Pez Maya, Week 2!!
Trip Start
Oct 09, 2007
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4
9
Trip End
Dec 20, 2007
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Pez Maya,
Mexico
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Week 2!! What an amazing week!! In the past 7 days we've successfully passed our Advanced Open Water Scuba certification! Woo Hoo!! That involved a deep dive (100ft), navigating underwater by compass, boat skills, learning peak performance buoyancy, and naturalist fish and coral identification. For base underwater monitoring work, Cheryl passed her FISH ID test first try (way to go!!) and I also passed my CORAL Latin names test (passing here is 95%).
Last weekend we participated as staff in the 5th Annual Festival Tortuga de Marina (Festival of the Sea Turtle) in Xcascel near Tulum. This involved beach cleaning and setting up for the release of hundreds of baby loggerhead and Hawksbill turtles. The ceremony was incredibly moving as so many of the nests were lost to Hurricane Dean - in honor of those lost, everyone was given a white carnation to throw into the sea. It was a beautiful experience!
We spent another day this week in Tulum working with the other GVI base which specializes in teaching English to the adults and children. This was a lot of fun as we became the "tourist information central" at a booth in the center of town to both learn about the area and answer questions as people came up to our booth. That afternoon was spent at the recycling center started by GVI and given to the schoolchildren of Tulum to learn about and promote recycling of their plastic and glass products.
Early yesterday morning, I had the opportunity to go on a birding expedition with the Amigos de Sian Ka'an naturalist group working on their Masters thesis.
GVI Beach Crew!
We captured, by mist nets, these incredibly beautiful birds indigenous to the area and some migratory species as well. Then we measured, weighed, looked for any health issues, and then tagged these tiny and fragile creatures. We released an Indigo Bunting, Black Cat Bird, American Redstart, and a Bananaquit. It was amazing - they are doing bird research in the biosphere just like the research we're doing for fish and coral below the water.And the best part?? The diving!! We're logging 2 dives a day (I still can't quite pull myself up into that dang boat, but I'm getting a little better!!) and 1 more dive on Saturday if we're still up for it. My dive log is getting nice and full! The reef here is so clean and there are so many fish and coral to see. On Friday, a large Hawksbill turtle decided to check out our group and see up close what we were doing so deep in his world. He was amazing!! So close and so curious. The same dive we were being stealthily followed by two undercover barracudas, too!
We're still being eaten alive by mosquitos (they're called mozi's here), craving meat, and the beach sand gets EVERYWHERE, but it's an awesome experience. Saturday nights and Sundays in Tulum are a treat for proper showers, cheeseburgers, and football, but the week days aren't too bad either!! Next weekend we have a three day weekend - thinking about heading down to Belize to see what fun might be happening there! Check in with you all next week - we miss you - please send us updates on how you are all doing!! Take care!
From Cheryl:
As Lisa mentions above, week 2 was quite packed with some amazing things.
Turtle Festival
It was a great week for me as well in that I think I have become accustomed to the way we live here. It really was a bit of a challenge to get used to living as we are and in such remote conditions, but after a week like the one we just had, I am ready to stay on here as staff (well, almost!!)Getting my Advanced Open Water certification was a great feeling for me. I had always wanted to add to my certifications, but time and money were always an issue. Here we were able to complete a lot of work toward the certification while still doing all the work for the base itself.
The turtle festival was truly an amazing event. The hurricane damaged so many nests here that there were just a fraction of turtles to release this year. Last year they had over 1500 turtles to release (almost one per person attending). This year they had little less than 200. That did not stop the crowd from enjoying the events and the thrills of the release. There were dancers dressed in costume prior to the release. During the dance there was a commentary going on in Spanish that we later learned was about the hurricane. One of those dancers dressed with fire represented the hurricane and the dance was to ward off any bad spirits left as a result and to wish the few turtles success in surviving the next set of dangers that lie ahead for them. It was quite moving.
It is hard to believe that we are only 2 and ˝ weeks into this 10 week project. I feel like I have been here for so long because of all that we have been able to do and see over the short time we have been here already!
Next week some new updates from a three day break that we will be given from base duties! Hopefully some fun stuff to see and do and to share with you all!
