I've been here at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida for the past 3 months so I figure I should fill everyone in on what I've been doing. We work six days at a time with two days off in between - two sets of night patrols (two interns) followed by one set of day patrols (one intern at a time). Here's what a typical day patrol consists of...
6:30am - Begin at Naples Beach (after driving the Conservancy stick shift there!). Starting at the pier we ride north on the ATV looking for crawls, collecting trash and spotting gear left out on the beach. If a beach club/resort has chairs or umbrellas out overnight, we leave them a citation and inform the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. If the beach gear is not affiliated with a club we just remove it from the beach. When we find a crawl we determine if it's a false crawl or a nest. Either way we draw a diagram and count with steps how far it is from the mean high water line, the vegetation and the nearest distance marker. For false crawls we leave a stake in the dune so that the GPS location can be taken later. For nests we locate the eggs and set up a perimeter around the egg chamber to keep people away. Once we reach the north end we turn around and head south, stopping at each old nest to check for predation or evidence of hatching (there are also rain gauges we check on the north and south ends). From the pier to the south end we again check for crawls and on the way back check the old nests. This whole time we pass people walking on the beach and many of them stop us to ask questions, especially if they walk up while we're working on a nest. We also record how many people we talk to each day.
9:00am - (Time differs a little day to day) Rinse off the ATV at the pier and park it in our hiding spot behind the bushes. Then take the Conservancy Kia down to the south end of Naples Beach to another set of bushes where we have the kayak stashed. 9:30-10:00am - Kayak over to the north end of Keewaydin Island. Take the ATV we have hidden away there and patrol the northernmost 17000ft of the island (we patrol 17000-38000ft during night patrol). The only difference here is that we dig a cage over the nests because there are hardly any people and lots of raccoons. Then we kayak back (typically between 12-1) and spend about an hour or so doing data entry.
This year for Spring Break I traveled to Bocas del Toro, Panama for my course 'Fieldwork in Coastal Management'. Here's the summary...
Friday March 13 - Miami to San Jose, Costa Rica
We arrived bright and early to the Miami airport for our flight to San Jose. There were 22 of us all together - our professor, 7 graduate students (mostly marine policy) and and 14 undergraduate students (mostly Latin American studies, some of them still drunk from the night before). Once we landed we found our hostel, put down our things and walked around San Jose for the afternoon. A group of us grabbed lunch at a little cafe on the street and then explored the downtown area.
That night we hung out at the hostel and had a few drinks before heading out to check out the night scene. We stopped at a couple places and most people (including myself) went back to the hostel before too late to rest up before our 4:30am wake up to catch the bus to Panama in the morning. A handful stayed out the entire night and showed up to catch the taxis that morning still drunk. Again. I was not impressed.
Saturday March 14 - San Jose to Bocas del Toro
We finally got everyone together and took taxis to the bus station for our ride southeast to the Costa Rica/Panama border. Everyone was in and out of sleep during the 6 hour trip but before I zonked out I got to see some really nice views of the Costa Rican rainforests. I wish we could have stayed a bit longer to see the country more, but I guess I'll just have to go back...
Upon arrival at the border we had to exit the bus and see immigration for our departure. We then began a precarious walk across the border bridge (with all our stuff) complete with rickety old wooden planks and huge gaps great for viewing of the Sixaola River below. The locals passed by in both directions on probably a daily trip and must have laughed to themselves when they saw what silly touristas we were hobbling across watching each step like it could be our last.
Of course we all made it, stopped to see Panama immigration, took a van to Almirante and then a water taxi to Isla Colon, the main island of the Bocas del Toro archipelago (to confuse things the main town is also called Bocas del Toro and the entire Province is called Bocas del Toro). There wasn't a hotel big enough in town to keep all of us so we split into two groups, checked in and walked around a bit to familiarize ourselves with Bocas Town.
Sunday March 15 - Day Tour to Dolphin Bay, Coral Cay, Red Frog Beach and Hospital Point
Part of the problem with the development boom in Bocas is what to do with tourists once they get there. There are no beaches in Bocas Town and the best sites are a boat ride away. There are several tour operators that offer day trips but they all seem to go to the same places, which are suffering due to the heavy traffic. We took one of these tours to get a better idea of how they impact the environment and what (if any) information was given about the natural world during the tours (turns out the answer is none). Sure we were contributing to the traffic in these areas but I'd like to think we were responsible visitors - I even snuck in a marine biology lesson while we were snorkeling since most of the students in our group are not in the marine sciences...
The natural areas in Bocas are stunning so spending the day enjoying them gave us a better perspective for why a management plan needed before development in the area gets even further out of hand.
Monday-Wednesday March 16, 17 & 18 - Guest Lectures and Group Meetings
We spent the next few days and the Smithsonian Field Research Station listening to guest speakers cover various topics ranging from the geological history of Panama to land conflicts between developers and indigenous communities. One talk covered the status of sea turtle populations in the area so I stayed after talk with the speaker who works for the Caribbean Conservation Corporation - turns out nest numbers are on the rise in Panama. If only it were true in Florida too!
Thursday March 19 - La Loma Jungle Lodge, Bastimentos National Marine Park & Salt Creek
On our way out to see the marine park we stopped at La Loma which is the epitome of what ecotourism strives to achieve. The couple that owns the lodge bought the land from an indigenous land owner (not a foreign developer making a quick buck), built a common area and six small cabins using naturally fallen trees and employ only Panamanians. They also have a butterfly farm to supplement their income. They were a lovely couple and it was a beautiful place. We spent the afternoon on the Zapatillas Islands snorkeling, exploring and generally frolicking. It was BEAUTIFUL. There aren't many tours going all the way to Cayo Zapatilla which is a shame on one hand because it is so gorgeous there but it's good too because it's so gorgeous there.
I should make a note here that my roommate was so kind as to let me borrow her waterproof digital camera for this trip. While snorkeling with it in the marine park it must have leaked somehow and got water inside. I hope one day she will forgive me. To make things worse, just after that I found 6 spiny lobsters hanging out under a ledge! Would have been an amazing photo op.
Friday March 20 - Free Day to Finish Research/Interviews Each of us had a project we were researching while in Bocas and mine was to evaluate the environmental education provided to locals and tourists in Bocas. I had planned to accompany the lead outreach guy from the Smithsonian Field Station to the next island over to do a beach lesson with kids there who were out of school for the summer. We went but found no kids because the teacher responsible for rounding them up didn't feel well and was visiting the doctor. Communication isn't a big priority on the islands. So he showed me around the island a bit an I got to pick his brain about Smithsonian's outreach efforts. It wasn't a total loss. That night we had a group dinner and went out to enjoy our last night in Bocas. It started to pour so we ran out into the street to dance in the rain. It was great fun!
Saturday March 21 - Bocas to Panama City
Another early morning to catch a 7:30am flight to Panama City. Our professor has an apartment in San Felipe so we dropped our stuff while we waited for check-in time at the hostel and went to see the canal for a few hours and hike at the Parque Metropolitano, which had a great view of the city! We then moved our stuff to the hostel and had a walking tour with Dr. Suman's friend who just happens to be an architect so he told us all about the old buildings in San Felipe. One last group dinner at an Italian place (random right??) and then we spent the evening resting up in the hostel and telling stories about our trip.
I've been here at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida for the past 3 months so I figure I should fill everyone in on what I've been doing. We work six days at a time with two days off in between - two sets of night patrols (two interns) followed by one set of day patrols (one intern at a time). Here's what a typical day patrol consists of...
