DR 2010

We hired a new employee to take care of the coral nursery in the Dominican Republic, so Britt and I got to travel there to teach Victor the tricks of the trade!

Instead of staying at the posh resort, we got to stay in the dorms at the Ecological Foundation.

The rooms weren't too bad, but there wasn't any hot water. Normally, after a long day in the field, it's nice and refreshing to have a cool shower. However, this trip was a little different (more on that later). There was AC (between the hours of 7pm and midnight) and we had WiFi in the common area. We also had access to a kitchen for snacks (provided the students staying there didn't eat all of our food)!

This is me at the beginning of the trip. I'm all excited and optimistic about the potential of having a good collaboration in the DR!

One of the challenges we faced this trip was the availability of gear. The compressor was down at the dive shop, so we had to carry all of our gear between the Foundation and the marina each morning! Let's just say that got a little tiring!

The troops: Victor, Ben, Larry and myself (photo by Britt).

My good weather fairy apparently didn't make the trip with me. During our entire trip, we had a tropical wave forming directly over the island of Hispaniola which then developed into a Tropical Depression and then Tropical Storm Bonnie which made landfall in Miami on Friday. This system made working at the nursery difficult as it created many thunderstorms......

....large waves and serious current at the nursery......

.....and interesting boating! We took this photo to send home to the boss to show what he wasn't missing!!!!

Underwater at the nursery, we were able to get some training and work done. We always love to see cool wildlife like this reef squid!

We set up a new A frame and the squid starting utilizing that habitat right away!

Here's our new A frame! We set this experimental A frame to test the difference in growth between two morphologies (one is a very thick branched genotype and one is a very thin and brittle genotype). Sorry....too much science stuff?

We also installed a line nursery too....and it's a very nice line nursery if I must say so myself!

This is potentially what the A frames can become if they aren't fragmented regularly. It's a good indication of how fast these corals grow!

Here's Victor and Ben setting up an experimental outplant plot. We taught them three techniques for outplanting fragments onto the reef and we had them design a little experiment to test which method works best for conditions around the nursery.

Your happy instructors for the course. This was taken on the last day and we were so happy to be done!

We had not had good food during this trip, so we treated the boys to a nice dinner out in Bavaro (a nearby town). We had gotten a recommendation from a friend who spends quite a bit of time in Punta Cana, but when we got there it was closed. So, Ben called Jake, the director of the Foundation, who suggested a placed right down the street on the beach. The food was excellent and the owner was very excited to explain the menu and treated us to a variety of little extras during our meal. To start with, we had gin and vodka martinis topped with grated avocado pits which gave them a little cherry flavor. The owner told us that there are only two places in the world where drinks are served this way and that the avocado pits are extremely expensive (which is why he only grated a little in each drink) and sell for about 800 euros per kilo. Wow- who knows if this is true or not, but it was a good story. For tapas, we had cheese croquettes, squid sauteed in garlic, white wine and parsley, glazed octopus and ceviche. The main courses were grilled slipper lobster and parrotfish baked with ham. Very delicious! For dessert, passion fruit mousse with graham cracker crust. A great way to end the trip!

I even got to spend a little time with my friend Kevin all the way from Hawaii in town for his brother's wedding. What are the odds that we would be in the DR at the exact same time? Crazy!