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Belize Dolphin Studies

DS22 Update - Saturday, July 28, 2012

A new Adventure

Today we had to say good-bye to our cabana homes at Oceanic Society, and although it was sad watching our dog Camilla and the island fade in the distance, we were all excited for our next adventure: sailing.

After a long boat ride where almost everyone fell asleep (Tommy drooling on Jess’s leg in the process), we arrived in Belize City. Then we took a hectic taxi ride to Hotel Mopan. Once we had piled our luggage into two rooms, we all got down to work, because that afternoon we would be giving our dolphin species presentations and our research papers were due the following morning. Thankfully, everyone was able to focus on their individual projects while we waited for all of our rooms to be ready.

We took a much-needed break once all our rooms were ready and headed to the grocery store for sandwiches and tasty snacks! While waiting in line for sandwiches Dave, being the ever friendly Aussie that he is, greeted a youth group who was in Belize to play softball, and he then told the leader about our Dolphin Studies. II think our group was having the most fun between the two groups!

After everyone had ordered, Char and Miron picked out one snack for their prize for winning the scavenger hunt (lucky!). The rest of us bought our own favorite snacks, and Hannah ended up buying a huge Cadbury Bar that was almost the size of her head! (Needless to say she still has a lot more left to eat) Lily also picked out the groups favorite snack –Cheetos –so we could have them with our sandwiches. We finally arrived back at our hotel and enjoyed our lunch of six inch subs and Cheetos, and we also got to watch Dave and Miron scarf down a huge foot-long each. AA food coma already setting in, we were allowed thirty minutes of final preparation before the presentations began. You could see each of us running mentally going over the talk we were about to give.

Nervousness aside, everyone pulled themselves together and we were able to give some outstanding presentations. Now we could all focus on our research papers on the dolphin surveys we had taken this past week. It was a long afternoon filled with silence as people were writing furiously in their notebooks, but later that afternoon Katie surprised us with an opportunity to grab some ice cream for a well-earned break! At the particular shop we stopped at there was a coffee milkshake option, but thankfully Emma decided not to get one. It would have been a long night! While rounding the corner to Hotel Mopan Char and I saw Katie rush by with Tommy on her back! Laughing we all gathered around for what we be a really interesting photo. <

On a sugar high, we all got back to work on our presentations until our pizza arrived. Dave also gave us the pass code to the wifi in the hotel, and right before dinner everyone was absorbed by the internet. Eventually everyone relinquished their individual electronic devices in order to enjoy each others’ company for dinner. After our stomachs were full from so much pizza, we talked about our sailing trip!

It was the final stretch for our research papers that everyone had worked so hard on, and by nine-thirty we were coming nearing the finish line! We then decided to go up on the roof of the hotel to play our favorite games: ninja and human knot. After a few rounds of ninja, where Tommy won each time, we gathered in a circle to try once more to untie the knot. Surprisingly, within a few moves we had successfully untangled our first knot! Ending a win, we all went back downstairs in order to wrap up our papers and pack for sailing.

Tomorrow we would begin our next adventure, but not our last. Because as I told the group at dinner, “there is no end to the adventures we can have if we seek them with our eyes open.” –Jawaharial Nehru

Kate

P.S. We won’t have a chance to post updates while sailing, so look for our big catch up and heaps of crystal blue water and tiny sand caye photos when we get back to the city before we depart!