From the Field:

The Earthwatch 'Manatees in Belize' Research Project

Megan on the water studying seagrass and manatees in Belize.

From a remote mangrove island off the coast of Belize, AquaNews correspondent Megan Saunders reports on research findings, life as a field biologist and fascinating observations of the natural world. After completing a marine biology degree from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada, Megan embarked on a six-month journey through Central America. During the first 2 ½ months of her trip, Megan will complete an internship with the Earthwatch Manatees in Belize research project.

Led by marine scientists Caryn Self Sullivan from Texas A&M University and Katherine LaCommare from the University of Massachusetts, researchers working on the project will be building a photo, video, and acoustic database of individual manatees in the Drowned Cayes, a string of mangrove islands off the coast of Belize. They hope to find out how these endangered animals affect the seagrass beds they feed on and how they divide their time between traveling, feeding, resting, and socializing.

Using a geographic information system (GIS) to examine the associations between manatee distribution, spacing, behavior and environmental variables, they will develop a model to predict the distribution and behavior of these animals. The findings of this research project will help Belize to best protect the manatees in their waters. The project will also contribute to manatee conservation by communicating information to local non-profits, public education and outreach programs, publications in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at professional conferences.

Megan's Updates:

Camp Preparation February 1, 2003
Manatees! February 7, 2003
Snorkeling in the Mangroves February 17, 2003
Manatee Research, the Real Story February 24, 2003

Things are Looking Up March 3, 2003
A Well-Needed Rest March 8, 2003
Back to Work March 13, 2003

An Exciting Encounter March 21, 2003

Camp Preparation
February 1, 2003

The camp on Spanish Lookout Caye.

Caryn, Brian and I arrived at our camp on Spanish Lookout Caye on Tuesday January 28th. The boat ride from Belize City was approximately 1 hour long. Upon arrival we brought all our gear and supplies into the house and moved all the stored stuff from Spanish bay Resort on the other side of the island. We have now spent 2 entire days cleaning, unpacking, setting up camp, preparing the research, and sorting out the logistics for the first field team.

Our living accommodations are basic but comfortable and are built on stilts. There is one building (dubbed the Pink House) for a kitchen/laboratory and one dormitory building. Both have bathrooms with a shower and flush toilet, but there is no hot water. The toilets use seawater, and all the fresh water is rainwater so it must be used sparingly. The rainwater is filtered for drinking. We have solar and wind generated electricity for lights in the evening and for computers for data entry. A generator must power the fridge but it is very loud so we only run it for a couple of hours a day. We burn almost all our garbage (except tin cans) and compost vegetable and fruits. Any leftover food gets fed to the islands resident dogs Nina and Sultan. We also share our home with a number of hermit crabs. Friday we caught a ride into Belize City with Gilroy. There we picked up the week's supplies of food and met our four volunteers for the next two weeks.

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Manatees!
February 7, 2003

In the last week a group of four volunteers joined Caryn (the Principal investigator), Brian (the other intern), Gilroy (the boat captain/field guide) and I on Spanish Lookout Caye. Three are "Millenium Award," winners, a scholarship for British citizens over 50, and one is a 26 year old American journalist from a children's science magazine. We get up by 6:30, prepare breakfast and get the gear ready, spend from 8:30 till 5ish in the field, spend a couple of hours preparing dinner and sorting out data, and are usually in bed by 10:00. It has been a bit of a shift in schedule for me! About half of the time we survey manatee behaviour, and the other half of the time we survey their seagrass habitat.

A female manatee swam right up to our boat and hung suspended in the water for a moment looking up at us looking down at her. Click image to enlarge.

On the first morning in the field we went to Swallow Caye, a recently instigated manatee reserve. Within the first hour Caryn spotted a manatee, which we surveyed from a distance for a while. We moved on to a slightly different location and literally nearly ran over a manatee calf. It was tiny, only around 4 feet long, and on its own. Caryn figured it was far too young to be without its mom. It was extremely curious and swam within feet of the boat before retreating to around 20 m away. Later that afternoon an older female manatee swam right up to our boat and hung suspended in the water for a moment looking up at us looking down at her. Caryn was able to video tape her underwater, which will contribute to a video-ID catalogue.

The next day we visited the Belize barrier reef, which is the second longest in the world. The manatees are spotted there in the summer months, but not usually in the winter. We took advantage of the site to practice our seagrass sampling techniques, and to do a bit

Seagrass sampling: holding your breath and counting plants underwater. Click image to enlarge.

of extracurricular snorkeling. During the seagrass sampling, which involves a lot of holding your breath and counting plants underwater, we spotted a tiny octopus crawling along the sand. The reef was of course beautiful and I hope to spend a lot more time there.

We visited another site, which I actually thought was cooler than the reef. At the edge of the mangroves the bottom had dropped by at least 30 feet in places forming dark spooky crevasses. The sediment was compact mud riddled with plant roots, and interspersed with corals and other invertebrates. Apparently there are large grouper (ie 200+ lbs) lurking in the depths, but I didn't see any.

Frigate bird. Click image to enlarge.

The last couple of days have involved surveying and sampling. We have had at least 8 manatee sightings so far. We spend a couple of hours in the water seagrass sampling each day, which I am quite happy about. The water is 26-28 degrees and a surreal turquoise colour. The air is a couple of degrees warmer with an almost constant breeze, which is extremely helpful in keeping the sandflies (no-see-ums) at bay. Some of the local wildlife we have

Bottlenose dolphins. Click image to enlarge.

spotted include spotted eagle rays, southern stingrays, barracuda, reef fish, bat fish (very weird looking - seen in the bottom of the trenches described previously), conch, frigate birds, herons, and pelicans. In our "front yard" under the seawall I have seen an octopus, 50 or so lobster (which I have adopted as pets in an attempt to save them from the dinner table), and bottlenose dolphins swimming some distance off shore. In our "backyard" in the lagoon there is at least one toothy 6-foot crocodile.

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Snorkeling in the Mangroves
February 17, 2003

A bogue: a narrow channel cutting between mangroves islands. Click image to enlarge.

I think the highlight of last week was our last day. In the morning we headed to one of the bogues, a narrow channel cutting between mangroves islands. We didn't see any manatees, but we did go snorkeling in one of the narrow creeks. The water was completely still and fairly clear. The bottom of the creek was muddy and scattered with thousands of upside down jellies. Along the sides of the creek the prop roots from the mangroves extended down 1-4 feet. They were covered in living organisms, such as pink, lavender, orange, red, and mint green coloured sponges, bivalves, many types of green, red and brown algae, see slugs, crabs, tunicates, and anemones. There were thousands of small anchovy-like fish schooling around, puffer fish milling around in the prop roots, and needle-like houndfish hanging our near the surface.

After that we headed to Goff's Caye, a postcard version of a Caribbean island. It is a tiny white sand island built up on the barrier reef, the land held together by the roots of the swaying palm trees. After 2 weeks of swampy mangroves the sand was welcomed! When we arrived the island was crawling with tourists from a cruise ship, but after an hour or so they all left, leaving the island to us and a handful of others. We had a picnic lunch and then boated half a km down the reef to snorkel in calmer area. I must admit that the reef amazes me more and more every time I visit. One of the most outstanding features are the gorgonian fans, which sway back and forth in the swell. There are also elkhorn, brain, pillar, and staghorn corals, sea whips, and of course thousands of reef fish.

I am glorifying the experience - trust me, not every day is like this! We work basically from dawn until we go to bed at night, and being with the same half a dozen people all day every day has its challenges. Additionally, the logistics of camp life take up a considerable amount of our time. All our bread has to be cooked from scratch, beans soaked and stewed (not from a can!), the drinking water filtered, and the water pumped for the showers and toilets. One night last week the wind died and our mosquito coil burnt out, two unfortunate incidences, which when combined resulted in the entire population of Spanish Lookout Caye's sand flies feasting upon my exposed skin. The next morning I looked like I had contracted a worrying case of measles.

On my day off I went to the Belize Zoo. It was created in 1983, when Sharon Matola, an American animal trainer, was charged with finding homes for 17 animals left over from the filming of a natural history documentary. All of the animals at the zoo are indigenous to Belize, and all of them have been pets, injured, or ill and are unfit to be returned to the wild. All of the enclosures were very natural with lots of vegetation and hiding areas. There are now over 100 animals at the zoo including endangered species like ocelots, jaguars, tapirs, margays, jabiru storks, and spider monkeys.

The second week of our first volunteer team is finished and we are in Belize City waiting to meet the second team this afternoon. We have three volunteers arriving. One is a 63 year old and her 19 year old niece. The Aunt has been on 12 previous Earthwatch trips! Last week's team had a total of 18 manatee sightings, saw 20 manatees, did 10 focal follows, completed three seagrass plots, did 20 scans, spent 9 days on water and covered each of the nine study area zones.

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Manatee Research, the Real Story
February 24, 2003

Megan cooking inside the camp.

This week was interesting. It started off with out a hitch, our three team members Pat, Meghan and Jenny meeting Brian, Caryn and I in Belize city on Saturday. Training on Sunday went smoothly. A small downpour on Monday morning prevented us from going out in the field until the afternoon, but spirits remained high and we completed some data collection and saw 2 manatees. Further rain on Tuesday was unexpected and delayed our field work until the late morning, but we managed to complete a number of surveys despite the weather. Tuesday night as the winds picked up to over 40 miles per hour, the rain came down in sheets, and lighting streaked the sky we remained positive thinking of the rain barrels filling for the taps and showers. We collected 500 gallons that day! Unfortunately we failed to consider other receptacles which may also be filling. That night the clean sheets hanging on the line were blown into a mud puddle, but luckily once back on the line there was enough ambient fresh water to render them clean again. Something to do with the low-pressure system (at least that is my explanation) caused a dinner plate to become lodged inside a somewhat expensive stewpot. No amount of banging, boiling, or bashing could remove the plate. I think that evening the team started feeling a bit down. Where was the tropical paradise we hoped for?

The following morning our resident fitness buff Jenny was doing predawn yoga. The calm after the storm had set in and she began her dockside sun salutations eagerly. As the sun rose above the mangroves she turned her torso in a twisting triangle and made a grave realization. Osprey our trusty boat was now a submarine.

Caryn emerged from the Pink House in time to see a bucket, viewfinder and water bottle drifting away on the ebbing tide. Just in case you are unaware, a submerged engine is not a good thing. Luckily we happen to have a resident miracle worker named Gilroy. I won't go into details, but using ropes, poles, a second boat, the theories of displaced mass and the weight of five would-be manatee researchers, Gilroy returned Osprey to the surface where she belonged. Following this he proceeded to fix the flooded engine in time for lunch and an afternoon snorkeling trip to the reef. He is my hero.

It seems as though (touch wood) the stars have realigned in a more favorable array. My sheets - three days post washing - dried. The plate was removed from the pot, albeit in shatters. The boat floats. We managed to get one full day of field research in, observing a pair of manatees in Barge Bogue for over an hour. This week's events have led me to wonder about the trials and tribulations that all field researchers must encounter. The behind the scenes stories of nature documentaries are surely as interesting as the films themselves?

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Things are Looking Up
March 3, 2003

Our week started off on a rough note but thankfully improved. Jenny, one of the volunteers, received word of a family emergency at home. She rescheduled her flight and sadly left us on Monday. We definitely miss her and wish her and her family all the best. Later that day more bad news. On data entry day Caryn's laptop computer crashed. The type of computer crash that will cost a lot of money to fix, and potentially more money to rescue the mountains of data that are currently lost. The computer has been sent to the US to be fixed. Luckily she has a second laptop.

On the brighter side the weather is excellent now and we have been able to do our field work. Tuesday we observed a mother and calf for over an hour. The calf was most likely born this year, as it was only around 1/3rd the length of the mother. We watched them feeding on seagrass and milling around in one of the bogues. In 30 minutes we saw four boats tearing through the same area.

Boat traffic is a major problem for manatees. In Florida 50% of manatee deaths are caused by humans, and of those, half are caused by boating accidents. Sometimes the propeller cuts the animal and leads to bleeding and infection. Other times the hull of the boat crashes down on the animal and breaks its ribs. Here in Belize there is not as much data to indicate what the boat induced mortality for manatees is. However, I am aware of two manatees who were killed last weekend, one of whom was hit by a propeller. As tourism increases in Belize there will surely be an enormous increase in boat traffic. Unless preventative measures are taken a concurrent increase in the number of manatee deaths may be expected.  Manatee tour operators here are very conscientious about the well being of the manatees. They have been instrumental in creating a manatee reserve and I think will play a huge role in their future protection.

I saw two new fish species on Wednesday. In the seagrass bed in front of our camp I observed a scrawled cowfish. They are a bizarre looking fish with a triangularly shaped body when viewed head on, and two horns above their iridescent eyes. When the cowfish sensed my presence it's skin flashed in brilliant blue patches. When this didn't deter the "predator" it swam away with a burst of its tiny fins. Later on in the afternoon I had another pleasant surprise. Suspended in the water surrounding some mangrove prop roots was a bright yellow and black longsnout seahorse! It didn't appear to react to the presence of snorkelers at all. I suspect it may have been a pregnant male seahorse because of its large belly. Thursday we were fortunate to see a loggerhead sea turtle as we were motoring to Goff's Caye for our day off.

On the Caye we conducted surveys for Belize's Coastal Zone Management.  We interviewed tourists and tour operators. The responses will affect the future management of the island. I was personally dismayed at the number of people I saw wrecking the coral by kicking, touching or standing on it. Perhaps the tour operators do not give enough instruction or education regarding snorkeling or coral reef ecology to the visitors. Or, perhaps many of the visitors just don't care. We to feel like the "Coral Cops" swimming around helping people with their masks and snorkels and asking them not to stand on the coral. Later on in the day our group did a beach clean up. I was actually surprised that given the number of people who visit this tiny little island (sometimes hundreds in a day) there was not too much rubbish. Still we collected a couple of bags of garbage so that it wouldn't end up in the ocean. Our work was rewarded, on a spiritual level of course. A few glasses of rum punch from a Aleto a friendly tour operator didn't hurt either.

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A Well-Needed Rest
March 8, 2003

The first week of March yielded a much-deserved week off for the Manatees in Belize Earthwatch crew. Caryn headed to her home-away-from-home-away-from- home, the Trek Stop, an eco-friendly lodge co owned by a group of Americans and Belizeans in the Cayo district of Belize. Brian and I made a one-night pit stop there before continuing on to neighboring Guatemala. Our first destination was Tikal National Park in the departmento of El Petén.

El Petén is the largest departmento in Guatemala, and comprises the northern third of the country. Much of the region has been left in remarkably sound condition from an environmental perspective. The reasons for this are two fold. First, the area was considered relatively poor for farming and logging and was thus spared from invasive roadways, exploitation and inhabitation. Second, the 36 years of civil war, which raged in Guatemala until 1996, left remote forested areas as favorite hideouts for anti-government guerrilla forces. Along with peace have come improvements in infrastructure, including roadways into previously pristine environments. My journey in the region revealed magnificent ancient forests contrasted with evidence of slash and burn deforestation. Most of El Petén is lowland habitat, including rainforest, tropical savannah, and wetlands. Amazingly, 40% of El Petén is protected (on paper) by the Maya Biosphere Reserve.

Tikal was a major centre of Maya power for a thousand years, until roughly AD 900 and the corresponding collapse of the Maya empire. The archaeologists suspect that approximately 100,000 people lived in this sprawling ancient city. The political and religious leaders of the time commissioned massive stone temples, and in time the people of Tikal defeated and ruled neighboring populations in Mexico and Belize. In the thousand years since the collapse of the Maya Empire, Tikal has been all but reclaimed by the jungle. Exploration in the 1950's yielded ruins almost 100 m tall completely encased by the trees, plants, and forest animals. Excavation and restoration of parts of the ruins have ensued, but the forest still largely dominates the site.

We spent two days in the National Park, and for $10CAN each we rented a closet- sized hut in the campground to stay overnight. The cost was ludicrous for Guatemala, but it was worth it to see the explosion of wildlife activity in the twilight hours of dawn and dusk. From the tops of the temples we observed keel-billed toucans and a multitude of parrot species flying over the forest canopy. Hummingbirds, woodpeckers, jays, flycatchers, and a numerous other bird species also darted amongst the trees. Roaming around the grounds were hundreds of coatis', a raccoon like animal, and ocellated turkeys, a large peacock-like ground dwelling bird. High-up in the forest canopy were spider and howler monkeys, although the later evaded my attention until dusk, when their lion-like calls echoed through the jungle. We watched the sunset from the top of Temple IV, in the company of a handful of other travelers and three park guards. At this point two large snakes slithered past us along the cobbles. Their name was lost in translation, but judging from the looks of excitement on the guard's faces we were wise to stay a respectful distance away. I could not even begin to name the plants that I saw, but further reading has revealed that there are thousands of species present with an almost unimaginable number of indigenous medicinal uses. Cultural preservation is obviously equally important to environmental protection for our understanding of the secrets of the forest.

From Tikal Brian and I boarded a mini bus south to the departmental capital of Flores. This island bound colonial city on Lago de Petén Itza was charming, but extremely touristy. After a night out drinking happy-hour priced cuba libres Brian returned to Belize and I was on a southbound minibus to Poptun and the backpackers mecca of Finca Ixobel. The Finca was created by Americans Carole and Mike DeVine. Mike's brutal murder by members of the Guatemalan army left Carol in a bureaucratic battle for justice. It was not until the US threatened trade sanctions that the Guatemalan government prosecuted those responsible. Incidentally, that was the first time this ravaged country had incarcerated members of the army for murder. Finca Ixobel appears to be doing a thriving business these days. The 400-acre farm has accommodation ranging from camping to treehouses to guesthouses. Due to the occupied dormitory I made the fortunate decision to stay in the "hammock district." A large thatched-roof bamboo-walled palapa had space for about a dozen hammocks to be strung from a central pillar. I shared this rustic home with half a dozen other like-minded travelers from New Zealand, Israel, Norway and Canada. We spent our days relaxing pondside, doing yoga, hiking, and swinging in the breezy hammocks. The evenings were spent cooking over a campfire, playing cards and ping-pong, and drinking pina daquiris in the open air bar. On my birthday I went on a six hour caving trip. The cave system housed a running river, and the majority of the trip was spent swimming though the clear cool water. The stalactites and stalagmites lining the cavernous chambers were illuminated by the candles our guide lit along the way.

The trip north to El Remate became "scenic" (read: long, hot, and dusty) due to road closures caused by a nation wide teachers strike. Once in El Remate I initially was not sure why I had made the long trek to this small lakeside village. The situation turned around though. I stayed in a small thatched roof pueblo with a stone bed and large spiders. Traveling in developing nations has given me a newfound appreciation for the amenities we take for granted at home. Conversely I have come to reevaluate some of our values in the "developed" world. A heated debate with two Australians and an American birdwatcher regarding the state of the environment, world politics, fish farms, the relative intelligence of animals, and the assignment of sponge species to the astrological horoscopes resulted in a late and interesting evening.

The next day I boarded one of Guatemala's notorious chicken buses to make the trek back to Belize. I was somewhat disappointed that none of the locals enhanced my experience by bringing any squawking wildlife aboard the bus, but was non-the-less happy to acquire a seat upon crowded bus after only a few kilometers. Upon arriving at Melchor de Mencos, the Guatemalan border town, I was excited to see a raucous street party in the midst. Ambling hassle free through the border I wondered what all the commotion was about. It was not until I reached the Trek Stop did I realize the border had been closed due to the teacher's strike, and that I had walked right through without getting my passport stamped!

References:
Beletsky, Les. The Ecotravellers' Wildlife Guide: Belize and Northern
Guatemala. San Diego, Academic Press, 1999.
Zingarelli et al. Central America on a Shoestring. Melbourne, Lonely Planet
Publications, 2001.

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Back to Work
March 13, 2003

Week one of team 3 has gone off without a hitch (touch wood!). So far our boat has not sunk, we haven't lost any field days due to bad weather, and we have not lost any team members to crocodiles. Our four volunteers range in age from 24 to 63 and are from the UK and the US.

Our first day on the water at the Swallow Caye manatee reserve was extremely successful. First a mother and calf pair swam in a circle around our boat, and at one point were just meters away. Later on we almost ran over a manatee (luckily we didn't! We had the engine shut off and Gilroy was poling the boat through the shallows). The manatee was a tiny calf on its own, far too young to be without its mother. We suspect it is the same orphaned calf we observed at the beginning of team one in the same location. It was heartening to see that it was still alive five weeks later, but worrying to see it having to fend for itself at such a young age. On the way to our lunch stop we heard loud splashing on the other side of a mangrove island. The culprit was a solitary bottlenose dolphin tail-slapping under the mangrove prop roots to stun fish.

Today was Kalyn, one of our volunteers, birthday. Apparently as a birthday present the manatees arranged to perform for her! There was a group of five manatees engaging in social behaviour such as paddle dives, rolls, and climbing on one another. Very exciting. Tomorrow is Linda's birthday - who knows what her birthday present will be!

We have not visited the reef yet this week, but we have done a number of mangrove creek reconnaissance snorkels.  Linda and Kalyn found a seahorse in the same location as I did during team two.  Just as we got out of the water, we saw a "manatee footprint" near the boat.  Amazingly, with a team of 7 observers in the water, NONE of us saw the manatee.  It must have come over to check us out while we were searching the mangrove roots for smaller creatures.  I have always had the sneaking suspicion that the animals we study are secretly studying us.

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Single file Caryn, myself, Kalyn, Linda, Katie and lastly Gilroy swam up the creek. It was beautiful, with many fish darting amongst the encrusted mangrove roots. We saw a number of stingrays feeding in the muddy sediment, leaving a plume of suspended mud in their wake. Around 300 m up the creek I was busy watching a stingray swimming through the prop roots when Caryn disappeared through a large mud plume ahead. I looked to see if there was a ray causing the disturbance but didn't see one, and I continued through the mud cloud. Maybe we had disturbed a manatee? At which point I heard "CROC!" Caryn, Kalyn and I had swum directly over top of a 5-foot long American crocodile. Disturbed, it took off in a flash swimming straight under Linda, Katie and Gilroy. Thinking ourselves keen adventurers we congratulated each other for this exciting encounter but I noticed we all swam a just a bit faster on the way out.

Tuesday afternoon we did a scan at the end of Bogue F1, a site where manatees are found roughly 90% of the time. Moments into the cove we saw the same manatee we observed there three weeks previous. Soon afterwards another animal appeared and Caryn was able to capture them both on video. The water was a burgundy colour from all the tannins produced by the red mangroves, and Caryn had to rely on the team on the boat to direct her when she lost sight of a manatee. At one point we called out to her that there was a third animal, a baby, less than 10 m from the boat. She misheard us and turned in the opposite direction to come face to face with a fourth manatee.

Wednesday was still hot and hazy. We had a long day on the water and by late afternoon we hadn't seen any manatees. We had done one mangrove swim through a murky creek into Stimpy's Lagoon. At 4 pm Caryn extended an invitation to us all to swim one more creek. All of us except Linda were feeling tired and lazy and we opted to stay on the boat. The two of them swam away from the boat. 10 minutes later we heard Caryn yell out "mother and calf pair!" Moments later we saw the two manatees swim quickly past the boat. Caryn and Linda had swum directly up to the pair of resting manatees. The calf was around 4 feet long, and the mother probably 10-12 feet long. Linda apparently did an incredible dead-man's-float as Caryn video taped the encounter. The calf
sensed the visitors first and began milling around. When the mother awoke she led the calf quickly out of the creek. Linda was understandably stoked about the encounter, and the rest of us wistfully regretted our laziness.

Sometime between 4:47 and 5:05 pm on Wednesday our GPS unit lost all satellite tracking. This had never happened to any of us before. We were puzzled for a moment and then we remembered the impending war. We have heard only patchy and sporadic news of the upcoming war, as Belizean radio doesn't give extensive
coverage of world news. We are not sure if the satellite signals were scrambled by the US military, or that the whole situation was a strange coincidence. Sitting in a small boat in the Caribbean this was the first time
I felt any direct impact of the war, and it left me feeling chilled despite the scorching heat.

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I Wanna Be a Marine Biologist
March 31, 2003

Our last week of field work! This team consists of Suzanna and Ralph, two Millennium Award winners from the UK, Kyoko, a traveler from Japan, and Keren, a Belizean intern. All are keen to learn about the local environment and the manatees. I have definitely appreciated the multicultural aspect of this team. Kyoko treated us to a sushi feast on Thursday, and Keren has given me tips on Belizean cuisine and provided insights into local culture. The two Brits are both extremely well traveled and have entertained us with their tales from around the world.

Last week we thought we discovered a corpse! It turned out to simply be a tarp wrapped up and filled with sediment, but it did look a lot like a dead body. Later on in the week we got a good look at a nurse shark, which our neighbour John caught on a hand line. In the first four days of field work we had 12 sightings for a total of up to 26 manatees. The team thought this was normal; little did they know. they had more or less met their "quota" for manatees in the first week.

The heat wave had lessened little from the previous week, with temperatures hovering in the low to mid 30's until Saturday night. I woke in the middle of that night to howling winds rattling the windows and lightning streaking the
sky. The next morning the skies and seas were angry. The temperature had dropped to 20 degrees C and the wind was blowing a gale. The radio reported 70km/hour winds, 3m seas, and a cold front stretching from Cuba to Honduras.

That morning we spent improving our scrabble skills. Mine could use bit more improvement, judging from the score. We were able to head out in the afternoon by skirting around to the lea side of the island into Gilroy's creek and
lagoon. We didn't see any manatees but I did go for an unanticipated swim thanks to Brian. I did NOTHING to deserve it, I swear.

Monday morning the weather was more of the same. Gilroy braved the elements in the morning on a special mission for the owner of the island, while we sat around reading and then exploring the mangroves. The wind foiled my efforts to jump-rope (my island workout) but I did do a dozen or so laps of the causeway through the mangrove swamp. It was probably the first day this year that the area hasn't been infested with sandflies. In the afternoon the wind lessened and we cruised up the coast to Bannister and Bogue A. We had only one very brief sighting before returning home. I braved the "chilly" 25 degree C water to take some environmental data. The tropics are corrupting me for "real life" back home in Canada, that's for sure.

Tuesday the weather kept us at camp in the morning, but we were able to go in the field in the afternoon. While cruising north in the study area we were joined by a pod of four bottlenose dolphins. The statement "I want to be a marine biologist so that I can swim with dolphins" is a big joke amongst marine biologists. With that in mind I stated sarcastically to Caryn that my goal in life was to swim with dolphins. She responded with "So jump in!" I was in the water in a flash. The dolphins, 3 adults and a baby, frolicked around Kyoko, Keren and I for around 10 minutes, before Brian, Ralph and Suzanna jumped in. We could hear the dolphins before we could see them; they approached within feet. I knew the animals could have gone in an instant if they didn't want to be near us, yet they stuck around for about half an hour. When we got out of the water Caryn said "You know that bottlenose dolphins are one of the most aggressive animals in the ocean, right?"

I am now accepting donations for the "save the shoe" foundation. Wednesday morning during breakfast Sultan (the island dog) decided to play hide and seek with my left running shoe. We have searched the two-acre camp high and low for it, to no avail. Unfortunately there is roughly 131 acres of mangrove swamp on the island still left to search. I will be jogging in my sandals from now on I guess. Grrrrr.

Thursday the weather report called for rain, rain, and more rain. Fortunately the rain held off and we were able to go to Goff's Caye for the team's last day. There were fewer cruise ships in than usual, but the island still had it's
fair share of visitors. We continued our volunteer work for Belize Tourism Board, Coastal Zone Management and Fisheries by handing out questionnaires to the visitors and tour operators. The responses to the questions are varied. Some think there should be more tourists, others fewer. Some think the reef is in great shape, others see damage. Some who have been visiting the island for years have noticed it deteriorating. Hopefully the surveys we have helped conduct will enable responsible management of the caye in the future.

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Last Words
April 7, 2003

The 2003 winter field season for the Earthwatch Manatees in Belize research project has come to an end. Caryn, Brian and I have spent the last 3 days breaking up camp. Cleaning and packing everything up is quite a chore. Even the fridge and stove have to be packed away. We had a bit of spare time and decided to do one last half day on the water.

We had 3 sightings in Bogue B and Heraclitus. We saw one manatee from a distance. We saw a mother and calf pair who swam directly under the boat on their way out of a creek. Then Brian and I saw a mother and calf pair while snorkeling in a grass flat. They had stirred up the sediment a fair bit so we could just barely see them, but we could hear their squeaky vocalizations under the water. After 2 ½ months he and I finally saw a manatee from under the surface of the water! It was a wonderful end to the season, made even better by crystal clear water for our last snorkel amongst the mangroves.

Brian, Keren and I are heading down to Gales Point Manatee, Belize, to help Dr. James Powell with his manatee capture and tagging project. We will be assisting with the capture net, taking measurements, deploying critter cams and radio transmitters etc. I am looking forward to seeing the animals up close. Hopefully our participation in this research will help ensure that the future of manatees in Belize remain bright.

Thank you to everyone who has participated in the project during the last few months. The experience has been wonderful. You have made my time here unforgettable.

Acknowledgements

Volunteers:
Team One: Chris, Sally, Kirstin, Simon
Team Two: Jenny, Pat, Meghan
Team Three: Kalyn, Linda, Bernard, Katie
Team Four: Kyoko, Suzanna, Ralph

Researchers, Staff and Interns
Caryn, Gilroy, Brian and Keren

Logistical Support in Belize City
Mario and Ceasar at Guerrero Charters
Yergen at Ventura
Sarah and Samuel at the Market
John and Melony at the North Front Street Guest House
Ray's Internet

Neighbours and Residents of Spanish Lookout Caye
John, Landy, Cricket and his sons, Sydney

Internet Support
Sabrina at the AquaNews

Organisations
Earthwatch
Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre

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