Gusty Winds

Edited 3/1/09: Photo captions - me on the beach across from research centre, a San Salvador musician, ruins of Watling's Castle (a plantation home), view of mangroves

Where did this WIND come from??? We had high hopes of watching the Comet Lulin on Monday night, followed by a day of point-intercept data collection on the reef. Unfortunately, an incredibly strong wind has kept us from collecting data today. We spent the day like
typical teachers – learning about the history of San Salvador, and taking a nature hike! We saw some incredible sights – including a mangrove swamp, a hypersaline (very salty) lake, and some ruins of old buildings from the days of Christopher Columbus!
San Salvador Island has a very interesting history. Christopher Columbus arrived here in 1492. He stayed about a week, didn’t see a whole lot he liked, so he set sail again and eventually found America! The island was colonized a little bit by Britain, who completely removed the “natives” to make room for colonists. After the Revolutionary War in America, there were some British Loyalists in America that wanted to be relocated. Britain moved their loyalists to San Salvador Island, and had them establish plantations. These plantations included slaves from Africa. The plantations were not very successful since it is difficult to grow things on the island due to the lack of fresh water. So the British loyalists packed up and went back to England, leaving their slaves behind. So much of the Bahamian residents on San Salvador are descendents of slaves.

Since we couldn’t collect data today, we spent this evening reviewing pictures of living things found on the coral reef so we could practice identifying the types of reef cover that we will need to look for tomorrow. Aside from reef cover, the other data we will be collecting the rest of this week will come from beach profiles (how much sand/water is on the beach) and fish studies (what types of fish are swimming on the reef). We still have a lot of work to do!

Here are my answers to some of the questions you asked:

How big was the barracuda? What do you do when you see a barracuda?
The barracuda we saw was about 2 feet long! When you see one, you just keep swimming because they usually don't bother you. They are doing something called "shadowing". When you are snorkeling, you cast a shadow and the barracuda like to use our shadow to find fish to eat!

How many different types of corals are there? What kinds did I see? What is something I would like to bring back from the ocean here?
There are a lot of different types of corals! We have mostly been looking at these corals: mustard hill coral, grooved brain coral, smooth brain coral, dead man's fingers coral, stubby fingers coral, mountain star coral, elliptical star coral, and starlett corals. Look up some pictures if you want to see what these look like! Besides corals, I have also seen some other neat sea creatures like sponges, sea urchins, and tube worms. So far the thing I have liked the best that I would like to be able to bring home are the beautiful fish!

It is difficult for me to post pictures, so I may need to update with pictures after I get home. My students should keep working on your blog entries. We are still set to videoconference on Thursday – I can’t wait to “see” you all!

Challenge Questions:
1) For Biology students - what role do corals play in the food chain? What would happen if corals were removed from the ecosystem? Think about this one!
2) For Physical Science students - the ocean's pH has changed from around 8.16 to 8.05 in the last 200 years or so. Is it becoming more acidic or basic and why do you think this is happening?