road that turned out to be part of the suspension of the semi-truck that we did not realize had already pulled off the side of the road a hundred yards ahead of where our van stopped. I picked up the greasy, piping hot, 50 pound piece of metal and with the others crossed the road and worked our way over the rough terrain back to the van.

After regrouping, I was finally able to look at the tire. The hole in the rubber was nearly big enough to fit my head and around the hole it looked as if it was mauled and mangled by a bear. Knowing the shoulder was not safe, we immediately started in on changing the tire. We removed all bags from the back, struggled to remove the spare tire from under the van, eventually released it, jacked up the van, changed the tire, replaced the blowout, loaded all the bags back in, and filed back in for a short ride to the nearest gas station to top off the tire pressure. Since everyone was safe, I feel safe saying that it was a very exhilarating and exciting way to kick off a great weekend.

The rest of the weekend was entirely enjoyable but none of it makes for nearly as good of a story so I apologize for the dry style of the rest of the post.  Furthermore, I am unable to get a hold of any classmate photos from Little Salt Spring, at least as of yet.  Sorry!

We arrived at Little Salt Spring during a thunderstorm so we carried only the essentials in from the vans. 6 hours later we were waking up for an orientation and some diving. The weather had cleared and it was looking beautiful.  A couple people from the Florida Aquarium came down to show us some surface-supplied diving where the tanks remain at the surface and the divers descent with an “umbilical” attached to them. The type of masks they brought allowed for verbal communication and it was the first time I had ever tried it. If it weren't outrageously expensive and bulky, it would be a cool way to dive under more circumstances. We also learned about underwater archaeological excavation techniques that day which again was something very new to me.

Entrance to the Florida Aquarium

Saturday morning was spent at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa, a good 1-2 hours north of our site. Last month when we took the midterm for the class, I earned one of the top 7 scores and thus earned a dive in the aquarium. The dive was actually broken up into two parts: first was an underwater tour of the tank we were in, and the second was to clean algae from the fake corals. My favorite part of the entire dive was a queen triggerfish that I interacted with for about 5-10 minutes. In all likelihood it was being territorial (as most triggerfish tend to be), but it was so timid about it that it made for a fantastic interaction where I pretended to reason with it, explaining with hand gestures that I needed to clean the corals.  When that didn't work out, I offered it my alternate air supply, I pretended to clean the fish itself, and turn back to the glass looking puzzled at all the amused faces pointed in my direction.

Queen Triggerfish Photo: A. Porter

Eventually my buddy came over and motioned me away from my corner to clean a different part of the tank. The cleaning was very unusual because with fake coral, the best way to scrub was by climbing and otherwise aggressively holding onto it. I hope that none of the aquarium guests saw us on the coral thinking it was real and walking away with the notion that this is how professional divers treat coral. Between the remainder of Saturday and Sunday morning, I had the opportunity to dive with double tanks (which I'm already certified for but it was nice to do again anyway), use a diver propulsion vehicle (“scooter”), practice navigation, and excavate one of the sites used for archaeological study. Overall, the weekend was fantastic.

In other news:

My good camera is indeed broken, hopefully not beyond repair but it's out of commission for the time being.

My underwater camera's battery charger is no longer functioning, so it will be a while before I solve that issue, though it is easier than fixing a broken camera.

I ordered a machete which came in the mail while I was gone so I can now easily open coconuts!

Simon Cowell's show “X Factor” is having auditions for 2 days at our basketball stadium on campus. Traffic is horrific!

Rafael Nadal ended up losing a tiebreaker to Djokovic in the finals

Rafael managed to snag free tickets for the Sony Ericsson Open on the 28^th of March and we were able to see a couple matches before they were canceled on account of rain. We picked up the raincheck and went in 2 days later to see Djokovic and Azarenka, the two who would continue on to become the singles champions.

Coming Soon

I just got back from a class trip to Little Salt Spring.  It was fantastic and I have a lot to talk about.  Keep an eye out over the next few days.  My camera broke so it may be about a week before I obtain pictures from classmates to go along with it.

Spring Break!

4 team members with a Caribbean Reef Shark.  Photo: N. Hammerschlag

My legs were pressed tight against the gunwale (side of the boat) as I balanced and braced myself to pull in the line. Hand over hand, the 40 pound weight slowly came closer and closer to me while the rope tore at my tired rugged hands with every pull. From behind me came the usual words of encouragement from the rest of the very capable team while one of the members coiled the rope as it came onto the deck. The sun beat down on the clear blue water and heated our small boat, turning the sweat and ocean water on my body into a layer of crusty white salt. Heaving the weight onto the deck, I announced that the hook timer was intact. The hook timer is a device used to tell how long a shark has been on the line. When the shark takes the bait and swims away, the timer pops and begins counting. This way when we pull them in, we know how long they have been hooked and use this knowledge to decide a plan of action. If it has been on for over an hour for instance, especially for a hammerhead, we let it go without taking a full set of data.

Diagram of fishing setup

One of the team members jumped in and started reeling in the monofilament while another prepared the next bait to go on the hook. We paused as we noticed that there appeared to be some tension in the line. Curious, we all stopped to watch, hoping for the best. Since nurse sharks live on the bottom, they often take the bait and don't move so we assumed it was just another nurse. As it came closer it became clear from the shape and coloration that it could not possibly be a nurse but we couldn't quite identify it.

With one flick of the tail, the shark bolted and the one reeling it in struggled to stay on two feet. Knowing the shark was one of our biggest, all six of us quickly took action and within seconds we were all standing by: one with a tailrope, another with the cable, someone else to move the weight as needed, another to spot, and two people helping to pull in the shark. These tasks are never assigned but always get done as needed. We had become very good at recognizing what needed to be done and making sure it happened by this point in the trip.

“Definitely a tiger!” the captain called out as the shark neared the surface, still fighting and threatening to pull two of our experienced team members overboard. (Tiger sharks sometimes don't realize they're hooked and thus don't pull enough to pop the hook timer which explains why it was not engaged.) A renewed excitement washed over the crew. I wanted to drop the tailrope to help bring the shark in but there are only so many hands that can pull the line at a time. At long last, the shark was brought alongside the boat, the cable was wrapped around the body and I made quick work to slide the tailrope around the tail. The massive tiger refused to cooperate and she rolled over and over and over while we did our best to hold her in place. My hands were aching while I braced myself in the engine well grasping the aluminum rod that held the rope now attached to the shark's tail.

After a few minutes, she exhausted herself and we were able to start taking data. During this time it was decided that a couple of the girls (one being the videographer) could jump in the water with the shark so they quickly pulled their gear together. My long arms were needed to hold the dorsal fin out of the water enough to take a fin clip. After passing off the tailrope I made a split-second detour to my underwater camera to hand to the other team member in the water before grabbing the medical shears and draping myself over the gunwale in one smooth motion.

Trying to hold the shark. Photo: C. Shepard

Sharks secrete what is called TMAO on their scales and for all intensive purposes we can just consider it to be a mucous layer all over their body. For a reason unknown to me, tiger sharks have a lot of it. The reason I bring this up is that when trying to hold onto a dorsal fin to lift a several hundred pound fish up from the water as much as possible with one hand, operating medical shears in another hand, and holding onto the small piece of fin that is being cut off with yet another hand, things are complicated enough. Throw in a moving boat, raise it about 3ft from the water, and add a whole bunch of slippery TMAO into the mix and the task is rather impossible. Luckily with the help of the girls in the water we were able to take the sample and we were ready to set the shark loose.

Using bolt cutters to cut the hook is rarely a problem when the sharks are on the boat. However, it's another story when it's a 9-ft tiger shark in the water 3ft below the boat's edge with the hook lodged deep into the jaw and the boat is rocking back and forth. The professor wasn't able to cut the hook himself and needed help. Every situation calls for different measures. This time, help came in the form of me needing to scramble up to the port side, tangle myself there in the railing with my legs, dangle over the edge of the boat with my face hardly two feet from the shark's mouth, pull the monofilament taught with one hand, and grab one handle of the bolt cutters with the other to help him cut the hook. Here was yet another task that proved to be a great reminder that I am not a magician. I had to let go of the bolt cutters and monofilament to reposition myself while barely keeping from falling into the water within striking range of the tiger's jagged teeth. I settled myself, pulled the monofilament, and the professor was able to brace the cutters against the outboard side of the boat to cut the hook. A bit jaded, the shark swam slowly away, dipping under the hull and passing to the starboard side as she descended into deeper water. All six of us shared a brief moment of understood excitement, relief, satisfaction, exhaustion, accomplishment, and exhilaration before the feeling turned to the realization that we needed to make a swift hook replacement, set the bait and line, and tend to the 9 other baits in the water that needed to be retrieved.

Tiger shark swimming away.  Photo: F. Graham

Releasing bait. Photo: C. Shepard

Over the course of the 3 fishing days, 33 sharks were pulled up to the boat with a species list including bull, nurse, great hammerhead, lemon, tiger, caribbean reef, and atlantic sharpnose. Most of the catches were much easier to deal with and we handled them like a well-oiled machine. Although living quarters were tight on the 38ft boat, the trip could not have been successful if we had cut back by one person. The story above makes it sound as if I was doing a lot of the work but this is not the case. Everyone else had just as many responsibilities when a shark was on the line and it would be unfair to go without giving them due credit; I'm the least experienced member of the team after all. Anyway, I had many “firsts” during the 5-day trip to the Dry Tortugas and I apologize for not going into detail. If anyone asks, I will provide another story, but until then, here is the list:

Goliath grouper. Photo: D. Lazarre

Going to Key West
Going to the Dry Tortugas
Touching a tiger shark
Touching a caribbean reef shark
Snorkeling with wild dolphins
Catching a goliath grouper (larger than me) on rod and reel
Snorkeling with a nurse shark


Since returning to Miami from break, everything has gone my way. I found out that my cousin Claibourne had her baby, I got an A on my diving midterm which means I'll be one of the 6 to dive in the Florida aquarium in a week and a half, I used my birthday money to buy a new Halcyon backplate and BCD with Apeks regulators, and I scored a free ticket to the 4th round of the Sony Ericsson Open for Monday night through a friend of Rafael (we don't know who will be playing that match yet). Stay tuned and as I said, let me know if you want more detail on the other parts. It's getting late, this post is long enough, and I think sleep is a little more important at this point.

Back on Solid Ground

I'm back from my trip to the Dry Tortugas! What a trip! I'm posting only to say that I will post about the trip later. I didn't have a computer on the trip and haven't written anything about it at all. It was a very eventful trip that will require a ton of thought and time to compile a post. Keep checking back over the next week to see if anything is up. I'll try to get it out as soon as I can but I'm working now on editing the photos that I took while there. Cheers!

Another Wonderful Pi Day

For someone who is 24 years old, I really have experienced a great deal. I'm inclined to say this and I would reckon that others would probably agree. Why? In order to make that statement, a comparison must be made. My life experiences have to be compared to another's. Everyone is different and we should not be subjected so readily to comparison. What I'm getting at is that while my list of travels and exotic experiences may be long, it holds no bearing on anyone else. Mine are not better than anyone else's. I am immensely grateful for every opportunity that I have had: particularly the ones that I have taken. I thank God every day for the blessings I have been given and the doors that have been opened to me.

Today is my 24th birthday for which I somehow have an unusual enthusiasm this year. Most of my friends have left for spring break so the will be spent preparing for the trip to the Dry Tortugas and maybe going for a bike ride or pestering whoever is working in the dive shop. Last year's birthday (which I discovered I didn't ever write about) ended up being a fantastic day at the beach, the dive shop, around town, and having a fantastic grilled lobster dinner on Sint Maarten. We'll see how this one goes!

Tomorrow I wake up before 6, drive down to Islamorada, spend the day catching sharks with the group form the Miami Heat, spend the night at the house of our captain, then Wednesday around 4 or 5am, we will spend most of the day traveling to the Dry Tortugas to start catching sharks. I will not be able to update my blog while I'm there but as long as my camera does not break, I will come back with loads of great photos.

Until next time, enjoy this day of Pi (3.14) and talk to a friend you haven't heard from in a while.

Young Eyes

Look into a mirror. Look hard. Stare into the eyes of the one who knows you best. Don't think, just observe and clear your mind. Take all the time you need.

Imagine yourself as a child. Allow enough time to truly remember. Watch as the face in the glass gets younger, as memories flash in front of you. Think back to the games you played, the friends you laughed with, and the dreams you had. Hear the calls of your friends to get you to come outside. Feel the wind in your hair as you ride your first bike. Smell the baseball glove when you opened it up for the first time. Taste your favorite candy on which you happily spent your entire allowance. Whatever your memories are, relive them while staring deeper and deeper in to the eyes in front of you. Remember the details of each memory. You are young. You are innocent and naïve. You have your whole life ahead of you.

Look now from within the reflection at yourself. Is this adult the person you had wished you would become? Has this person made wise choices? Do you want to grow up to be just like him or her? Would you look up to the adult staring you in the face? Think about these things. Connect with yourself. See your own life from inside and out.

We all change. A dynamic life is the only one I would ever want to have. I know that I have different values and ideals now than I did years ago and in some cases, just days ago. I would act much differently in past situations if I was put there today. This is part of growing. Embrace the change; without it you would actually be the child you were and there would be no point to try seeing yourself through those eyes because the perspective would be no different. What is nice about this inner reflection is that it's possible to step back and see where this growth is taking you. If it's not where you want to go, it's never too late to change. As Gandhi said, "you must be the change you wish to see in the world." I believe this starts with being the change you wish to see in yourself.

The bottom line here is to think. Think about yourself, your habits, ideals, beliefs, and actions. How do these things play a role in the world around you? Are you proud of who you are? As a child, would you look at yourself now and be excited for what lies ahead? Think about it.

Change of Plans

Managers of the team, some players, and several kids from the Miami Heat foundation have been wanting to get in on a shark trip for a long time. To make a long story short, they're coming on the 15th of March which is going to change our Tortugas trip formerly scheduled from the 13th-19th. We now have no plans for the 13th and 14th, will take the group from the Heat out on the 15th, then begin our trip on the 16th and return on the 20th. On one hand, we are going to miss out on a few days of catching sharks and I suddenly have no plans for my birthday (even if plans come about, I have to consider that I will wake up at 5:45 the next morning to get down south for the Heat group). On the other hand, we'll be catching sharks and I'll get to meet one or two of the benchwarmers for the soon-to-be NBA champions.

I met with a professor at RSMAS today (RSMAS is the name of the renowned marine school at the University of Miami). Not much was decided but it has become very likely that I will return to Miami at the end of the summer. She commented more than once on how much my networking over the past few months has impressed her which was a huge compliment. Needless to say, it is difficult to justify leaving the 3rd best marine science school in the country and cutting off the ties I've made to start over somewhere else from scratch.