Bimini

The dreaded day.  THE day.  The day I had to pack my bags and leave my home.  It was hard.  Packing all of my things up.  Taking everything off of my shelves.  Claiming laundry off the line and gathering stray GoPro parts from around the lab.  It was all hard.  

My flight was at 11:30.  I signed the book, said my goodbyes multiple times, and Michael took me to the airport.  We waited for my flight to board for about 45 minutes.  I got to see Alex again and we talked for a while.  A good distraction.  But then I had to board my plane.  I’m glad I had a dolphin group on my plane because they were really talkative and kept my mind occupied.  But it was hard.  Saying goodbye to Bimini, to my home, to Michael.  It was all hard.  And it’s still hard to think about not being there.  But all good things have to end.  The flight back was quick.  Too quick.  And suddenly I was in civilization again.  20 minutes and I was in a different world.  I didn’t like it.  I still don’t like it.  I wish I was in Bimini.  But new things are good and after 7 months at the lab it was time for me to move on.  But it wasn’t easy.  

Those guys were my family.  Are my family.  Heather, Bryan, Mo, Rachael, Clem, George, Nick, Bryan, Kelsey, Sarah, Andi, Ally, David, Andy, Rob, Lindsay, Lauran, TJ, Jill, CJ, Jean, and Michael.  I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to be with the past four months.  There’s nothing like doing other people’s laundry and cleaning their bathrooms.  Y’all are my family and I could never have imagined that this round at the lab would be so different from the lab last year.  I learned so much more about people and about myself.  So thank you.  Thank you for everything.  All of you.

And now, off to the next great adventure…

Off day!  It was really nice to have my last day as an off day.  I had packed all of my things the afternoon before so I had pretty much the whole day free to spend time with Michael.  We got up early and went to breakfast at Le Petit Conch as usual.  It was really windy out and there was a dolphin (fish, not mammal) tournament starting on Saturday (it was Friday) so there were a TON of boats in and out of the Sands Marina.  We sat watching the boats dock for a while.  Incredibly entertaining, if you’ve never done it.  Watching huge yachts come in and dock is impressive.  We walked down the channel and were on the beach for a few minutes before going back.  Then we watched one yacht leaving.  The thing was huge, with its own crew and everything.  But that captain had been at it for a while and did a perfect job.  And then proceeded to get almost hit exiting the channel by a jerk fisherman from Ft. Lauderdale.  But such is boat etiquette in Bimini…

After we left the Sands, we walked back along the road by Shell Beach and back to the lab.  We putzed around for a bit and then Michael took his fly rod out to Back Beach to see if he could hook anything.  He taught me how to cast briefly and never caught anything but we did see a few lemon sharks and a BIG barracuda.  When we came back in, we kept looking at the weather because we REALLY wanted to go down to Gun Key and Cat Key but the weather was just too bad.  

Instead we walked around the island and decided to play tourist for a day.  We went to the Nature Trail and read all of the placards and signs around the trail.  We took some pictures and took our time walking around, actually looking at everything.  It was a lot of fun and a great way to spend the afternoon.  

When we got back, we went to the Beach Club for dinner.  Jean came down and joined us a few minutes later and we had a very nice evening together.  It was pretty quiet there too.  We ate, had a drink and dessert, and just chatted for a while.  I got to see Alex while she was there too so I got to say goodbye to my only 2012 fellow Sharklabber still on-island.  

After getting back to the lab, Michael and i headed to Back Beach with firewood in-hand and made ourselves a little bonfire.  We set out a blanket and watched Jurassic Park, too.  It was a wonderful last day in Bimini.  The weather didn’t cooperate but it was perfect nonetheless.  

The students left that morning.  It was sad seeing them all go but it was very nice having an empty lab again.  I spent the morning cleaning up a little and moving back into my room while everyone else was cleaning the Nut House and Salt Air where they were staying.  It was SO quiet.  One group left at about 10:00, another at 10:30, and the last one after lunch at about 1:00.  The last group was only 7 students so the lab felt very empty.  Even with all of the volunteers and staff for lunch it was really quiet.  

After lunch, we had the afternoon off.  I started my packing so I could have the whole next day off to do whatever I wanted.  It was sad but needed to be done.  Michael napped and I watched The Princess Bride while I got all of my stuff organized.  I got most everything in and then made dinner for Michael and me.  We had some bad weather rolling in so we watched the rain during dinner.  It was such a quiet night.  There were only 14 people but it felt like there was nobody.  After having 38 people in the lab for a week, it was incredible.  We were all doing our own thing even though we were all in the lab.  And you could hardly tell anyone else was there.  Amazingly quiet.  It was weird but so nice after such a crazy week.  

I just realized I hadn’t finished my blog!  I do apologize for the delay.

Anyway, we had a crew up at 5:45 and out at about 6:00 to go reset the longline.  They rebaited the wild card line and then hauled two lines to reset them near the wild card line and baited those ones as well.  I never went back to sleep after they left so I went for a nice run just to the ferry dock and back but it was a nice morning for it.  

When I got back from the run, we had breakfast and then Kelsey, Rachael, and I drove the three skiffs around from the Yacht Club back to the lab.  It was pretty splashy but not a bad ride early in the morning.  After getting back, Ally, Rachael, Kelsey, and I headed out to set one gillnet off of Back Beach and the guys were setting another one.  It turned into a competition.  We won.  We had three neonates, the guys had one.  We caught the first one before we finished setting the net.  Rachael jumped out and got it and it turned out to be one of the two neonates they had caught gillnetting there the day before and didn’t know not to release.  We worked it up and before we could take it to the pen, the guys caught the second neonate from the day before!  It was good to see they were still around and alive.  We took them to the pen and had another one waiting at our net when we got back.  Another new neonate.  Kelsey PIT tagged it and took it to the pen.  About 30 minutes we caught our last neonate of the morning and I got to PIT tag it.  Such a fun little shark.  

We hauled the net at 10:45, got everything cleaned and put away, and were called out for a big tiger shark on the longline!  We quickly loaded everyone up and headed out to the line.  When we got out there, TJ, Michael, CJ, and David had the shark tied up next to the boat ready for the students to watch the work up.  They worked her up and then we all got to get pictures with her.  She was BEAUTIFUL.  When the working up and pictures were done, they attached her to a tail float and let her go.  The students followed for a bit and then took the tail float off and watched her swim away well.  It was great fun and a beautiful shark.  

The guys stayed out to debait and dehook the lines so they didn’t catch any more sharks while the rest of us went back to the lab for lunch.  They actually did it in record time, 32 minutes, and got back just as we finished eating.  Impressive, boys.  After finishing lunch, we all hung around for a while.  The students were working on their coursework and we were cleaning up the lunch mess when they decided it was nice enough to go to Nurse Shark Ledge.  Andi was on duty but I switched with her because I’m useless at Nurse Shark Ledge because of my ears and she had never been before.  So… after they headed out Rachael and I had a cleaning FEST.  The house hadn’t been empty with time to clean in days so we hardcore cleaned the kitchen and the lab.  It was great.  

After they all got back, we all had free time to get ready and nice for dinner at the Beach Club.  I went and showered at Salt Air and got ready.  At 7:30 we headed down to the Beach Club for our dinner with the students.  It was a very nice time with all of them and was the first time I really had the chance to talk to many of them.  But it was a nice night and even afterwards in the bar itself we all had a good time.  It was a great end to a long week but a great course.  

Fishing day!  Doc wanted Michael to take the Twin Vee out for a spin to see how the steering was doing so Andi and I went with him to do some trolling.  We got all of the gear together and headed out.  Just behind the dock in our lagoon there’s a huge school of a couple hundred bonefish that come in every morning about 9:00.  It was about 8:45 and they were making their way in when we saw a huge barracuda following them.  Michael grabbed a spinning rod with a J-hook on it, hooked a ballyhoo through the eyes, and cast it out.  It only took two casts before the cuda saw it.  Watching it hunt was incredible too.  I’ve wanted for the longest time to see a barracuda hunting and striking something.  It came up behind it, and then darted to its side.  Then it came back around and darted past it on the other side.  It made a few quick passes behind and around it again and then BOOM!  It took it and RAN.  Because we were in about 3-4 feet of water it couldn’t dive like they usually do on reefs so it was just running to open water.  It jumped and flipped a few times as it made its way out to the channel.  It ran so fast though Michael actually almost ran out of line.  I had to drive the Twin Vee towards the cuda just so he could start reeling.  It took line a couple more times and then tired out.  Michael gaffed it while Andi reeled it in.  It was a huge fish.  At least 20 lbs. with a huge head and teeth about an inch long.  Scary fish.  And the hook was literally just hooked through the scales on the side of his jaw.    If he had gotten the line in his mouth it would have been game over too because it wasn’t on a rig so there was no leader or anything, just mono.  It was an impressive catch by Michael to say the least.

Anyway, we went back to the dock, threw it in the freezer after telling everyone about it because they didn’t believe us.  We headed back out towards Turtle Rocks and just trolled there for the morning.  Michael wanted to stay close in case the Twin Vee stopped cooperating.  I had three bites on my rod and Andi had two.  They all got off though.  I know one of mine was a houndfish, so were the rest of them probably.  It was disappointing but at least Michael got us one giant cuda.  

When we got back, we had lunch and then we were supposed to head north to bait for bull sharks for the students.  David had never been so I switched places with him and stayed back to help with dinner prep and some cleaning.  Michael, Andi, David, and Ally headed up with a skiff from the lab and shortly thereafter Kelsey and I left to go up north to see how the baiting was going and to buy some supplies for the lab.  We got up to the Blue Water dock where they were baiting but it had been unsuccessful up to that point.  Kelsey and I went ahead and did our necessary shopping and still they had gotten norting when we got back.  It had also started raining.  They called it about 5:30 and Kelsey and I took the ferry back while everyone else boated back.  

After prepping dinner once back at the lab, I made a cake for Andy Kell because it was his last day which was very sad for all of us. But it was all enjoyed and very delicious.  

It was a very low-key day.  The students went and did a shark dive, Honeymoon Harbor feeding wild stingrays by hand, and then snorkeling at the Sapona while the rest of us did some lemon shark wrangling.  When we finished that, I spent the whole rest of the evening cleaning, fixing, and regalvanizing the longlines.

I got to spend the whole day with my parents fishing!  I spent the first couple hours of the day at the lab helping out with morning duties and then met them at the Sands at 9:00.  They rented a Twin Vee from the Sands for the whole day so we got on the water and headed to the lab to pick up fishing gear.  I had never driven a Twin Vee so it was an interesting experience but good practice.  I got all of our gear ready from the lab and then we headed back to the west side to do some offshore trolling.  

We trolled up and down the north side of the island for a couple of hours but never caught anything.  It was pretty swelly and choppy so the weather was pretty much against us in every way, shape, and form.  Then we decided to go to Turtle Rocks and see what we could find there.  That’s where we usually catch our bait for the lab so there are mostly always fish there.  We stayed on the west side of the rocks and only trolled that half mile stretch but we had a few big hits, dad caught a mackerel, mom caught two cuda (a big one we kept for the lab and a baby we let go), a triggerfish, and some mystery fish that got off before we could get it in the boat but it was big, and I caught a small cuda we let go.  It was a pretty successful day all around.  

Dad dropped me and all of the stuff off at the lab while they returned the boat.  Michael and I filleted the mackerel and gave it to my parents so they could have it for dinner.  I stayed back to help that evening because I had been out all day.  Michael and I went over after everything was done around 10:00 and visited for a couple of hours though.  it was a wonderful day on the water even though the weather wasn’t great.  

My parents’ second day here I didn’t actually see them at all.  We were out in the field all day.  I was helping get the course out the door in the morning - they were going to Aya’s Spot and Bonefish Hole - and then we left for Clem’s trials after lunch around 2:00.  It was a slow process getting up there because we had to putt the whole way as it was low tide but Ally and I got some quality nap time in despite the wind pushing the spray into the boat and making us cold.  

We got up there and had to wait about 30 minutes for Jean to be done with his video trials so we could get his GoPro housing from him.  We got the housing, set up the trial, and started.  It took us a while to get everything done because of the wind but after no more than 45 minutes we were done.  Then came the really challenging part - moving the sharks.  Each of the sharks in the trial pens had to be moved back into the main holding pen which was easy.  Catching a shark in such a small pen isn’t too difficult as long as it doesn’t get silted up too much.  We got each shark, moved it, and then opened the doors to one of the pens to usher another shark into the trial pen for the next day’s trials.  Easier said than done.  It was so silty we couldn’t even see the sharks.  Every step just sent a plume of sediment into the water and took ages to settle.  We got the first shark in after about 10 minutes.  The second shark probably took another 30 minutes.  Once they were settled we waited half an hour, fed them, and then headed back to the Yacht Club.  

Once back at the lab, we cleaned up and then I headed over to Coconut Cove to have dinner with my parents.  We went to the Beach Club, went back to Coconut Cove, and watched some TV for the rest of the evening, visited with Michael for a bit, and then headed to bed.  It was a long afternoon in the sun but productive and fun.

Today was such a strange day.  We were supposed to have an early wake up but I didn’t get the message that it was pushed back an hour so I was up for a bit before everyone else.  It was fine though because I finished up copying the North Sound Midi PIT data from the sheets into the data book. 

After breakfast, we were broken into different tasks. Rachael, David, Clem, and Jean went up to the North Sound to do Jean’s trials for the day and George, Kelsey, Ally, and Andi went to Bonefish Hole area to collect SUR housings.  I was on duty for the day so I was getting everything together before the course arrived.  We had the University of New Brunswick course arrive today.  There are 16 students and one professor.  Add in Doc and Tristan there are 36 people at the lab right now.  It’s very crowded.  We had to move all of our stuff out too so they could stay in our rooms so there’s stuff everywhere and very little to actually do during the day when we’re not with the course.

Anyway, we made lunch, served, and then did introductions with everyone that was still at the lab.  I was the only volunteer left because everyone else was out in the field but the SUR crew got back just as introductions were half way done.  I then made some bread for breakfast tomorrow morning and then went off to Coconut Cove because my parents came to visit Bimini and are staying just down the street from the lab.

I took them to Back Beach and showed them the rays and the sharks.  We waited there for a while because the course was supposed to be going out for a shark dive at 5:00 and the lab would be really crowded to show them around.  After they left I gave my parents a quick tour of the lab and then they headed back to Coconut Cove.  I needed to help around the lab a bit more and we just met up again for dinner at 7:00.  

At 7:00 we headed down to the Beach Club for dinner and drinks.  We were back at Coconut Cove by 9:00 and I fell asleep on the couch.  It’s so comfortable.  Michael dropped by for a visit for a while and now I’m almost asleep.  It’s been a long day and I’m afraid to read over this post because it might not make sense.  

Oh, it was looking like a long day… We left to do Jean’s trials at 10:00 and were told we wouldn’t be back until 7:30.  Woah.  I know, right?  So Rachael, Clem, Andi, Jean, and I left at 10:00 and went through the Lagoon to Tower Wilson.  Clem needed the tower for his trials so we were moving it to the North Sound.  Two crews had already gone out and were dismantling the pens in Sharkland so CJ, George, and David met us at the tower to drive it through Smuggler’s Pass.  

Once we got the tower on the boat, we drove through Smuggler’s and up to Clem’s pens.  We rolled the tower off the boat and set it into place pretty easily.  It’s a really sturdy tower so it settles into the sand nicely - no torquing or anything.  We finished up the last few details on Clem’s pens, the demo crew came and got him to take him back to the lab, and the rest of us started Jean’s trials.  The trials themselves went very well and went much more quickly than anticipated.  There was a gigantic barracuda that has been hanging around the pens for a while now that would watch us when we walked the sharks between Jean’s pens and Clem’s pens.  Kind of scary knowing you’re being watched and something with huge teeth wants to eat what you’re holding in your hands.  But trials went smoothly and ushering the sharks went well as well.  It was a relatively painless process and once we fed the sharks we were headed back to the lab.  It was probably just after 5:30 too.  

Once we got back to the Yacht Club and made our way back to the lab, we had the evening to pack everything and get our things ready before the course came the next day.

What an amazing day!  Jill woke me up at about 6:45 and asked me if I was going.  Going where?  I had no idea.  But I quickly figured out how we were disposing of the whale carcass that was just off Back Beach: Gulf Stream bait.  We got everything ready (Jill, CJ, Lindsay, Andi, Rachael, and me) and headed out in a 20’ to the carcass.  We picked it up and then towed it into the Gulf Stream around Round Rock.  We dropped it down about 15-20’ once we were out far enough and we waited.  

A few silky sharks came in so CJ and Jill decided to get in.  The rest of us were just sticking our faces in from the boat.  Then four bull sharks and two tiger sharks showed up out of nowhere and began demolishing the carcass.  It was amazing! Watching all of these sharks fighting over the carcass, ripping it to pieces, and getting territorial was mind-blowing.  One of the tiger sharks kept coming up to the boat.  CJ Casey tagged one and tried to biopsy her but the biopsy gun didn’t work properly.  The tiger shark eventually bit the rope holding the carcass in place and took the whole whale with her and we watched these 8 sharks drift down into the blue water holding onto this carcass.  But the 20 minutes all of the sharks were there was amazing. 

After all of the chaos, we packed everything in, had a scream-fest for a minute, and then headed back to the lab.  As we got back, Jean’s crew was heading out for observations and Andi, Rachael, and I were on bait-cutting duty for the rest of the day.  Definitely payment for earlier in the day but totally worth it.  Just as we started cutting the bait, George came out and asked for two people to do BRUVS with him.  I had already convinced myself I was going to be cutting bait all day so I offered to stay back and finish up.  

I cut up 80 pieces of whale for the longline and Rachael, Andi, and I had done some shark food but only 30 pieces.  I finished cutting some smaller pieces and then cleaned up the massive blood-fest.  There was a lot of blood in the bottom of the cooler I was using so I took some containers and saved almost 14 quarts of blood that we froze and can use for chum.  

After lunch, Clem and I spent the rest of the day tackling the cleaning day list on our own.  It was kind of nice to be able to go slow and do things on our own for cleaning day without 17 other people falling over each other trying to clean as well.  When everyone got back from the field we had dinner and then had a quiet night.

Whew.  What a day.  We woke up and had group duty together but took it out after just half an hour.  Then we got all of the gear together for the first night of the second half of Midi PIT!  We were to be fishing in the North Sound.  Rob, Andi, and George were on Net 1, CJ, Kelsey, and David were on Net 2, TJ, Ally, and Clem were on Net 3, and Jill, Rachael, and I were on the tagging boat.  We got all of the dry boxes ready and then went to bed.  

I never went to sleep although I did lay in my hammock for a bit.  But I got up after a bit and started getting all of the gear ready: gillnets, anchors, rebar, transport boxes, floats buckets, and the gear for the tagging boat.  Rachael jumped in on the action and we got mostly everything together fairly quickly.  Wake up was at 4:30, we had a snack, and then headed out around 5:15.  

I drove us up to the holding pens, we put the strobes into place, and then waited for all of the net boats to be in position to set their nets.  Once set, we just waited for someone to catch a shark that we could work up.  The flow of sharks was pretty steady throughout the whole night which was nice.  It’s really hard to have dead spells because you get really tired.  We had the food run at midnight and Michael, Lindsay, Andy, and Jean dressed up as the crew from The Life Aquatic.  It was hilarious and they were playing the soundtrack over the radio as they came to the tagging boat.  Each net boat came over, got food, and then headed back to their nets.  

Once the food boat left, we had a pretty good influx of sharks to deal with. But over the course of the night we got 35 sharks.  21 of which were ones that had been tested before and needed to be retested with Jean’s trials.  Needless to say it was very successful.  Especially considering last year in the North Sound night 1 we caught 13 sharks all night. 

We had everyone haul their nets at 6:20 am and then headed back to the Yacht Club where Jean picked us up.  Once back at the lab, we cleaned everything, repacked, had breakfast, showered, and went to bed.  Michael wasn’t feeling well and really needed to work on the Twin Vee and he was supposed to be going out doing Jean’s trials so I switched with him.  They were leaving at 11:30 and it was about 8:30 so I decided it would be worse for me to sleep for an hour or two and then try to do trials so I stayed up.  I went for a walk to the Sands and then grabbed my hammock and dozed for about 30 minutes until 10:30.  

I heard a bunch of commotion and a boat leave which was really confusing.  I went to the dock and both 20’ boats were gone.  Jean and Lindsay got back around 11:30 and told us that a bonefisherman had seen a whale in the Lagoon that had beached itself.  All of the staff were out there plus Clem and George along with Duncan, Grant, Katie, and two people from up North who run a dolphin charter, Kelly and her husband.  They tried to save the whale, which ended up being a Gervais’ Beaked Whale but it died fairly quickly.  It was bleeding badly from the corals in the lagoon and was incredibly stressed.  They had Andy and me look up any type of illnesses or responses that beaked whales have to make sure it was dead and not in a tonic sort of state but the only thing we could find is that they get decompression sickness because they are one of the deepest diving whales in the ocean.  They can stay at 1500 meters for over an hour and can dive down over 2 kilometers.  Pretty amazing.  We think it might have had problems decompressing, gotten disoriented and sick and come around to the east side of the island.  Then, it might have reoriented itself and tried to head west toward the Gulf Stream causing it to go into the Lagoon.  

They brought it back to the lab and Kelly and her husband did a necropsy on it taking samples for the Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organization.  They have a whole list of tissue samples to take and how to save them and had provided Kelly with a huge kit to use in cases exactly like this.  Once the kecropsy was done, we took the meat and blubber and put it in our freezer to use as bait.  We hadn’t had any time to go fishing but twice in over a month and were in desperate need of bait so it was good for the lab to be provided for as well.  Although it was sad, at least the whale was being used.  

We finished up the necropsy around 7:30 and then had dinner.  It had been a long day.  We had woken everyone up at 2:00 before they got back with the whale and I had finally gone and laid down after a late lunch.  i had been up since 7:00 the morning before so I was exhausted.  I had finally fallen asleep when I was woken up to see the necropsy and I’m glad I went out.  It was amazing to see and besides Beluga Whales at aquariums, I had never seen a whale.  It was cool to be able to touch it and see it so close.  

After dinner, I was absolutely dead and fell asleep around 10:00.  I had essentially been up for 36 hours straight with two 30-minute sleeps and about an hour to lay down before the necropsy.  Needless to say, I fell asleep very fast and slept hard that night.  

Last day pen building!  It was a pretty chill day for the most part.  Clem, Andi, and I went up to the North Sound to finish building Clem’s pens.  We had to do the channels between the main pen and the two trial pens and then we had to fix the doors, fill cinder blocks, and put the markers in place for the trials.  Clem and I started putting everything into place while Andi filled cinder blocks.  After we got the doors fixed, Clem and i made the channels and then put the trial markers into place.  It really didn’t take too long so we were out of there pretty quickly.  But it was a nice time and the water was pretty warm.  With the weather being nice too it was fairly pleasant out there.

After heading back to the lab, most of us spent the rest of the afternoon helping Jean analyze videos.  We are almost done with November’s videos.  Then to move on to December’s and then to this year’s!  But hopefully we can get them all done soon.  A nice day for sure and it felt really good to be outside in the sun for a few hours.   

Off day!  Whew, we were all ready for a mental break.  Michael and I went to breakfast at the Petite Conch, went for a short walk, and then headed back to the lab.  We hung around for a few hours, I baked some cookies, he took a nap, and then we headed up north with TJ and Jean.  Michael and TJ went into Big Game for a beer while Jean and I went to the store.  Jean went back, I went up to Robert’s, and the headed back down to Big Game.  

Michael, TJ, and Jean all got beers and then we got appetizers before everyone else came up for dinner at 7:15.  After eating, we walked around the marina for a while, watched a bull shark, and then sat at the picnic tables until the others came for dinner.  We started sitting outside for dinner until the sky turned black and stormy-looking.  We ordered dinner, got our amazing food, and then headed back down to the lab.  It was a great, calming day and a nice break after the crazy week we had just had.  

Day 100!  It’s like the 100th day of school where everyone wears little hats and you do everything around 100.  Big day.  We were pen building.  Woo.    We got our things together and headed up to the North Sound to build some trial pens for Clem.  Three crews were going up with Jean, TJ, and Clem and I was with Clem for the day.  The other two boats were building net pens and we were building Clem’s trial pens.  We took a load of rebar and cinder blocks up, dropped them off, and then David and I went back to get more cinder blocks while Kelsey, Rachael, Ally, and Clem stayed to work on the pens.  

When we got back to the Yacht Club to get more cinder blocks, the Suburban was at the airport dropping off the film crew so we waited for about 30 minutes in the sun and in the lee of the island for our stuff.  It was nice because the weather was awful and we had three foot waves in the North Sound for a while.  And it was rainy.  No fun.  But we finally got the cinder blocks, no rebar, and headed back up.  When we got back up the second pen was almost done which would be the end of the day.  After about 30 minutes we were finished and headed back to the Yacht Club to be picked up.  

When we got back, we cleaned up around the house, had dinner, and the headed to the Beach Club for a drink.  Nobody stayed long though because we were so tired.  It was a night off too and we all came back by 10:00 and passed out.  It had been an incredible but very long week and we all needed some sleep.  

For the last day with the film crew, Clem and I were with Tristan up in Bonefish Hole with the film crew.  They wanted to get some extra filler shots with a big landscape so Bonefish Hole was the perfect place.  There’s a tower and mangroves all around.  We were just doing little shots like walking through the water, driving by, etc. for a while until lunch.  We even saw a lemon shark and a little green turtle.  

When we got back to the lab and had lunch, we went up north with Jean to do some more pen building.  Clem, Jean, Kelsey, and I were moving one of the towers from Back Beach up to the North Sound, building Clem’s holding pen for his trials, and then setting the north side of the rebar for Clem’s trial pens.  It really didn’t take too long so we were headed back to the lab again after only a few hours.  

Once back, we all got dressed and ready and headed out to the Beach Club with the film crew for a nice dinner.  We stayed out a few hours and then, because it had been such a long, stressful week and we were all dead, we came back pretty soon after finishing our meals.  But it was a great way to close out the week with the film crew- they were all great and so fun to work with.  

Third day with the film crew was probably the best all around.  Although I was doing trials with Jean, Rachael, and Ally in the North Sound, the crews doing the final day of searching for pregnant lemon sharks had an amazing day.  They found one straight away and she had one pup for the film crew.  The netting went perfectly and they were all very, very happy at the way everything went.  All-in-all it was a successful day.  Rachael and I went back to the lab with Jean to do videos while Ally went back out and got to help catch the lemon shark.  We were slightly jealous but it was our own doing not going back out.  The weather wasn’t great that day but it turned out to be a great day for footage anyway.  

After they all got back, we finished doing videos, had dinner, and then spent the night vegging out and doing nothing, watching movies, etc.  

Day 2 with the film crew went much like the first day.  Kelsey, George, Clem, and Jean went up to do trials and the rest of us were going out with the film crew again.  We loaded up and headed out.  This time, though, we had a different plan.  Everyone was going out except for Doc and the film crew.  It would save space on boats if they came out on a 20’, and would allow them to do other things while we were looking for and netting a shark. 

I was on the pup workup boat for the day with Lindsay and I was ready to see some cute little pups.  When we got out there we searched for a bit until we found a big, really big, female.  My boat, Jill’s boat with Rachael, and Tristan’s boat with CJ followed her around for a bit until Michael and TJ came on the net boats.  It took a few tries to get in place because she kept turning but it was easy to keep up with her and easy to have the net boats change location.  There was no rush, we were just following her at a dead putt.  When we finally got in place and deployed the nets it went perfectly.  She went straight in, we got the tail float on her, and we sent her off again.  Lindsay and I followed her until Doc could get there with the film crew and then they took over.  It went the same as the day before except she didn’t have any pups.  But when we measured her she was 297 cm, the largest lemon shark ever caught in Bimini.  That’s 9.7 feet to the Americans.  Huge shark.  And she was GORGEOUS.  We followed her around for a while too but got nothing to Tristan and CJ stayed on her while the rest of us went to search for more sharks. 

We didn’t find any more sharks for the rest of the day and went back to the lab around 3:30 because the tide was falling and we were really sore from standing on the boats for 4 hours.  When we got back, the crew that had been with Jean went trolling again and I fixed gillnets until dinner.  After dinner we went to sleep pretty fast because we were exhausted from being in the sun all day.  Surprisingly, I didn’t get sunburned that day or the day before.  A miracle, I tell you.

First day filming with the film crew! The staff had their morning meeting the planned the day while the rest of us had group duty. It was decided that Jean, Ally, and Andi were going to go up to the North Sound to do trials while the rest of us helped the film crew.

If you remember a few weeks back, we did a trial net deployment and caught a large sub-adult lemon shark. Well that practice was for this film crew so this was the real deal. Clem drove Jean and his crew up into the North Sound and then drove back because we needed all five boats. I was on one of the two net boats with TJ and Andy. All five boats headed out and started looking for sharks.  Not long into the search, they found a large 261 cm female and decided to give it a go.  Three boats followed her around for a bit and got into position behind her and on either side of her while Michael and TJ set the nets.  Andy and Kelsey hopped out to hold the nets in place while David and I stayed on the boats to let the net out.  There was a minor fiasco setting the net and but in the end it was set fine and the shark was in.  She just nosed into it and laid on the bottom so it was easy to get the tail float on her and send her on her way.  As we hauled the nets, two boats followed her for about 30 minutes until we were ready to get the film crew in the water. 

I got put onto the boat with the film crew because Doc was in the water and Sanj, the presenter, needed to be in the water too and he was the only other one who could drive the boat.  So while Sanj, Doc, and Tristan were holding the shark, I was hovering the sound men next to them.  The female then started to pup and had six pups that were then tagged and transported to either Aya’s Spot or Sharkland.  We can use that information later when we do our PIT projects throughout the year to see if they imprint on a spot and stay there.  The island has three distinct shark populations: Aya’s Spot/Bonefish Hole, North South/Sharkland, and South Bimini.  So by dropping these sharks in locations literally 5 minutes after they’re born, we can see where we recapture them and if it’s in the same location we dropped them. 

After finishing with the shark, we headed back to the lab while one boat stayed out to follow her just to make sure she was doing okay.  When we got back, Rachael and I took the puppies for a walk and then had dinner with everyone.  It had been a long day in the sun and it was really warm but it was so fun seeing such a large lemon shark and seeing the pups too.  I never actually got to see one but I watched the footage they got of them and it was really cool.  A satisfying day to say the least. 

The weather was AMAZING today!  It was SO hot!  But it was great to finally feel like we’re living in the Bahamas.  Hopefully no more beanies and sweatshirts.  Anyway, we started off the morning with our once-a-month deep cleaning where everything (I mean, every single thing in the lab) gets wiped down, washed, and/or bleached.  We did that for the morning and it went pretty well and was really easy.  BUT, a funny (maybe) anecdote for the day: Kelsey and I cleaned the kitchen for the morning and she cleaned the appliances.  While she was cleaning the stove, she asked if I smelled something like mold.  I didn’t smell anything but then walked over to where she was and got a bad whiff of something.  It kind of smelled like death.  And we were talking about how bad it was when Andy came over, smelled it, and freaked out because, unbeknownst to us, it was the smell of gas.  But not like when you get the first whiff and it actually smells like gas, it had been on for a while.  Kelsey had hit one of the knobs on our gas stove while she was cleaning it and flipped it to “light” so gas was basically just filling the kitchen.  It couldn’t have been too long but bad enough that we both got pretty bad headaches and got dizzy and nauseous.  Obviously we were fine but it could have been really bad.  

After cleaning and then lunch, we split up into different activities.  Clem and I were responsible for repairing the large net to catch the adult lemon sharks and then we were fixing gillnets.  David, Kelsey, and I cleaned the chicken for dinner and then I took Link for a walk while Michael walked Kaya.  Then dinner and some Skype time.  Now we’re all just sitting around getting ready for tomorrow’s festivities with the film crew here right now from BBC.  It should be fun!

Today was such a nice off day.  Michael and I went and got breakfast and the Petite Conch at 11:00 and then walked back along the path between the Nature Trail and Shell Beach.  It was really warm and sunny but looked stormy off in the distance so we wanted to get back to the lab before it started storming.  

There was supposed to be more food coming over on a flight today around 1:00 but it never came so Michael and I just spent a quiet day doing little things.  He updated some documents he was working on while I slept for a couple of hours.  It was nice and warm, good napping weather, and the sleep was much-needed.  

At about 5:00 we headed to the Beach Club for dinner with Jean.  I got two sushi rolls and they each got a sushi roll and a personal pizza.  The sushi was amazing as always.  We didn’t stay long after dinner and headed back.  Jean and Michael then had a chess night while I napped again.  Well dozed really, I don’t think I ever actually fell asleep.  But I guess the weather and the lack of sleep the night before made it a napping day.  After they finished their chess games, I dominated a game of gin rummy and then we played Snakes and Ladders and got smoked by Michael.  It was a nice quiet day and nice to just decompress a little bit before this next week starts.  It’s going to be a hard week for sure…

Back from the shop.  My flight left Fort Lauderdale at 2:00 and got in to Bimini at 2:30.  We got the food that came over with Michael cleared through customs, we each got cleared, and then we loaded the van up and headed back to the lab.  After everything was unloaded, Michael and I had a quick and late lunch and then both got to work.  He was fixing assorted things that had broken over the last week while he was gone and I was fixing more gillnets,  It was also incredibly hot so everyone else was in the lab with the AC on but it kind of felt good to just sit in the sun.  Rachael and Clem came out to help me with the gillnets after they finished mending the dip nets.  We did that until about 6:30 when we had dinner.  I took Link for a quick walk and then came back for my dinner.  

The sunset was looking really pretty so Rachael, Andi, Ally, Lindsay, Clem, George, David, Nick, and I went to Shell Beach with Kaya to watch it.  We ended up throwing the frisbee around for about half and hour and then I came back.  Michael and I got ready and headed to the Beach Club to meet up with TJ and CJ for the night off.  I didn’t end up drinking anything but Michael and I did split probably the best Guava Duff I’ve ever had.  It was amazing.  I want to try and make one once i’m back in the states.  

Rachael, Kelsey, and Ally came and got ice cream to go and went back to the lab.  They had all gone out on Wednesday so they were spending their night off watching a movie in the lab.  After we got back, we just watched The Dukes of Hazzard and went to bed.  It was by no means a late night for either of us and I’m pretty sure i fell asleep no more than five minutes after we started watching.  It was a nice way to ease back into the island life.  

It was sort of a half off day.  In the morning, I made Michael and me some muffins for breakfast and then he set off to packing quickly because he had to leave for his shop around 11:30 and his flight was at 1:00.  My flight didn’t leave until 3:00 so I had some time to kill.  I packed slowly, had some lunch, and then played with the dogs until 2:30 when Jill took me to the airport.  I boarded my flight and landed at 3:45 in Fort Lauderdale.  It was like a whole new world and complete sensory overload.  But nice to be back in the states for a few days.

Another duty day!  The rest of the crew was out doing a “third night” of Sharkland fishing.  They decided not to go out at night because of the winds so they were only setting nets 1 and 3 and fishing for about 5 hours.  Jean and Clem followed in the tagging boat a little bit later as well.  Jean was only looking for four sharks too- two each of two different size ranges.  They did end up catching one that met his criteria but only one unfortunately.  

My duties were easy for the day and then made dinner for everyone.  I took the dogs to the beach for about an hour as well.  Because it was the night before a night off everyone got ready and headed down to the Beach Club.  Michael and I went down for a little bit but didn’t stay long.  There weren’t many people there and they weren’t playing great music so we left after a short while.  It ended up being a pretty early night as well.  I think I was asleep by 10:30 and it was great. 

After breakfast, Michael and I headed up North to run some errands.  I had to renew my visa and he had to pay the power and phone bills.  When we got up North, I went and renewed my visa first.  It was really quick and then we headed up to pay the power bill and then the phone bill.  We were done by about 10:00 so we headed back to the lab.

When we got back, everyone was dismantling Clem’s trial pens to use the materials in the North Sound for Midi PIT.  As I got there, they just needed to finish rolling the pen mesh and move the last few pieces of rebar.  It only took about half and hour to finish up and then we started fixing our gillnets.  

After a short break for lunch, we got back to fixing gillnets and did that for the rest of the afternoon.  It was fun though because we were all still delirious from being so tired so the time went quickly.  We didn’t get incredibly far because there were some really big holes to mend but we got them done all the same.  

We finished around 6:30 for dinner and then for the rest of the night just hung around for a quiet night.

After the second night of Sharkland fishing, we were taking a few nights off because the weather was looking pretty bad and really windy so checking the nets would be nearly impossible without swim checking for 12 hours.  And let’s be honest, nobody wants to do that.  So we woke up at 2:30, had a light snack, and started repairing the gillnets.  You could definitely tell we were all exhausted because things got really silly for a while.  We were struggling a bit.  But It was a short day so we did that for a few hours until dinner at around 6:00.  After dinner we all headed to the Beach Club for a drink but it was a really quiet night for everyone.

Night 2 of Midi PIT!  I didn’t actually sleep very much- I woke up around 2:00 and never went back to sleep but it was good to get some important things done I needed to do so the time wasn’t wasted.  We all got up around 5:30, had a snack, and started prepping for fishing.  Rachael, Ally, and I were on home crew so we helped everyone get on their way and then started cleaning.  We did a few important things on the duty list for cleaning and then I started prepping dinner while Ally made cookies and Rachael walked the dogs.  Once dinner was ready and we had all of our gear together, we got a couple hours to chill out before heading out at 11:00.  

Normally the food run consists of Jill and one other person and they come out to the tagging boat and then leave after everyone has eaten.  But Jean needed to get some work done to instead of staying behind the whole night, he went out with us for the food run and we were the food boat and the tagging boat.  So we got everything on the boat at the Yacht Club and it was really crowded.  But we made it up without a hitch.  The hardest part was getting the boat in the proper position between the nets to tie up because it was incredibly windy. 

Once we were tied up, the boats came one-by-one to get their food.  After eating, they started bringing us sharks to work up.  I can’t remember how many sharks were caught that night but I think it was about 10.  We didn’t get any sharks after 4 am so the rest of the morning we just slept on the boat.  It was pretty cold and windy so not incredibly pleasant, especially because everything was wet, but that’s typical for night fishing so it was to be expected and not too bad.  

The nets were hauled at 7:00 and we all headed back to the Yacht Club.  When we got back to the lab, we unloaded, cleaned up, had breakfast, and then headed to bed.  Even though we did get a bit of rest on the tagging boat, we were still exhausted and ready to sleep.  

Great day.  We were starting the first night of Midi PIT that night so it was supposed to be a half day.  In the morning we just got things ready for that night: dry boxes, gillnets, floats, etc.  Everything we would need was ready to go by lunch.  After lunch, we took out the three boats already at the Yacht Club and Tristan with Duncan and Jill with Andi took the other two boats around the east side to the lagoon.  They were looking for large lemon sharks.  Michael, Clem, and I were on one boat, TJ, Kelsey, and Andy were on another, and CJ and Lindsay on the fifth boat.  Our three boats headed out from the Alice Town Channel across Pirate’s Well and into the lagoon.  They had already seen four large sharks before following the one we were trying to catch. 

Essentially what we did was this: we have a very large net made of rope that looks like a giant gillnet with a float line and everything.  We cut the net in half and my boat and TJ’s boat each had half.  The cleats had been taken off on our starboard side and on TJ’s port side so that we could deploy the net whilst moving off of the back of the boat.  The three other boats were simply following the shark, not harassing it or getting close to it, just following it and kind of guiding it but the shark was never stressed out which was the goal.  Once they were in place and thought the shark was in a good location, TJ started deploying his half of the net east and we deployed ours west.  We crossed the ends with Clem and Kelsey getting in to make sure the anchors held and the float lines closed. We then started angling the net up to make a big ~20 m circle around the shark.  The shark then nosed into the net, thrashed for a second, and then just sat there while a few guys netted it and put a tail rope on it with a float attached.  Then they let it go and just followed the float from a distance.  It went perfectly.   Absolutely could not have gone better.  The shark was never stressed and it was a big one too.  Chase downs used to be really stressful for the sharks and just generally not healthy for them so this is a MUCH better option.  It was amazing. 

Our boat and TJ’s boat went back to the Yacht Club to pick everyone else up who was still at the lab and we went back out to watch the work up.  Jill surgically implanted an acoustic transmitter, stitched her up, and sent her on her way.  Easy peasy amazing. 

For the rest of the day we had to rest before starting our first night of gillnetting in Sharkland.  I never went to sleep but sitting around was nice and relaxing at least.  We left at about 6:00 after a snack and deployed our nets at 7:10.  I was on Net 3 with CJ, Clem, and Kelsey, the southernmost net that usually catches the most sharks so I was excited.  We saw two sharks before we even had our net set.  The food run for our dinner was a midnight and at that point we had 10 sharks, I think.  Each net has a small holding pen at the end of the net in case you can’t make it to the tagging boat where they work up each shark and put it in it’s respective holding pen based on size.  After the food run we started moving sharks but caught a lot more too so it took a while to move all of them.  In total I think we caught 21 sharks on our net alone. 

One however, was another story.  We saw a huge lemon nosed into our net, probably 150 cm.  But it swam off when we were drive checking.  A lot of times the larger ones don’t get caught they just hit the net and stop swimming rather than thrashing and getting stuck.  So that one swam off and we were sad because it was so big and would have been cool to see.  But we kept driving the net and right next to the mangroves there was another large one actually wrapped up in the net.  It wasn’t caught in the mono but just managed to flip the lead line over the float line and get stuck.  We check every 15 minutes so it wasn’t in any danger, just impressive how it got stuck there.  And it was an even bigger shark too.  CJ and Clem jumped in to get it out, managed to get a tail rope and a pec rope on it and we worked it up next to the boat like we would any other shark.  Clearly we weren’t going to take it to the tagging boat but we wanted to get as much info on it as possible.  It had a PIT tag so we wrote that down, took measurements on a rope with zip ties because we had no measuring tape, and took isotopes.  When we took the next set of sharks back to the tagging boat we measured the rope, 168 cm.  A big lemon shark. 

For the rest of the night it was a little slow.  We hauled the net at 7:00 am and headed back to the lab, got unpacked, cleaned everything, repacked everything, had breakfast, and went to bed.  We were allowed to sleep until 4:00 so we were all dead at that point and ready for a few hours before the next long night.  It was a little cold and really windy but with all of the sharks we didn’t mind being wet and cold, it was worth it.

We started the morning on a special note.  There were three women here from Washington DC for a shark experience day so everyone got to go on a shark dive!  We had mostly group duty for the morning and then went to the dive around 10:30.  I wasn’t feeling great so I stayed back and helped Jill around the house and helped cook lunch.  But everyone said they had a great time and that the conditions, although not perfect, were great. 

After lunching, we all went up to the North Sound to help Jean with some more pen work. On each side of his social network pen he has a large post that hold up two cables stretching across the length of his pen.  These cables carry a camera so we can record the trials while we do them and go back and watch the videos to analyze them.  So when we do video analysis for Jean, we’re using these videos.  The posts are about 20 feet tall so getting them up was slow but Jean and I each drove one up on a skiff and another boat carried the wind screen to put around the social network pen to block the wind so we can see through the water on the video. 

When we got up there, we moved the posts off of the boats and into place.  Jean oriented the lines to go between them and we put up my post first.  After getting it next to the tower we wiggled it into the sand and set it with some rebar.  The second side was a little more difficult but we got that one set pretty quickly as well.  Then we put the rebar around the pen for the wind screen but it was already so late we didn’t have time to put it up.

We headed back down to the lab, fortunately the tide was still high enough we could plane because we didn’t have the posts anymore.  Back at the lab we had dinner and the rest of the night off. 

Off day!

It was a great morning.  Michael, David, and I took out one of the 20’ boats and went fishing with just a few spinning rods off of the north side of South Bimini at a plane wreck there.  We caught a ton of grunts and small snapper.  Nothing worth eating though.  We did also catch two pretty sizeable nurse sharks and almost had a barracuda.  The weather was pretty awful so it was the only place that was sheltered enough to fish.  When we left we headed back around toward the lab and thought about going to Turtle Rocks to drop some lines for reef fish to eat but the swell and the chop was too bad to go out that far. 

We ended up just heading back to the lab and trying to fish behind the dock.  We were set up for about five minutes and decided to just go back to the dock and try to catch some of the GIANT mangrove snapper that live under our boats and eat our table scraps.  Turns out they’re giants for a reason: they’re too smart to take a hook, unfortunately.  I almost had one twice too.  It was getting late so I gave up and Michael and David went North to Big Game to get lunch.  I stayed back because I had a phone call to make but ended up heading North after about half an hour.  I met up with them at Big Game, headed to the store to get shrimp but the store was closed.

We headed back to the lab, hung out for about an hour, and then went with everyone to the Beach Club for dinner.  We didn’t stay there long but it was a good time with everyone out together.  The rest of the night was really quiet as we were pretty tired after being up early for fishing.  But definitely worth such a great day.

Finally caught up! TODAY we did like we have done the past few days. We were working on pen mesh this morning fixing the wind screen for the social network pen while Andi, Kelsey, Ally, and Clem did work for Jean’s videos. Once they finished the videos they came out and helped us finish the wind screen. We were supposed to be taking lunch into the field so at 11:30 we started packing dry boxes. Jean and Clem were on one boat, Lindsay, David, Rachael, and I were on another, and Michael, Andi, Ally, and Kelsey were on another. We ended up eating at the lab and then Jean’s and my boat left just after lunch. Michael was still making floats for the channel so we went ahead and left because we needed the highest tide possible and it was already dropping. Once we left the Yacht Club we putted to Sharkland, planed up to the North Sound, and then took Smuggler’s Pass over to Bonefish Hole and then to Aya’s Spot. There we were collecting the tower just outside of Aya’s and putting it on Jean’s boat. Our boat headed back first and Jean followed with Clem and the tower. When we got back through Smuggler’s and up to the holding pens in the North Sound we started putting up the walls in the holding pens to divide the segments. Jean and Clem made it up with the tower and they started working on the doors for the Social Network pen with David and Rachael. When they finished that they started on the doors for the holding pen while Rachael and I filled the cinderblocks around the pens. Michael’s boat came and joined us to move the tower off the boat and into place. Then we putted back down to the Yacht Club. It was about 6:30 when we got back to the lab and dinner followed soon after. For the rest of the night I caught up on the blog (sorry about the super delay) and laid around. And it’s been quite nice.

Well, we forgot something significant. King Brown’s is closed on Easter weekend. Which means we couldn’t buy more rebar. For the morning we all had tasks to do until heading north at lunchtime. Andi and Rachael were cutting shark dive bait while the rest of us were checking the longlines. It got to be a little overkill with so many people on longlines though so I helped Jean with his data instead an helped Jill a little with lunch.

Jill called King Brown’s just before lunch and realized they were closed so there went our day. After lunch a few of us continued with longlines and then worked on Jean’s pen mesh some more until dinner. After dinner Michael and I watched a movie and then promptly fell asleep.

After breakfast we had some time to kill before the tide was low enough to be able to work on the pens. Jean, David, and I headed up north early however and bought some more rebar at King Brown’s. I stayed on the boat to make sure it didn’t get stolen while Jean and David cut the rebar and had it driven to the boat. We putted up to the North Sound and set up the skeleton for the holding pens and started the skeleton for the social network pen.

Everyone else came up after their lunch so when they arrived we had a quick lunch and got back to work. Jean, Nick, Kelsey, David, and I put the pen mesh on the exploration pen while TJ, Clem, Rachael, Ally, and Andi did the social network pen. They both looked really good at the end.

We put the cinderblocks in place, filled a few, an called it quits. It took us about an hour to putt back to the Yacht Club where the Suburban met us to unload everything. When we got back to the lab we unloaded, I cleaned my boat, and we had dinner. After dinner Michael and I went and locked the boats up and then had an early evening.

More pen building! It was SO. COLD. When we arrived in the North Sound to start building the tide was still really high and the water was like ice. There was a north wind too so we were pretty miserable. Fortunately Jean was the only one that had to go under for our group and CJ for the other boat.

My crew was putting the pen mesh for the three holding pens in Sharkland. Two five meter and one six meter diameter pens. Before lunch we only got through one of the five meter pens and we were frozen. Like cramping-muscles-loss-of-feeling-in-feet-wanting-to-throw-up cold. After lunch the sun came out, the wind died down, and the tide
fell so it was much more pleasant. Nearly comfortable, comparatively. We finished all three pens, CJ’s crew finished the net pens and the cinderblocks, and we headed back to the Yacht Club around 5:00.

The hot dinner was incredible and we were all sore and tired but it felt good having a hard day’s work again.

More pen building! It was SO. COLD. When we arrived in the North Sound to start building the tide was still really high and the water was like ice. There was a north wind too so we were pretty miserable. Fortunately Jean was the only one that had to go under for our group and CJ for the other boat.

My crew was putting the pen mesh for the three holding pens in Sharkland. Two five meter and one six meter diameter pens. Before lunch we only got through one of the five meter pens and we were frozen. Like cramping-muscles-loss-of-feeling-in-feet-wanting-to-throw-up cold. After lunch the sun came out, the wind died down, and the tide
fell so it was much more pleasant. Nearly comfortable, comparatively. We finished all three pens, CJ’s crew finished the net pens and the cinderblocks, and we headed back to the Yacht Club around 5:00.

The hot dinner was incredible and we were all sore and tired but it felt good having a hard day’s work again.

We had our work cut out for us that day. Two crews headed up to the North Sound after breakfast to start building pens for Midi-PIT. That morning Jean, Michael, and TJ had driven the skiffs around the east side and along the North side of South Bimini to the Yacht Club because the weather was really bad.

When we headed up we went to the Yacht Club, loaded all of the rebar we could carry, and putted up to Sharkland. There Lindsay’s boat started putting up the skeleton for the three holding pens while we put up the net pens and gave them the rest of our rebar. Lindsay’s boat went back down to pick up more rebar from the Yacht Club while Jean, Andi, and I gathered cinderblocks that had been stored in the mangroves after Midi-PIT last year. We made two trips with the Sharkland ones and then moved to the North Sound to get those cinderblocks. Jean left Andi and me to move them to where the boat could get to them while he went and helped Lindsay make a basic skeleton for the large holding pen.

Duty day! It was mostly just like every other duty day. Pretty chill and quiet. I helped make lunch and dinner and made lemon poppy seed muffins for breakfast the next day. Yum!

First off day in two weeks and we were all beat. Michael and I went to breakfast at the Petite Conch around 10:45; I got the breakfast sandwich and he got French toast and cream of wheat. We went to take a look at the beach because the weather was pretty bad. There was a really strong south wind so the air was hot but blowing really hard. Only one boat was out.

We headed back to the lab, grabbed our things, and walked to the ferry dock to go North. While we were north we went to the west side, got a drink at CJ’s, and sat on the beach for a good while. Then we went to Big Game and got some smoked fish dip to share for a late light lunch. We headed back down the west side, cut over to the ferry dock, and walked back to the lab.

Ed had left Michael some steaks in his freezer for taking care of the house so we went to his house thawed the steaks, and watched some TV for a bit. Then we went back to the lab, cooked the steaks with mashed potatoes, and fairly promptly fell asleep.

It was the second and last day of filming for the film crew from Korea. That morning Andi, Clem, Jean, and I got recruited to help them do a segment with lemon sharks in the mangroves so we got together a big blue tub, dip nets, and a big seine net. They filmed us driving around for a bit and then we set up the seine in a little clump of mangroves to corral five lemon sharks we dropped in from the pens. They filmed for a while, got the shots they wanted, and then we cleaned everything up.

For the rest of the afternoon Andi and I worked on weaving, cutting, and measuring pen mesh. There were some new south winds blowing in so it was really hot and on the side of the house where we were there was no wind. Needless to say, we went for a dip in the ocean after a bit. After lunch we kept on with the pen mesh. There was a huge tour group that came through and kept talking to us. They were very nice and chatty so it was a nice break from weaving but there was a lot to be done. We finished the pen mesh around 4:00 and helped with duties around the lab for the rest of the day until dinner. After dinner everyone got ready and went down to the Beach Club because the film crew had wanted to go. Only one of the guys ended up coming but it was still a nice night to be out. There were a lot of people at the Beach Club so lots of dancing and fun after such a long week with the course and the film crew.

We woke up early at 7:00 and got everything ready to start our day at 8:00. One crew was going out to debait all of the longlines and move two of them to the where the Wild Card line was. My crew went out fishing at Turtle Rocks but didn’t catch anything. After a bit we drove down to Gun Key and there caught a big barracuda and two big houndfish. We had to be back at the lab at 11:30 so we were short on time but that was a good enough catch to call it for the morning.

When we got back we gave the catch over to Tristan and he cut it up for longline bait and hammerhead bait. Another crew headed out to rebait the lines with the new catch and some cuda.

After lunch we wove pen mesh for a bit until the first longline check. Jill, Rachael, George, and I headed out to check the lines and we had caught two big male Nurse sharks. The film crew didn’t come out to see them so we just worked them up and let them go.

When we got back we prepared dinner and had the rest of the evening to ourselves. The longline check crew that went out at 6:00 ended up catching three tiger sharks. The film crew went out and one of the sharks actually bit the line into pieces. They didn’t get back until 10:00 but apparently it was great and the film crew loved it. Another crew followed after dinner and debaited the hooks because the film crew got what they wanted from the longline so there was no point in making us get up in the middle of the night for nothing. But it was great for them and a really nice evening.

It was a sad but kind of relieving day.  The course left.  It was definitely nice to move back into the lab and have so much space but it was hard seeing all of them go.  The group was really hard-working and all were fascinated by science so they were great to have around and talk to.  Half of them left on the morning flight at 9:30 and the other half left around 1:30 for the 2:00 flight.  

I spent the morning cleaning around the lab and then tackled the fishing gear.  The lab lost its fishing box back before Christmas so everything was really disorganized and there wasn’t any one box holding all of the fishing gear.  I threw out the old broken box everything was in, sorted and organized the gear, and then organized all of the block rigs into containers so we didn’t have a ton of buckets sitting around with rigs in them.  It took me the whole morning and a bit of the afternoon but I felt much better once it was done.  

For the rest of the afternoon, Rachael and I were weaving pen mesh for Jean’s pens for Midi-PIT.  

Up at 5:30! Michael, Jill, Jean, three students, and I got up at 5:30 to set the deep line on the west side.  We set it differently this time and actually did six smaller hooks on either side of the four large gangeons to try and catch smaller sharks.  It took us about an hour and a half and I went back to bed for a bit before getting up for the day.  After breakfast we cleaned the house and then at 9:30 all went out to check the deep line.  I was on the Twin Vee with Rachael, Michael, Jill, TJ, and Kelsey.  As we were hauling up the line we came to two dusky smooth hounds on the small hooks: one male and one female.  There was nothing on the larger hooks and then on the other six small hooks on the other end there were three more dusky smooth hounds: two male, one female but we only worked up one of the males.  

After heading back to the lab, we had lunch and then took our time around the lab while a few of the guys went spearing and then baiting for hammerheads.  We left the lab around 2:00 with the Twin Vee, a 20’, and me driving a skiff.  Once we were all anchored at the Grate, we had a nurse shark show up.  The water was really clear and surprisingly warm again so I spent about an hour scrubbing the underside of the boat while we were waiting for Hammerheads to show up.  

I had gotten back in the boat and had de-wet-suited when the first hammer showed up.  She was really aggressive and hungry, coming up to the bait, and staying in the column a lot so I wasn’t very keen on getting back in.  But most of the students jumped in and she stayed pretty calm after she got something to eat.  Note: we don’t feed the hammerheads but we do bait with small pieces on the bottom and she grabbed a few of those and apparently that was enough to calm her down.  We had already been tagged too so Tristan spent a while trying to see the tag number.  I swam over to the baiting boat to take data when another smaller male hammer came in as well.  He was also tagged and Tristan was only able to get the last three numbers off him because the tag was algaefied.  

We headed out at about 4:30 to get ready for dinner; we were going to the Beach Club with everyone for a nice dinner out.  I got back and walked the dogs, got ready, and then Michael, Ski (their professor), and I walked to the Beach Club.  After our dinner we all went to the bar and had a nice night out with a few drinks.  It was karaoke night too so there were a ton of people there.  I left earlier than most everyone else and went back to watch some Dukes of Hazzard and go to bed.  It was an incredible day but I was ready for bed.  

In the morning, we got up at 7:30, had breakfast, and then got ready to head out into the field for the day.  Kelsey, Andy, George, and Jean went ahead of us to go spearing for fresh bait at Nurse Shark Ledge until we came with the students at 10:00.  Lindsay and CJ went in the 20’ boats with some students and Sarah and I followed in skiffs with four more students each.  

When we got to the ledge, we anchored Sarah’s boat, I tied up to her, and we let all of the students hop in.  The water was surprisingly warm but the current was ripping so it was a good workout.  The first nurse shark showed up after only a few minutes in the water but then disappeared.  We had that one come back and then one more show up in the couple hours we were there.  They were really big guys too; like tanks.  It was fun getting to be out and in the water with the students too.  They were fascinated just like the rest of us.  

After heading back we ate lunch and then continued with the duty list.  There was some chicken to be prepped for dinner and Jill had made us a little list of things that needed to be done before the day was over.  Sarah, Kelsey, Andy, Andi, CJ, Michael, TJ, and Tristan had gone hammerheading with the students after lunch.  Lindsay was supposed to be going north to Bimini Blue Water to bait for bull sharks and told us that if we got the list done by 2:30 we could all go with her.  We got that list done so fast.  Off to bull sharks!  We loaded our things and took the Suburban to the ferry and made our way up to Blue Water.  

When we were all set up we had four bull sharks show up immediately and one of them was HUGE.  Absolutely monstrous.  They were so close and so hungry.  We were really excited about getting to catch one.  About an hour later the rest of the students and staff showed up in the boat and we started throwing in baited hooks with poly balls attached to catch one.  The second we did they started disappearing.  For the rest of the afternoon they just came and went and we didn’t really see much of them.  Every once in a while the would all come back up but they can sense the leader wire and the hook so they just avoid the bait.  We tried and tried until about 6:30 and called it.  We had even caught a goatfish off of the dock there and tried it but they weren’t having it.  

We packed up, shuffled a few staff and students over to the South island where the Suburban came to pick them up, and then we drove back around on the Twin Vee.  Back at the lab, Jill had dinner ready for us to devour and the rest of the night we had off.  

After an amazing night’s sleep, we got up and started the third day of the course.  The students were heading out for the whole day to go see Blacktips at East Wells, feed Lemon sharks at Aya’s Spot, and then do a mangrove snorkel near Aya’s.  We packed them all a big picnic lunch and sent them on their way for the day while we got to work.  We did the duty list until lunch, made lunch, and then I spent the rest of the afternoon working on the longline gang eons sharpening the hooks, replacing hooks, and redoing crimps as needed with Kelsey.  We hung them up to air out because they smelled awful and then helped prep dinner a little bit.  

Well I didn’t make it to 6:30.  I fell asleep at about 3:30 and got up at 6:00. We headed out for the longline check with Michael, three students, and me.  It was nice because we got to see the sunrise even though there was nothing on the lines and we were back at the lab by 7:30.  Wakeup wasn’t until 8:00 so I slept until 8:30, had breakfast, and then we all did the duty list. 

For the rest of the morning and the afternoon Andi and I did some video analysis for Jean’s trials.  We took a break for lunch and then were back at it.  At about 4:00 we got a call that the crew that was debaiting the longline had caught a tiger shark and Jill told Andi and I that we could go out to see it!  We literally threw our stuff on and ran out the door.  It was incredible.  He was such a beautiful shark.  I have a video that I’m finishing right now and will hopefully get posted tonight.  After we came back, we had dinner, and then had the rest of the night off.  I fell asleep so fast after only two and a half hours of sleep but it was an incredible day.  Worth every minute.

This morning we got up, had breakfast, and then started packing all of our stuff up for the Eckerd College course to come in a few hours.  After cleaning up, Michael headed to the hangar to wait for their plane to arrive while the rest of us did the duty list.  Kelsey and I also started prepping soup for lunch while a couple of guys were cutting bait for the shark dive.  The planes were delayed, of course, and we were getting hungry, of course, but finally they cleared customs and the first plane of students arrived on Pioneer.  The second load came later while we were sorting rebar for Jean with a load of food and supplies for us which was nice because we had nothing to finish the soup with or eat with it.  

After finishing the rebar we got the boats ready for the shark dive and then started cutting longline bait while they were eating lunch.  Rachael came and spelled Kelsey so she could grab lunch and we finally finished cutting around 2:45.  I was absolutely disgusting and covered in cuda blood and guts.  I ate lunch in a hurry and then got everything together to set the longline when they came back from the dive.  

Michael, TJ, Sarah, Andy, Andi, and I started setting the longline at around 3:45 and finished at about 6:45.  We came back, had dinner, did the evening’s duties, and then were on our own for the night.  I showered and went to bed but never fell asleep before getting woken up by Tristan at midnight.  The 11:00 longline check had a 320 female tiger shark on the line so all of the course students were going to go out and see it.  We didn’t end up going out but it was quite a surprise when you’re drifting off to sleep to hear someone storming in your room waking everyone up.  

And now here I am.  3:30 am.  Wide awake.  And our next check is at 6:30 am.  Here’s hoping I make it…

We woke up up at 8:00, had breakfast, then at 10:15 George, Kelsey, and I headed up to the Nurse Shark Channel to do George’s BRUVS deployments.  For BRUVS, we deploy an apparatus with chum in it and a GoPro behind it to see what kind of predators and prey are in the area.  We take data like depth, seagrass cover, visibility, salinity, flow, and direction.  The first deployment was just outside Aya’s Spot so we started recording and then went to set up the second one at East Wells.  Each video runs for 70 minutes so by the time we got the second one done, we had about 30 minutes out of the wind tied up in the mangroves for lunch and then had to retake all of the data for each one.  We waited about 45 minutes after collecting the second apparatus because of the tides so we were clear into mid tide and then did the same thing again at Shark Cafe and the Drug Channel.  

It was a really quick day and really fun even though the water was like ice and the wind was killer.  We got back to the lab around 4:30, unloaded, and then helped around until a later dinner.  Michael had just come back from his shop so we spent the night watching Dukes of Hazzard.  Classy, really, but a nice quiet evening.

Once a month we do a massive clean of the lab, usually right before the volunteers for the month leave and the new ones come.  You know, we have to make the new guys feel like we keep this place up.  So this was cleaning day.  A massive three-page list is taped up on the board and you initial next to the things you are going to do and then cross them off as you do them.  It’s simple, little tasks but it actually takes quite a long time to get it all done.  

I reorganized and cleaned the ropes and the coolers they were in, cleaned the dock, cleaned the bait coolers, reorganized the cinderblock pile, and vacuumed under beds.  Well, I was supposed to vacuum under beds but right when I turned the vacuum on it decided to break and start smoking and the fan blade had essentially come off-center and there was no way to fix it.  So I got to be the lucky person to turn it on when it finally bit the dust.  Sarah broke the shopvac.  Perfect.  But after we finished we had lunch and then got the rest of the afternoon off.  

Bryan, Andi, and I headed up north because we were going to have a bonfire and needed s’more supplies, obviously.  It was also Thursday so there was fresh food coming onto the island.  We went to Roberts and I bought some vegetables to make soup and then we headed farther up north to find Miss Antoinette’s Souvenir Shop for Bryan because he wanted to buy things for his friends and family.  We got up there but she was closed so we headed back down, went to a couple more shops and bought a few more things, then stopped at the Straw Market where Bryan bought his things.  On the way back to the lab we stopped at the Sands and ran into Kelsey, Rachael, and Heather.  Plans for a bonfire were confirmed even though we didn’t get things for s’mores and we headed back down to the lab.  For the rest of the afternoon I cooked soup and made real mashed potatoes.  Bryan and Andi ended up ordering food from the Beach Club and heading to the bonfire but at that point I was so tired I just walked the dogs down there, said hello, and went back to the lab to start packing my things for the coming course.  I also fell asleep really early so I got a good night sleep.  

Ah, duty day.  It was a fairly typical duty day.  I had a bit of help in the morning which was nice and Jill did most of lunch so I had time to clean a lot.  But for some reason I was just moving really slowly that day.  I still got everything done and cooked dinner but just felt like it took longer than normal.  Jill also gave me license to be handy so I got to recaulk to kitchen sink and we fought off some wasps in shed 4 so it was a nice productive day.

It was a quiet day at the lab that day.  We had two groups, one fixing gillnets for the day and my group with Kelsey and Rachael doing Jean’s video analysis from his trials.  For the video trials we had to do two things.  First we had to start at a specific point in the video, the 900th frame, and pick a specific shark to watch.  If you remember a while ago we were doing videos to determine which shark was which in the videos, this is where that comes in handy.  We knew which shark was which so at frame 900 we started following the shark and then stopped every 900 frames to write down if it was following another shark, being followed, or paralleling.

Fortunately Jean’s program will skip 30 frames at a time but sometimes when sharks start crossing each other and turning quickly you have to slow it down to one frame at a time.  But overall it’s not hard to follow the shark around.  But it does become mind-numbing after a while staring at a computer screen for hours.  We finally had to take a break for lunch because we were losing our minds and it was getting hard to focus.  

After lunch, we got back on the videos, finished the fourth shark, and then moved on to another type of analysis.  Jean is currently formulating a program where he can compare the following data we gather and compare it to the computer’s analysis of the same video.  So every 810 frames we would stop and click on the nose of the shark we were following three times.  Each time you click it jumps ahead 30 frames so it would end at the 900 frame mark.  Then we would jump another 810 frames and repeat it.  Then, when we do all of the sharks in the video this way we can see who is in what position at what time and the computer can create a data sheet saying which shark is following, being followed, and paralleling at any of the marks we made points.  It’s a really cool concept and hopefully if the program is accurate enough eventually volunteers will only have to click on the sharks and get the data rather than having to do following and being followed manually.  

I did that until about 3:00 when I started helping make dinner and ended up just making it all.  We had honey mustard chicken.  Yum.  Then for the rest of the evening I just watched a movie and fell asleep pretty early.