Turtles, Tests, and Hurricanes: HALF WAY DONE!!

All is well in sunny St. Kitts! Hurricane Omar passed with some damage, and several hours of winds, rain, and excitement. Officially, it was a Category 3 storm, by in all honesty the windstorms of western Washington far surpassed this wee hurricane. While it wasn't nearly as big and exciting as I had hoped, beaches have changed shape entirely and many of the Caribbean side businesses were hit hard by the brunt of the winds. Nonetheless, businesses and beach bars were open hours after the rains stopped, despite upturned tables, ponds in parking areas, and waist-deep sand inside the buildings. NOTHING keeps the Kittitian bars down!


Below are pictures from the past several months. I'm halfway through fourth semester, so officially halfway through my time in St. Kitts!! Time flies!

Wee little Green sea turtle hatchling!! They make all of the work and lack-of-sleep worth it :)

These three photos are from this years Agriculture Days. Agriculture Days is an annual celebration of St. Kitts' Independence. This year was the 25th Anniversary of St. Kitts' independence, and the SKSTMN was given a booth on one of the main stages. For 3 days, we taught children, spoke to parents, and gave presentations on sea turtle conservation. We developed quite the following of children :)
Agriculture Days: This is Inches. Inches is in the Junior Military and was our booth's "enforcer." He made sure everyone behaved themselves, and kept us entertained in the process!
Agriculture Days: Sea turtles are clearly the COOLEST things EVER. Ask these kiddos!
One of our tagged hawksbills. This one taunted us during in-water. Since he was already tagged, we didn't need to catch him, and he knew it. He decided to pose for a photo.

In-water tagging! This hawksbill does not look pleased with me...

One of the perks of working on the Sea Turtle project is getting to visit some of the most remote, beautiful beaches on St. Kitts! This was sunset on one such beach, where a total of 7 turtles had nested recently. He's so handsome :)
Break time! Good food, good friends :)
Ok, seriously. These guys look RIDICULOUS when shaved!
Cody's mohawk. He did not approve.

Photos from Omar and of the new car- soon to come!

Georgia Sea Turtle Center

Hi All!

Well, one more semester over and passed! I am currently on my two week break inbetween semesters, and am spending it as a veterinary extern at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, located on Jekyll Island, GA. Since I am settling in for the evening and waiting out the effects of hurricane Faye, I thought I would write a little update...

The Georgia Sea Turtle Center (GSTC)is one of very few programs in the US that is dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of sea turtles. GSTC takes turtles that have stranded or have been found injured along the entirety of the East coast, and does everything they can to heal, rehabilitate, and release the individuals in their care. They also work with a variety of tortoises and terrapins.

My externship is focused on learning as much as I can in a short amount of time about the husbandry and medical care of the critters at the Center. Its an incredible place with tons of amazing animals, each with their unique personalities and stories. Below are a few photos of some of the critters I've had the priviledge to work with.

Charlotte, a green sea turtle at the center who wanted to eat the camera...

Wee little terrapin hatchling. Don't let this photo fool you... he's only about the size of a quarter!

Griffin, a loggerhead sea turtle at the Center.

Two dolphins out in the marshes of the Georgia Coast. I got to go out with a group of dolphin researchers for a day to watch them do skin biopsies and photo cataloging of the individual dolphins of the Golden Isles. We saw between 75 and 100 individuals during the 12 hours we were out on the water. The Georgia coast is BEAUTIFUL!!

Time flies!

I'm not sure how to even begin talking about the last few crazy months, so I'm just going to plug in a bunch of photos and explain! School is going well, I have finals next week for the completion of my third semester, and then I am off to an internship at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center for two weeks.

In my previous posts I mention that I have become a Research Assistant for the St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network. Nesting season is over for the leatherbacks (ended in July), which means I'm getting a bit more sleep! Now, however, the hatchlings are starting to emerge! The picture here was taken by Fran Pope (a volunteer with the program) and is of a leatherback hatchling. These tiny little kiddos get to be over 1000lbs!

We recently also put on Sea Turtle Camp for the children on the island. This is a picture taken by Sara Ramirez of Dr. Stewart going over turtle anatomy with a juvenile hawksbill that another volunteer and I caught just a few minutes earlier. This turtle was tagged, measured, and released after the kids got a chance to see their first "real turtle! "

Unfortunately, I'm still waiting on a few people for more photos from the leatherback season! So, for now, I'm just going to include some new pretty pictures of the island. Overall, everything down here is going well. I'm definitely missing home a lot, and am really looking forward to this break in Georgia (with two nights in Brooklyn with my mom!!) and then December, when I'll be back for almost 2 full weeks! Its hard to believe I've been living here for a year already! 1 1/2 more years to go...

Sydney LOVES her beach!

Green Vervet monkey taking a snack break by the side of the road.

This lovely little snowy egret was hit by a car. It came to stay with me for a little bit, and then was released.

This cow must have done something very good in past life...

Baby season on the Peninsula continues!!

And we're back!!

Sorry for the long delay in updates! Its been a crazy few weeks.

Finals ended a few weeks ago. Thank goodness, they went well, and I've moved along to 3rd semester. I had a wonderful two week break, during which my mom and cousin Tina came to visit. It was so nice to see family!! I hadn't seen Tante Tina in over 10 years, and it was her first time visiting the Caribbean, so we spent a lot of time together with my mom seeing the sights and enjoying the island. I finally got the chance to relax at the beach and explore all of the quiet, peaceful corners of the country that I had not yet been able to see. Spending time with Tante Tina and my mom made me realize just how much I miss home and family. It was so hard to see them go.

At the end of last semester, I applied and was accepted as a research assistant to Dr. Kimberly Stewart, founder of the St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network. I have spent the past two months working nights out on the beach, monitoring the female leatherback sea turtles nesting on the local beaches. Its been an incredible experience, with a lot of star-gazing and sunrises attached!

I've included a photo that Sara Ramirez (a friend and fellow turtler) took of a turtle who stayed up on the beach until sunrise. It was a rare opportunity to photograph a leatherback, as we are not allowed photos at night (white lights stress the turtles). We just had another stay until sunrise last night, so more photos are on the way!

Some of the work we do includes collecting environmental data, tagging and recording individual data, and collecting blood samples from each of the females as they nest. We also move high risk nests to safe locations above tide line, and work to educate the community about turtle value and conservation efforts. The turtles themselves can reach over 1000lbs, and have shells (carapaces) spanning over 5 1/2 feet long. Standing next to a turtle who is longer than I am tall and probably many times my age is a pretty unbelievable experience.

School is back in full swing, and I am busy trying to strike a balance between turtle work and studying. Classes themselves are a lot less time-consuming than the last two semesters, so life is definitely getting better. I will do my best to update this website more frequently now that I have some time, as well as keep in better touch!

EXAMS!!!

In the midst of final exams. A new post will come shortly, I promise!

Extracurriculars

Back to classes and studying. I am eagerly awaiting another break! Exams pick up again on Monday, and continue consistantly through mid-April and the end of another semester. In the meantime, I'm walkin' beaches, working with turtles, taking the occasional study break to draw and play with the dogs, and sometimes, when I'm really lucky, I get to SLEEP!!

Ok, back to work. Some of the more recent results of procrastination are below :)

Thank God for Mid-Semester Break!!

Finally, some time to legitimately avoid studying...

Frigate Bird in Basseterre (the little boat in the background is our ferry)

Moo... wait. Bah... I think.

"Save a horse, ride a cowboy" party.

Sea turtle beach clean-up. MUCH too early in the morning...

Enjoying island life a little bit :)

While I am not completely free of exams (I have an Anatomy Palpation exam tomorrow, as well as a Parasitology exam), I have been trying to get out and enjoy the island a bit. Here are some photos from my explorations. Last weekend I also got to assist in a sea turtle capture, where we collect general health information on the sea turtle population by catching a few, taking blood and measurements, and re-releasing them. It was incredible! I even got to catch one myself, although mostly by accident. Someone scared him, and he swam straight into me! I'm hoping to keep assisting with these studies, and maybe get trained in some of the sampling procedures. Good times in St Kitts!

Green sea turtle

Hawksbill sea turtle

Hmmm...

Painted in front of the local preschool...

Shopping at Black Rock

Black Rocks (volcanic rock beach)

Need a Taxi?

I'm sensing a theme...

St. Eustatius from Dieppe Bay on St. Kitts

Burning cane fields at sunset

Mongoose at Shipwrecks beach

Shipwreck beach bar and grille

Hell Week Celebration

Hell Week came early this semester, and I am happy to report that somehow, I survived. To celebrate our survival, Kate and I decided to go adventure driving to an old dairy farm recommended to us by one of our professors. 4 near-death experiences later, we found one of the prettiest views on the island! Beware, there is a very angry bull in this pasture that WILL chase you down... (near death experience #3)

Part One: The Drive (Near death experience #2)

We drove up through a small town called Stapleton (2nd picture down). Just before Stapleton we ran into a sheep with the largest tumor I have ever seen... Stapleton itself was not the friendliest place I have ever been. I would have taken a picture of the LARGE dog behind this door, had I thought I would survive. The road past Stapleton was beautiful with lots of turns and bends as it moved up into the rainforest. Here the bus drivers and taxi drivers seem to enjoy driving as fast as possible without going off the road. After lots of uphill (and only minimal smoke from under the hood of my car), we reached the end of our road, and the start of the dairy farm (yes, we brought some Carib along to enjoy with the view...)

Part 2: The Farm

The view was absolutely spectacular. It looked out over Bassaterre, the Atlantic and the Caribbean Ocean from an entirely different angle than I had ever seen. The cows offered a lovely backdrop. We were joined by a dog that apparently lives on the farm, and had I not already had my two, I would have brought him home. Kate had her first ever interaction with a cow, which went quite well until the cow ran away. We also found a really cool looking bull, who I felt the need to photograph. We learned quickly that he did not appreciate his snapshot being taken (near death experience #3).

A few more pretty pictures from the farm...

Part 3: The return

On the way home, we decided to try a few sugar-cane roads that had intrigued us for awhile. As we drove down one of them, Kate spotted a femur on the side of the road. Being the good vet students we are, we stopped, picked it up, and found not just a femur, but the better part of an entire pig skeleton. Of course, we collected them and threw them in the back of the car! When a scary man with a machete suddenly appeared out of the cane field (a frequent occurance), we decided it was finally time to go home.