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Cabo - the snorkeling duo.... |
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the pvc armlets - our high tech data gathering device!
snorkel buddy post rock attack!
end of the snorkel adventures ( its 8am!)
three banded butterfly fish - one of the 31 species we saw in the lagoon
check out the turtle - it is an olive ridley!
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it was the best of times. it was the worst of times. espicially when you couldn’t see out of your goggles. in that case you can imagine the beautiful fish you are seeing – that makes it the best, but it can also create dangerous situations – that makes it the worst. sometimes even your snorkel buddy can’t protect you from the vaggeries of the ocean. Chris is my snorkel buddy...it began on our first day at Cabo. We jumped into the ocean and immediately placed ourselves in the novice group. Beth because she forgot that she could swim with big ungainly fins on. Chris put himself in the novice group cause he hated the water with a passion that all the water in the ocean couldn’t extinquish. And then the snorkel buddiness started. Beth was a little worried at first because she had heard a rumor that chris suffered from severe hydroparalysis –water alergy. However, the first few moments proved delightful – actually chris and beth saw more colorful fish closer to their faces than did the advanced group that immediately swam out into the lagoon and got lost (though they didn’t really get lost, we just say they did) . somehow, perhaps because of our amazing skills in the water, katja and erika put both of us with gene helfman’s fish project. was it an effort to rid chris of his allergy...or an effort to loose beth to the woman eating blemmies - you know the ones that really bite... or at least nibble … ok, mainly leave people alone, but we heard of a friend of a friend who got chomped once. team zissou assembled: Danielle, Jennifer, Katie, Eben, Quinn, Laura, Gene, Chris and Beth. our first day on project we were armed with flashcards, pvc-pipe armlets, snorkels, fins, pencils and weighted down with rocks, ropes, measuring tapes…with this we were ready for the water (see above – before picture). our goals: make permenant transects - identify fish – count fish – record data on pvc armlet Ô – measure rugosity (number of rocks) – remember to breath – swim – stay warm – avoid close rock encounters – return alive with your snorkel buddy. results day one: 26 fish species 356 (plus or minus a few) individual fishes – no one died chris finds he can swim with his eyes closed and good thing because his goggles are as good as eyelids for visibility… beth is exhausted from nearly 3 hours in the frigid tropical water and nearly sleeps through dinner. chris seems unaffected by his alergy. day two. we can’t find our transects. what to do? with the aide of super swimers quinn and eben the transects are re-located (more or less where we had left them). and the project continued. major accomplishments beth and chris can now both swim in a reliably straight line…everyone appluads our progress and encourages us to work on actually swimming below the water. day three.
day four: freezing again in the dusky morning. count fish, gather up our ropes and transect lines and head for home. then the thrilling acrobats of data analysis begin. chris excels. beth counts – 2775 fish in total. our p-values are in before the presentation is given – record timing. disclaimer: no fish were harmed this study
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