HFS1 - Broadreach Honduras Field Studies| HFS Days 1 - 6 - 07/02/1999 June 27 - Ask anyone on this trip and they will tell you, airline travel can sometimes be an adventure in itself! Unfortunately bad weather kept 6 of the participants from making their connections to Honduras yesterday. The good news is they will be getting in tonight. Tony and the other participants arrived last night, but most of the group didn't see their luggage until this morning. On the brighter side, the group at Anthony's Key hasn't wasted any time in getting started with the fun. They had their check out dives this morning and had their first dolphin sightings! This afternoon they are going on a reef dive and are eager to blow more bubbles! Throughout the day they are going through orientation at the center and are settling into their huts on the beautiful beach. Anthony's Key and the Roatan Institute of Marine Sciences (RIMS) has not disappointed anyone. By tonight the group will be complete and they are going to have a fantastic time. June 29 - The whole group is complete in Honduras! Today's update comes from program leader Tony Hawgood via email! "I'm checking in now that I have my whole program! Here's some news... DAY 2: Half the group here - everybody went through an orientation to the resort and the marine science centre, followed by their check-out dive, which we did right next to the dolphin enclosure, much to the delight of the dolphins and students - we had three curious dolphins watching our every move! The day continued with a scuba refresher class in the afternoon, and then our first dive on the reef, a great dive and a taste of what is to come! The rest of our group arrived just before dinner, and we had the chance to do our full orientation and meet each other after dinner. The newcomers seemed to have had almost as much fun being a day late as we had had at the resort! DAY 3: We started out with a full marine biology orientation, and then got the second half of our group through their "dolphin check out dive" and then off to the reef for our first dive that day. The afternoon started out with a fish identification lecture, and then our first fish ID dive. Some of the kids named over 20 fish correctly - a good start! That night was the resort cookout on the beach, and despite the threat of roving thunderstorms, our group manged to sweep the prizes in crab-racing and limbo-dancing and even got up to sing with the band - we are planning a choreographed rendition of "I Will Survive" for next week.... DAY 4: At last, a completely sunny day! We started out with a reef ecology lecture, and then went into some coral identification, which was the focus of our first dive of the day, a real beauty. We saw lots of fish, beautiful drop-offs, and a big green moray eel. This afternoon we are planning a reef-mapping dive and then the first of our two dolphin lectures. These are given by the guy who quite literally "wrote the book" on dolphins and are a great intro to our dolphin swims coming up in a few days. OK, gotta go. I'll be in touch again soon! - Tony" July 2 - More news from Honduras via email! DAY 4 (continued): WOW!! Our dive to map the section of coral reef proved to be the best yet. In a 20 by 30 foot coral outcropping we found 2 moray eels, 1 very large octopus and the students managed to identify about 30 species of fish and 10 of coral. Everybody had a great time and were amazed that they could see so much in one small area. Naomi Appel and Nick Feakins won the prize (a virgin cocktail up at the bar!) for the best map, but there were several close runners up. The afternoon continued with the first of our Dolphin lectures where we learned all about the anatomy and basic physiology of the dolphins and a little more about their amazing communication and echolocation system. Leader of the day today was Brooke, who did a wonderful job with her duties as our first leader. DAY 5: This morning's class was all about invertebrates, and our first dive of the day was to a wall site at the West end of the island where we identified many different species - all the way from small sponges up to big lobsters. Lunch today was at a beautiful beach where we finally had the chance to play some volleyball against our dive guides - the soccer match will come soon! In our surface interval after lunch we managed to make a successful three-tiered human pyramid (the first, we think, in Broadreach's history...), and played some inventive games in the shallow water off the beach. Our afternoon dive was partially spent studying small coral heads - one to each buddy pair - the objective being to see how many different species the team could identify. This was also the last certifying dive for Colleen McGee and Kate Stamell - who are both fine divers and have just joined the ranks of certified divers. After dinner everybody managed to stay awake just long enough to watch a video about dolphin behavior. Leader today was Nick Feakins - another outstanding job! DAY 6: This morning was mangrove morning!! We first spent time in the classroom learning about the different types of mangroves, and how important they are to the life of the reef, and then headed out to look at some - first right by the resort, and then out at a small coral cay. We snorkelled in the waters around the mangroves - a little spooky at first, but once we started seeing all the baby fish that lived there, along with the upside-down jellyfish, etc, the time flew by. Our snorkel in the shallow reef flats was enlivened by our sightings of two nurse sharks sleeping under the shallow coral, and some collecting and examining of several of the small organisms living in this area. The afternoon dive (after a cook-out lunch over on Anthony's Key, and a "towed surfing demonstration" by Nick!) was a search for juvenile fish, and coming up, we have our last dolphin lecture and a night snorkel to prepare us for our night dive tomorrow night." | HFS Days 6 - 11 - 07/09/1999 July 5 - Tony's emailed another detailed update today!. DAY 6: (continued) Our night snorkel was a blast!! We stayed in the relatively shallow water around Anthony's Key, and saw all kinds of neat stuff: several octopuses, lots of lobsters and crabs, sea cucumbers and sleepy fish. One of the real highlights was the incredible bioluminescence - there was an amazing light show going on underwater and everyone was eager to get in the water for their night dive tomorrow. DAY 7: The day for our trip to the north end of the island! We picked up our enormous packed lunch from the kitchens and headed off for the 40 minute drive up to Oak Ridge - a local fishing town that is built mostly over the water right next to some thick mangrove areas. We took an hour long boat trip through "town" (the Venice of Roatan?) and then headed through some narrow "tunnels" through the mangroves - great fun, and lots of good photo opportunities. Lunch was at a beautiful deserted beach with palm trees, forested hills behind and lots of opportunities to bury each other in the sand. The trip back to AKR was broken by a trip to an "iguana sanctuary" where many of the islands iguanas seem to gather for a safe haven from the many local people who catch and eat them ("bamboo chicken" as it is locally known). After a good look at these rather unattractive lizards, the enthusiasm for a taste of this delicacy evaporated in all of our students! The night dive (the first for a few of our number) was wonderful - lots of people had it as their "glow" that night. We saw just about everything you can see on a night dive - lots of feeding octopuses, lobsters of several varieties, many fish, and LOTS more of that wonderful bioluminescence. One of the students commented that coming up from that amazing underwater light show to a beautiful starry night above the water was one of the most amazing experiences that she had ever had. Kate was our leader for the day, and, as ever did an excellent job. DAY 8: DOLPHIN SWIM DAY!! We divided the group in two for the dolphin swim - the first group swam with the dolphins in the morning and dived in the afternoon, and the second group did the opposite. The dolphins have now made 13 new lifelong friends. Everybody got the chance to spend an hour in close contact with the dolphins - first in groups of 3 or 4 with one dolphin and a trainer, learning about the dolphins, and then the whole group swam with 9 dolphins in their big open ocean pen. Needless to say, that was one of everybody's "glows" at dinner that night! In between dolphin swims and dives we got started with the first few events of the annual "Broadreach HFS Olympics" - many creative events involving Kayaks, ocean and lots of teamwork, laughter and energy output! Charlie was our leader for the day and did a great job making sure the day progressed smoothly and efficiently. DAY 9: HAPPY JULY 4th! After breakfast, we spent an hour in the lab going over coral identification - culminating in a "hands on quiz" where the students identified 16 different coral specimens. This was followed up by a dive to the South side of the island - a very different reef than the one we have been diving. We caught the tide just right to give us a great drift dive around the western point of the island. After lunch and a little "beach time", we had our second dive to "Canyon Reef" - aptly named for the many canyons and cuts going through it; a great place to explore. Some of the students were rewarded by seeing a turtle disappearing into the distance - our second so far. Tonight is our July 4th party - although the students don't know it yet! Leader for the day today is Colleen who was up well before everybody else this morning staking out our spot in the dining room against the week's new influx of tourists! July 9 - Tony gets an A+ for keeping us updated on the HFS adventures! Unfortunately, I think this is the last time he will be able to email us because they are heading to the rainforest, so this will be the last super-detailed update we'll post. But he promises to call in and give us more scoop for the last week of program. Sounds like the group is having a blast!!! DAY 10: Up early and on to the snorkel boat for a fast trip up to the eastern end of the island - beyond the marine reserve so that we could collect some organisms to look at on the boat. The site was great - just inside the reef and next to a channel going out to the reef crest, so lots of great swim throughs in the reef. Several members of the group surprised themselves with their snorkeling abilities! We all got to see several stingrays, a large scorpion fish and many other creatures of the reef. Colleen even managed to catch a very surprised blue-headed Wrasse in her net! Then it was back on scuba to the wreck of "The Eagle" for the afternoon's dive. This was definitely one of our high points diving - many of the students had not yet dived on a wreck, so this was an awesome experience for them. We had another great showing at the Monday night cookout party. Charlie was crowned "limbo King" and we captured, trained and decorated an "army" of our own hermit crabs for the crab race. DAY 11: The morning lecture this morning was all about reef monitoring techniques in preparation for our afternoon reef transect dive. We then had a stroke of good luck - our boat wouldn't start - I say good luck, because that meant we had to go out on one of the big, very fast, very luxurious charter boats instead! We went clear round to the other side of the island and got to dive a great site called "hole in the wall" with it's sheer drop-off going down thousands of feet. The afternoon dive was spent collecting data from Lighthouse reef as part of the marine science institute's ongoing survey of the reefs in the area. | HFS Days 11 - 14 - 07/12/1999 July 9 Continued - DAY 12: The morning dive was to Mandy's Eel Garden - to get a look at the thousands of tiny garden eels that poke their heads up out of the sand there. We also got the opportunity to see turtles and a large eagle ray on this dive. We then hiked up to the intertidal zone at the west end of the island - lots to see there too - 3 types of sea urchins, chitons, thousands of small fish, crabs, barnacle, brittle-starfish, a tiny octopus, etc. etc. etc.! After our cookout lunch on the beach we hit the volleyball court (sand, of course!) again before heading back to prepare for our second night dive. The night dive was great again with lots more bioluminescence. Some of the students seemed to spend more time with their lights off than on! DAY 13: Dolphin Dive day!! We divided up into two groups to dive with the dolphins - the first group got to dive with them at 8:30, the second at 2:30. The group that didn't dive with the dolphins did a "clean-up dive" in the lagoon at the resort. A lot of trash got washed in there during the hurricane, and groups have slowly been pulling it out ever since. We not only pulled several trash bags worth of trash out of the lagoon, but also got to see lots of life down there including batfish (very rare), scorpion fish, lobsters, crabs, fire-worms, etc, etc. The dolphin dives were, of course, amazing. We ended up with one dolphin, rather than two because the second was busy mating at the time. We thought it might be better to leave him to it! The dolphins were beautiful to watch underwater, and seemed to enjoy coming by for a rubdown from all of us every now and again! Tonight is the "sleep over" in the Marine Lab. I suspect the goal is more to watch movies than to gain more marine knowledge, but everybody seems excited to sleep down there! We are off to the mainland tomorrow (Saturday), for a week's worth of rafting, hiking, wildlife-watching and Mayan-ruins-visiting. Everybody is psyched for the change of pace, but nobody wants to leave all the friends we have made at Anthony's Key and the Marine Institute. Tony also gave us some more specific updates on the kids. All around it's a great group! I think the only "glum" is fighting of the Honduran mosquitoes. "Gill is doing great and is a real star. She loves it all, is very involved and willing and has made lots of friends. Kate is having fun and has HALVED her air consumption since getting certified - way to go!!. Colleen is a great little diver - must be because I certified her.!. Lisa is great -- very responsible, always willing to help. Naomi really enjoying all the marine bio stuff and is learning a lot. She's enthusiastic in looking for/at organisms. Brooke is great. She entertained us all by sticking spoons to many parts of her body at dinner last night. (Not as bad as it sounds!). Lindsay's ears are now fully recovered and she's diving just fine. She has lots of energy!. Caroline is having a good time with all the activities. Charlie was dubbed the Limbo King at the cookout the other night. Alex is having a great time. Nick is also having fun. His "glow" last night was that he had just realized how much fun he was having!... Chris P. is doing well - he's popular and well-liked by all. Chris K. - Can I bring this guy on my next trip please?! A real star - never has any glums, lots of glows and he's the best napper I've ever seen!. That's it for the kids. We're off to the mainland soon. Our guide will be a local named called Luis. He's great - I spent a few days with him in March. He's older (50's), but very knowledgeable and he seems to know everybody in Honduras! More news later!" July 12 - Today we received some news in from HFS on the mainland. Sounds like they are having a great time! They went rafting Saturday on the Rio Congrejal and had a blast! A bit of rain only added to the adventure and made the trip more fun. Charlie, Colleen, Chris and Nick got some extra exercise pulling their raft off a rock. (No safety concerns here, just fun!) They are staying at Pepe's River House, which everyone loves. They sleep out under the stars on a big open deck that looks out over the rainforest and the mountains. A river runs right next to the deck. Yesterday they went hiking in the Pico Bonito Park with a guide up to waterfalls to play and have lunch. Today they are visiting the Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge to see manatees and other wildlife. Tomorrow they will have their day of community service - They'll be cleaning up a trail near the River House that was trashed by last year's hurricane. Word has it that the food is good on the mainland. They miss Anthony's Key, but are having been having a great time in their new adventures! Unfortunately, we shouldn't have any more updates for a few days, as the group is staying 45-minutes away from the nearest phone. | HFS Days 15 - ?? - 07/14/1999 July 14 - Although
we threatened to not have as detailed updates once the group hit the mainland,
Tony managed to find an internet cafe to email us more news from the HFS
journal! DAY 15: Departure day from AKR!! We were sad to leave,
but excited to see the mainland. Sad goodbyes to our Divemaster, Junior,
our Boat Driver, Alson, and most of all to Jennifer, our fearless marine
biologist and "boss in general" at the resort - she will be missed. The
afternoon was our rafting day - 5 hours on the Rio Cangrejal - AWESOME!!
We managed to wrap one of our rafts around a rock - but some deft rope
work, and lots of brute strength soon sorted that out, and a great time
was had by all. Pepe's place is great - right in the middle of the rainforest,
on the banks of the river we rafted, and complete with Rosa the cook!!
All too good to be true. Lots of people are sleeping out on the huge covered
porch overlooking the river. DAY 16: Hiking day!! In the Pico Bonito
National Forest. We picked up our guide on the way through La Ceiba, and
headed off for a 3 hour hike through the rainforest - definitely lots of
serious "up" to start with, but great undergrowth surrounding us, snakes
to see(!) and a wonderful swim in an ice-cold waterfall-pool to cool us
off at the end. DAY 17: Early wake-up - not the most popular move
(5am!) - but once we jumped on our open flat-car being towed by the coconut
train, everybody seemed to think it was worthwhile. The Cuero y Salado
park had lots of amazing wildlife - howler monkeys up close, crocodiles
up ahead (and under our boats probably!) and lots of different bird species.
Oh, and not to forget the Bats, or the "Gilligan's island house-building
session" on the beach afterwards! The grocery store was a popular spot
for all in our stop-off in town on the way home. We slept well that night!
DAY 18: This was community service day - helping lay out and measure
out some partially cleared trails in the park across from Pepe's house.
We started out with a raft-crossing of the river (an adventure in itself)
and then began the "extreme hiking" section of the day!! Lots of clambering
up steep, rain-forested slopes with all kinds of interesting animal (and
insect!) life to keep us company. Then the heavens opened and we got to
experience rainforest at its true best - sopping wet! Everybody seemed
to like the sopping wet, muddy, slippery rainforest better than the only
moderately slippy rain forest we had before - lots of singing and smiling
faces! The afternoon had some river exploration and rock-jumping by a few
intrepid members of the group - lots of fun, and then another trip to La
Ceiba - more Pizza was needed by a few of the group... Tomorrow it's off
to Copan -- along the way we'll see botanical gardens, a mohogany wood
carving factory and a tile making place. We'll see no more computers -
really this time! We'll all be home soon, bye for now!
July 17 - Tony
asked us to post this one last message to all of the HFS explorers. "BYE
GUYS!!! I
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