As sarcastic as that last post may have been, this day has been really exciting. After sitting around all morning while the elements continued to pound the island, we all started to go stir crazy and went out for our inaugural walk on the beach. Unfortunately, this was no easy stroll, instead we were battling a northerly wind, whipping sand and rain at us around 30mph as we walked towards the whitecapping shoals. We continued our struggle until we arrived at the point, upon which we surveyed the scene, determined that while the scene was pretty, the stinging sensation brought on by the hurtling particles wasn't really all that much fun. Thus, we turned around and headed back to the conservancy and our dorm.
Our "dorm" is a house/office located on conservancy property. The bottom floor of the house is comprised of a living room, kitchen and conservancy offices while the top floor holds the interns' rooms. I'm in a room with four other interns, all whom have different jobs, some of which require them staying up all night to monitor turtles, so sleeping may be interesting. Anyways, the house is a quaint little place, smallish, but should provide for a fun summer.
Anyways, back to the story. After our little foray outside, we attended a lecture on the aquifers of Bald Head Island. Just recently, the staff here at the conservancy has completed its first survey of the island's freshwater resources. Obviously, this is a pretty important issue, as vacationers don't really enjoy their vacation houses sin agua. The lecture was proved to be interesting, even with my little practical knowledge of hydrology, it seems that BHI is in good shape for water resources.
After the lecture, none of us were too thrilled on the prospect of returning to the house, and the weather seemed to be clearing, so we decided to go catch some turtles. No not big loggerheads yet, only small pond turtles. One of the naturalists here is doing a study of the island's population of freshwater turtles and he needed our help in catching and marking them. Now to catch a turtle is a very precise process. First, you need to lure the sea turtle into prime catching range. This luring process consists of tricking the turtles into believing that you've thrown them bread to eat (something they're very used to with tourists) but not actually doing so since its against conservancy rules to feed wildlife. Seems straightforward right? Its a bit like interpretive dance. You have to make just the right amount of motion to make the turtle think that indeed there is something in the water for them to munch on, but not too much motion or they'll think your crazy and go to the other side of the pond. Needless to say, this took some practice. Now assuming that you've convinced the turtles that there's something for them to nibble on, then comes the fun part. You have to precariously lean over the rail of the platform, squat down as much as you can and reach your big, brightly colored net (which the turtles know and hate) into the water to pluck them out. Easy as pie...
If you do somehow successfully pluck one out of the water you then grab it, flip it on its back and begin to process it. Processing involves measuring the turtle's dimensions, taking a picture of it and marking it by filing down a specific piece of its shell in accordance with a key. Don't worry, it may sound barbaric but the senior naturalist ensured us that it was basically like a turtle manicure.
The rest of the day passed without incident, and its time for me to get some sleep.