Bimini

Day 115

Mon, 13 May 2013 23:03:00 -0400

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…

Day 114

Mon, 13 May 2013 23:00:56 -0400

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.

Day 113

Mon, 13 May 2013 23:00:47 -0400

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.

Day 112

Mon, 13 May 2013 23:00:41 -0400

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.

Day 111

Sat, 04 May 2013 22:49:07 -0400

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.

Day 110

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:57:07 -0400

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.

Day 109

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:55:10 -0400

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.

Day 108

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:47:31 -0400

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.

Day 107

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:47:14 -0400

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.

Day 106

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:41:00 -0400

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.

Day 105

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:23:00 -0400

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.

Days 103 & 104

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 07:06:57 -0400

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.

Day 102

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 00:05:05 -0400

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.

Day 101

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 22:15:42 -0400

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

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:52:57 -0400

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.

Day 99

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 20:34:00 -0400

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.

Day 98

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:33:38 -0400

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 97

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:30:29 -0400

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.

Day 96

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:16:15 -0400

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.

Day 95

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 22:21:30 -0400

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!