Sorry about the missed day, as you'll see from the contents of the following description, yesterday was a long day. The morning started with a briefing on individual projects by Dr Dorsey, the chief scientist and head of the BHI Conservancy. We all sat and listened as she detailed the importance of our position not only for the conservancy but for our futures as well. By working us as hard as they do in the daytime and requiring independent research projects in our spare time, Dr. Dorsey has created what I now think is a hidden-gem of an internship. As rough and busy as the next few months may be, I'm going to learn so much much, not only about island ecology and turtles but about my desires for the future.
The aformentioned project is a in-depth study of an issue of our choice. Some of the other interns expressed interest in amphibian populations, others in sea turtle nesting habitats and finally myself...the policy nerd. I must admit, I was nervous about admitting my obsession with environmental policy amongst such research-oriented scientists. Everything I had heard, seen and experienced told me that these data obsessed science jockeys might reject me for my political ambissions. I was, however, proven quite wrong. When I told Dr. Dorsey that I was interested in policy she immediatly lept on my idea and helped to expound upon it. From the looks of it, I'll be researching coastal law in an effort to help contain the dredging-caused erosion that is currently occuring.
After the meeting we were all in a bit of shock. Partially starry-eyed from the possibilities that the internship will grant us, but partially terrified for the amount of work ahead. Maureen, our immediate boss saw this and decided to take us out birding on the beach. Nothing terribly exciting to report except more sand, blowing horizontally, into my eyes.
The afternoon was alot of downtime as we all had to wait for our turn to be trained on the UTV. In order for the sea turtle interns to be able to do their job, they need to be able to cover alot of ground in a short amount of time. While they will be up all night, hiking multiple beach miles and surveying nesting habitat is a killer combination, hence the UTV. The UTV is basically a lawnmower on steroids. Its got the temper and foul moods of a persnickity grasscutter, but a much larger engine and capacity to do some damage. Our training was really just to familiarize us with the various quirks of the machine...the sticky accelerator, the occasionaly functional emergency break and the tempermental choke. Kinda glad I'm not a sea turtler...
After vehicle training we all rushed back to the conservancy where we attended a welcome potluck put on by the conservancy's board. The event, located in the conservancy's classroom was an opportunity for all the new interns to meet and greet a few of the permenant residents of the island in an attempt to further acclimate us to BHI. While enjoying their company, we were also lucky enough to be fed food far better than we could ever make. Defintely a plus in my book.
So I realize that thus far the day doesn't sound very taxing but trust me, the next part killed me. After the digesting the food, all the interns decided it was time for a game of frisbee. There was one little catch, it was a windy day, and a very light frisbee...If a tourist had passed, they probably would have seen a group of college kids acting as if they were 4 year olds who had eaten far too many M&Ms. Even the dog was tired after playing, enough said.
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