The past 2 weeks

Dear friends and family,

It has been over two weeks since my last weblog entry and there are so many things to write about... As I'm writing this new entry from the little balcony of my accommodation, while listening to the sounds of the rainforest surrounding me, I have no means to check what I wrote in my last entry. (I only have internet access at the office.) If I remember correctly, I only quickly mentioned that I arrived safely and that the first days were a chaotic mixture of new experiences, warm weather and trying to find my way around the island and getting to know my new home.

There are a lot of aspects to consider when speaking of 'my new home'. Some of these are: the island itself (its physical environment, climate, culture, people), my accommodation (a small cottage up on the mountain), my workspace (the office of the Marine Park down in the harbour), my social life (all the new people that I meet) and whether or not I actually 'feel at home' here. A love almost all of them, but I'll get back to that in later weblog entries. First I want to take you through the past two weeks…

My first week on the island was all about exploring the island life: getting to know the villages, the supermarket, some people from the marine park (SCF), the SCF-office, the trail from the mountain-cottage down to the village, etcetera. After that I spend a few days helping Brooke (new Saba Bank Management Officer) to clean out the office, helping Sue, who does the education programme for school kids, with swimming lessons and kayaking with the kids, and getting some of my research material ready (camera batteries charged, etc.).

Friday a week ago my supervisor Martin flew in from the Netherlands to get me and Jelmer started with our research on Saba and to get Tiedo and Suzanne started on Statia. So over the past few days we've mostly been discussing and refining our methodology. And, on a more exciting note, I spend a few days diving! I have taken a PADI Advanced dive course to take my dive skills to a higher level, which I will need for my research. I also did a few dives to learn to use my research material underwater and get acquainted with working underwater. So in the past 5 days I have done 9 dives (doubling my dive experience so far) on dive sites with spectacular reef formations, a myriad of colourful reef fish, turtles, spiny lobsters and my first sightings of queen conch. Measuring them is a completely different story… Not an easy thing to do, when you've only just learned how to hoover precisely above the seafloor! Going from recreational diver to slightly more experienced recreational diver to doing work underwater in just a few days!

Today we're heading to Statia for a whole week of practising with our research material and doing some calibrations. I'll keep you posted! Just some practical stuff for now:
- I am not using my dutch mobile number. If you want to reach me, send me an email, add me on Skype or use my Caribbean phone number: +1721 581 9093.
- I have internet at the office (mon-fri, 8am-4pm, 5h difference with NL) - just not during the coming week, as I'll be on Statia! :-)

Love,

Sanne