Wrapping Things Up

The spawning craziness is now over for us, and we are wrapping up the project here for our last couple of days. There have

Finally, the corals are gettin' busy!

Well, the past few days have been exhausting, but so very exciting!! The Montipora verrucosa colonies that we have collected have been spawning like crazy around 8:20 pm since Wednesday night! Apparently this is the first time that the spawning of this species has ever been documented here!

Pocillopora damicornis larval traps

 The whole ordeal is definitely a two person job, and can get a bit stressful... As you can see in the short video, individual polyps on the colonies release sperm/egg bundles that float to the surface. We collect them using extremely sophisticated turkey basters, the idea being to sample them before the egg bundles break apart, causing the eggs and sperm to disperse. After sampling egg bundles from each colony that spawns, we mix all of the egg bundles together to allow them to fertilize each other, crossing our fingers that there will be happy, fertilized eggs in the morning! So far, fertilization hasn't been so great, but we have gotten some larvae, which is still a success.

Nets placed over Pocillopora
damicornis colonies to catch
larvae release overnight.

Another species, Pocillopora damicornis has also been spawning for the past few nights, but (thankfully for us), they are brooders, which means that they release fully developed larvae. So, we don't have to do the whole fertilization bit ourselves, and can just leave larval traps and nets out overnight. The larvae are then waiting for us to sample in the morning. It's a busy job, with many hours spent in the lab culturing, sampling, rinsing off fixative, and filtering water. And I am loving every single minute!

If I was a Great White... I'd probably bite you

But of course, the ONE day I decide NOT to bring my camera with me into the water, a shark swims right in front of me! It was really windy this morning, giving the water eerily low visibility. Nevertheless, we were on a mission to collect parrot fish poop (part of Maggie's graduate work that I volunteered to help with since I love to snorkel so much!). A word about collecting poop, in the water, from fish... parrot fish, mind you, who are ten times more aware of your proximity than any other fish on the reef ... let's just say it's slightly frustrating.


Back to my story ... the spot we anchored at was deeper than we usually snorkel in, but there were probably a million parrot fish, so it was perfect! So, I'm following this particularly large and colorful parrot fish, just waiting for him to relieve himself, when I look up just in time to see a black tip reef shark come out from behind a bommie, swim swiftly in front of me, and back into the curtain of suspended sediments. I was speechless, and somehow not nervous the whole time it was swimming by me. It was only when it disappeared that first, I was like "oh my gosh, that was so awesome!!!", and second found it much more difficult to focus on the parrot fish with the shark in mind.


Black tip reef sharks are sleek, relatively small (this one was about four feet), and aren't known to be aggressive. Eventually, I refocused on the parrot fish and was beginning to get both frustrated and cold. Just as I'm considering giving up and heading back to the boat, out of the corner of my eye, I see the black tip swimming at full speed in front of me! The shark was swimming so fast, it wasn't until I had turned a full 360 degrees while watching it that I noticed it was circling.  I was sure that the shark would not attack, but its behavior was enough to send me back to the boat thinking that if it had been a tiger or a great white, I'd have been toast!

Under the Sea

I snorkel like it's my job! Oh wait... it is. :) I can't get enough of the reefs here! There is so much coral, so many fish, and just a ton of life in general! Yesterday I had a boat driving lesson, which went really well, and am becoming quite handy at being a deckhand (well at least I've come a long way from falling out of the boat on day one!) We finally finished all of our adult sampling in the field, and are now awaiting the spawning on the new moon. I'd say only in Moorea, can you come straight from the field, soaking wet, still in your bathing suit and bare feet, and start doing your lab work... I thought wearing slippers in the lab in Hawaii was a bad habit!

It amazes me how impatient drivers are here... seriously, I don't understand how anyone could possibly be in a hurry! Today, we drove around the whole island, which only took about an hour. Along the way, we stopped for pizza and pineapple juice. The fresh juices here are AMAZING! I can now say hello, thank you, sorry, pineapple and a few other random words in French, which have all been very useful! It's been really windy for the past few days, and although it makes it a little rough on the boat, it definitely helps with the heat factor!

 The other people here at the research station are really awesome, and are doing really interesting work. I have also made friends with the two station dogs: Guinness and Chicken, both of whom I may be very tempted to take back to Hawaii with me...

Fighting the current

I have blisters on my toes from kicking so much with my fins! There is swell outside the barrier reefs, so current is insanely strong everywhere we go! We try to swim against it going out, so that when we can't fight it any longer, we turn back and have to dodge the coral heads as we are swept back to the boat. It's exhausting, but there's really no escaping it... The fish make it look so easy.

It's been a busy last couple of days, finishing up collections and working on adult coral colony sampling. We have been to many different sites to collect, and seen things like giant crown-of-thorn starfish, huge leopard print sea cucumbers and an octopus! Most importantly, though, we are finding the corals we came for, and plenty of them! Two of the species we were hoping would spawn on the full moon (as they do in Hawaii), sadly did not. So, we are crossing our fingers that the other two species will act as their Hawaiian relatives and spawn for the new moon in about a week. Until then, we will continue to fight the current and sample from adult colonies in the field!


Between our research agenda and my school work (which so far I have been diligently keeping up with...), I have been finding some time to soak up this wonderful place I am in. Yesterday, I commandeered an abandoned kayak at the station to watch the sun set from the water, and today I went for a walk to the nearest town, taking a few detours along the way to find mangos and starfruit growing off the beaten path.

Visual Sensory Overload

Frankly, I was not prepared to see this place in the daylight. I woke up, walked outside, and just stood there. Is this real???  The Gump station is literally right on the water in Cook's Bay, which is surrounded by these insanely jagged, and strangely beautiful mountains on three sides, and opens up to absolutely perfect waves that peel over the fringe reef. After catching my breath, Maggie and I headed up to a view point of both bays in Moorea called the Belvedere. The drive was an adventure, as Maggie is a beginner at driving standard, and I haven't got much more knowledge aside from one very brief lesson with my oh-so-patient brother (not to mention the gas gage is broken). I was trying to be encouraging, but was so distracted by the trees and mountains and flowers and rocks... I'm afraid poor Maggie did most of the worrying on her own. I just had a good feeling about it, what can I say? It always works out somehow right? Well, it did. We made it, and it was unreal!!!

That afternoon, we embarked on our first of three attempts to collect some of the coral species we are after. The first two endeavors were by boat, and let's just say that it was really obvious how undeveloped my sea legs are because the second we anchored, I stood up, attempted to put on my mask, and fell backwards into the water. Good thing  I was planning on getting in anyway! The water is insanely clear here! Seriously, I thought the water was blue in Hawaii!! The first site was sadly mostly dead, most likely because of a cyclone they were hit by a few years ago. The second site was much more promising, with lots of coral, weird fish, and giant clams with neon feet! However, the current was really strong because of the swell, and there wasn't much of our target coral species. The abundance of cool things to see in the water did not make it any less difficult to focus on our mission either.

The third venture, this time by car, proved highly successful and we collected several happy colonies. I have seen so much in one day, it's difficult to process, but I guess now I will have to cancel out all of the visual stimulation by doing my homework.

Bonjour Moorea!

Well, I finally made it! I have spent many many hours at the airport, but although exhausting, it's been sort of wonderful. Listening to all of the beautiful French around me, wishing I could understand... It's given me time to let it all sink in. The opportunity that I have been given to help continue the coral reef research efforts of Hawaii in French Polynesia, and to feel the excitement of the experience that it will be. I am trying not to expect anything, particularly of myself. I am reminded that expectations are often guaranteed disappointments and soak it in, making the most of it all- even the delays.


Landing was breathtaking! The landscape in Tahiti is so dramatic and beautiful! We were greeted at the airport with flowers, music, and intense humidity! I couldn't stop smiling! The currency here looks and feels like something from a deep sea treasure chest! I managed to catch the last ferry to Moorea with the hopes that I would figure out a ride to the Gump station when we docked. We motored into the sunset, with dolphins jumping in our wake. There weren't any taxis when I got there, and I had no idea how to let my contact know that I had made it... so, I kindly asked a tour van if they could squeeze me in and drop me off at the Gump station (from the map, I gathered it wasn't too far), and thankfully, the driver was more than happy to for 300 CPF (about 3 bucks!).


Needless to say I made it, found Maggie (UH grad student I'll be working with), much to her surprise! The stars here are so bright and beautiful! However, the dark tour of the station left me anxious to see it all in the daylight. We ate amazing crepes for dinner at this adorable crepery off the road, and I slept under a mosquito net for the first time! I woke up to an insanely beautiful morning and I can't even wait for the day to begin!!! And, yes, there are LAND crabs!! This one ventured much too far from his hole...