Final Thoughts

Tonight is the last night on Moorea. It is quite a shame to know that early tomorrow morning we will be leaving this amazing island. We were very lucky to have had the opportunity to come here, and even luckier to have such a great group. Our instructors were excellent at helping us all along the way. So now each member of our class is going to record our final opinions of the trip.

I loved the trip, it had the perfect balance of an educational field biology class and of course just enough tourist sights. I did not come into this trip as a biology major and definitely got a crash course in field biology. I learned more in this two weeks than in most semester long classes I've taken. - Ryan Miles

This trip has really been the experience of a lifetime. We went diving, sight seeing, shopping, hiking, and snorkeling among many other things, and still had time to learn the names of new fish and finish our research. This trip was so much more than I thought it would be. Best two weeks ever. - Lexi Milan

When you sign up for a class in Tahiti, you plan on having fun while getting graded for it, and that's exactly what happened. Our professors were able to incorporate loads of knowledge and research without making it as tedious as a typical class. It was the experience of a lifetime that I will remember for years to come. -Kristina Schutte

Some days were long and hard but that is to be expected when you work with nocturnal lizards. This was a great trip and everyday was filled with fun and research. Our professors did a great job of balancing the fun and helping us learn. - Angela Payerle

This trip was the truly the opportunity of a lifetime. When I first signed up for the class, I knew it would be fun, but this class went above and beyond what I expected. The diving was amazing, the island was beautiful, the hikes were great, and the experiments were very fun and enjoyable. Our professors were very helpful and did a great job organizing this wonderful trip for all of us. This is trip that I will always remember. -David Paternite

A once in a lifetime experience that everyone of all majors should participate. I am a computer scientist and before the trip, I had absolutely no biology experience. Even so, I had a wonderful time and experienced many things that I never had a chance to try. Thank You Rich and Peter for all your help and support. I truly enjoyed the trip. - Michael J. Decker

Before this trip I never really gave thought to the study of the little scale-ies we call geckos. I must admit that this experience has completely changed my mind. I've realized I have an avid interest in research and many new options have now opened up in my mind. Thank you Peter and Rich for allowing us undergrads to expand our views and try new things in such a remote and fascinating area. ~Sara A. Elefritz

Well, from looking above me I can see that no one favors that short and sweet approach quite like me. This trip has been one of the greatest two weeks of my life and I relished every single moment -Mitchell Hall

I had a lot of fun. -Steve Honeck

This trip was definitely a worthwhile experience. The diving was great and it was really refreshing finally do some applied research as opposed to being stuck in the classroom. I really learned a lot about the process and limitations of doing field work in remote locations. This is a beautiful place and I will never forget coming here- hope to do it again someday.

-Andy Koenig

What a great group of people to be with while studying in paradise! The trip was fantastic not only because of the gorgeous surrounds and the days filled with once in a lifetime experiences, but because of the people with whom we shared those experiences. Every day was a gift and one not lost on us. I'd travel with you all anytime.

- Stephen McNulty

Waking up everyday to view the sunrise shining on the steep tropical mountains was just priceless. And it was amazing to star gaze at the different constellations in the southern hemisphere (so excited I got to view the Souther Cross). But what was just as amazing was the class itself. Getting the opportunity to conduct research in such a beautiful place with awesome classmates and professors was an experience of a lifetime.

-Eddie Ramirez

Fantastic trip! Mere words can not describe!! Met a great group of people, learned a lot, got to experience research, and got to enjoy a beautiful place. Diving with sharks and turtles made the trip. Definitely the experience of a lifetime, so thanks to all those who made it possible.

-Stephanie Peteya

Crunch Time

With the end of our trip rapidly approaching, we’ve all been doing our best to cram in a few more lab hours, references and memories into the time we have left. The day started with the usual quick breakfast and a few sips of caffeine. As the sun made its way over the mountains, a morning dive took place that was unsurpassed by any other dives from the entire trip. A lemon shark, moray eel, turkey fish, swarms of raccoon butterfly fish and a green turtle all added to the allure of the already high adrenaline day. As lunch came and went, the realization of our first draft being due tonight started to kick in.

The UV group, who had the most work in the laboratory setting, hit the floor running. A few of the manlier men stayed up the entire night before to make sure that all the tissue samples were prepared for the protein assay that had to be performed in a timely matter later in the day. After many strenuous hours in the lab, they were soon on their way to their first draft.

The pair bonding group worked hard all day to bring their paper together. Spotless delegating and relentless concentration allowed them to finish their first draft with few complications.

The lizard group had similar arrangements. After each doing their part, the draft was brought together with hopes of not seeing too much red ink when it was returned.

As the days turn to hours and the bittersweet end approaches, everyone is working hard to make the most of this fantastic experience.

-Kristina Schutte

Sand, Supermarket, and Story-telling Pineapple Beach Owner

Though only a few left, today was another beautiful and amazing day on Moorea. The day started off with a hearty breakfast of eggs, ham, bread, and off-brand cereal. It was all delicious. This day we had plans to go touring around the island and go on a hike to visit the Afareaitu waterfall. After breakfast was over, we all got in the Mercedes van (I didn’t know they made vans) and the rental car and headed off. On our way, we saw parts of the island that we had not yet seen. Everyone soaked in the new and beautiful views along the way. Almost to the hiking spot, we made a stop by a big statue of a tribal-esque man kneeling. Of course we had to get pictures with it. A nice man offered to take a picture of the class. It turned out that he was the owner of a beach front called Pineapple Beach right behind the statue. We also found out that the statue was of him when he was eighteen (he must’ve shrunk with age because that was a big statue). He decided to give the class a tour of the beach front huts. The view from that beach left many of us breathless. He told us tales of the Tahitian god of creation and told of how he has owned the beach for around twenty years. After a short stay and a few more interesting stories, we said goodbye and were off to hike. Though not as long as the previous hike, it was still just as amazing and beautiful, and it was perfect weather for a hike. We hiked up the mountain for about fifteen minutes until arriving at the waterfall. The falls went very high up. The water at the bottom caught the eye of some of the students. Given most had their swimsuits on, some went in the water to cool off from the hike and some to take pictures of the eels and other life in this small pool.
After the hike, we continued our tour around the island. We stopped at a Tahitian supermarket called Champion to pick up some much needed snacks after the hike up the mountain. People got everything from tropical juice to pizza bagel bites. Once everyone had some more energy from the snacks, we continued the tour around the island. The final stop of the tour was at a beach called Temae Beach. This spot was incredible. It had clear blue water, a white sand beach, and on-water hotel huts. Everyone took pictures of this amazing view.
Once the tour was over, we ate a delicious lunch and the groups all began to work hard to finish up their experiments. The UV group finished all of the fish eye dissections and was ready to start preparing the eye parts to put in the spectrophotometer to test for UV detecting ability. The pair bond observations group finished all of their data collection of pair bonding between Butterfly fish and began with typing the first draft of the final paper. The lizard group also finished all of their data collection with trail runs of geckos on substrates and started working on their paper.
With the end nearing, everyone is savoring their last days on beautiful Moorea and working hard to make the experiments turn our great!
-David Paternite

Trial by Fire

The group was greeted this beautiful morning with a hearty breakfast of hot fried eggs and fresh fruit, much needed fuel for the large amount of work that was to ensue. The day’s schedule was fairly clear to allow the groups to hone in on the final attack plan for the projects as they continue to discover what is working and what is likely to be accomplished in the small remainder of time.

The pair-bonding group (with help from different groups’ members) ventured out for another round of snorkeling. The plan was to collect last minute data on the difficult to spot and observe Chaetodon reticulatus (Reticulated Butterflyfish). With a successful trip, the group was able to begin writing their paper and crunching data. Their preliminary results seem to show statistical significance in pair-bonded behavior.

The UV group took a break from collecting fish to focus on getting some lab work and photographing finished up. With an almost cooperative sun and some late night hours, they were able to finish most of the UV pictures and prepare a decent amount of samples to use for testing after a night in the refrigerator. The preliminary data seems to be pointing to results that support the hypothesis. However, many more fish eyes still need to be dissected and prepared for testing.

The lizard group was able to start the third leg of their project. They began to observe the movement of different species in a 3D environment, such as the candlestick bushes around the island that the lizards are found in.

After a long day data crunching, observing, and lab work, many of the group decided to attend a traditional Tahitian performance at the “Tiki Village.” Much to their surprise (and to other’s dismay), all the females followed by all the males were invited on stage to participate in a traditional Tahitian dance. With much hip-shaking and leg-wiggling, everyone was thoroughly familiarized with the intricacies of traditional Tahitian dance. The show continued on with the story of a tribal marriage ceremony with many percussion and ukulele led songs and dances. The show took a turn for the amazing when the dancers broke out their flaming batons and did some truly impressive fire twirling.

With only a few days left, everyone is excited to see what else the island has to offer.

-Steve Honeck-

From Mountain to Sea: A Breath of Beauty

It was another beautiful morning on the island of Moorea and the group headed out for another day of adventure. With a partly cloudy morning sky, a cool breeze blowing, and a quick breakfast satiating our stomachs we proceeded back up to Belvedere lookout. This hike, however, was no short jot up to the lookout but a near four hour trek up and down the façade of a mountain. As the morning progressed the air grew hotter and the humidity climbed under the canopy while we slowly gained in altitude. Finally, we reached a point where the path turned into a steep, winding trail. “Oh, it’s just like stairs from here” Rich said. I don’t know what stairs he is used to but I would not want to climb those on a daily basis. As we inched out of the forest the breeze was a relief on our faces and the view took our breath (or what was left of it) away. What little discomforts we faced on the trail were wiped away tenfold as we gazed at the mountains, oceans, and forest around and below us. These are the moments that bring a new exuberance to life.

After our exhilarating trek, many of the men headed up to the Three Pines path as apparently they had not had their fill of hiking for the day. We ladies, however, cleaned ourselves up, fiddled with some data entry, and took a quick run to the super market (thanks to our most gracious leaders Rich and Peter).

At supper the usual conversation about planning the evening ensued over salad, white beans, and a bit of mutton. The divers then geared themselves up and headed out for a chilly night dive in the ocean, lionfish and all. Alas, due to a shortage of dive lights, the snorkelers must wait for another night for that venture.

Once the chilled divers return, it will be business as usual for the lizard group. We will be racing more geckos on candle stick leaves and preparing for our last precious days in this tropical dreamland.

The end is creeping up on us steadily.

~Sara A. Elefritz

As we approach the halfway mark..

The work at CRIOBE research station continued today with each group focusing on their respective projects. After breakfast the divers set out on an early morning dive. The remaining members of the fish groups headed out to the public beach with snorkeling gear in hand. Some from the UV group were there to spear butterflyfish for UV photographing and fish eye analysis, and others from the pair-bonding group went to continue observing the grazing patterns of their chosen species. A member of the UV group caught the group's first Raccoon Butterflyfish, a fish that has been elusive to the group until now. The lizard group finally crunched the numbers they had gotten from their lizard census and found exciting news, their data sported their hypothesis! Their hypothesis being that the invasive house gecko would be found more on buildings then the native gecko species.

-Mitch

Where has this week gone? Time really does fly when you travel halfway around the world, snorkel, and dive through coral reefs by day. Even more so when you creep around buildings and bushes to capture nocturnal lizards that defy gravity by night. The nights have been especially “vivacious” for the lizard group. The lizard group has been hard at work staying up late to collect data for a few projects focusing on the interaction between the local gecko species. One species, the Indo-Pacific House Gecko, Hemidactylus frenatus is invasive, adding extra competition for food and what not for the native species, so we’re hoping the results of our project can tell us how the native species are faring.
One project consists of the lizard group conducting a census around the research station and around several bushes, known as the candlestick bush, Senna alata. We looked at these bushes because we noticed them to be a hotspot for geckos; for some reason the geckos love this plant. As part of the protocol, the lizard group must walk around a census site and search and identify the species of any gecko we see. For every gecko we spot, we must sweep around the site 2 more times. This made particularly large sites quite interesting. There was this one site which consisted of a very large candlestick bush in we had to walk a total distance of 62 meters (about 190 feet). Gecko would appear out of nowhere. Sometimes we would walk around the bush barely completing our two sweeps when at the very end of the walk we spot another gecko, resulting in the group having to walk around the bush yet another two times. One night we (the lizard group) spent over an hour and a half spotting geckos on that one bush!
With all that searching we managed to come up with a theme song for our census:
♪ “This is the bush that neeever eeeends. Yes it goes on and on, my frieeend! Some people started searching it, not knowing how much we’d find, and geckos will keep showing up forever just because…this is the bush that neeever eeeends…♫


Anyways, so the census went on for four nights, with the lizard group usually finishing around midnight. They’ve all been successful – we got lots of data! Most of the group fantasize about sleeping in after a long night. The hunger for breakfast and the urge to scuba dive in the morning overrides that tendency. And it is always worth it when you’re enjoying your meals in good company and getting the chance to potentially dive with sharks!  Plus I mean, come on – we have to savor this trip in Tahiti as much as possible. Every moment here in Tahiti has been amazing!

Oh, as for other updates. The fish groups have been observing and spearing fish (Andy and Mitch have been warriors at it) while shifting more of their time in the lab conducting protein assays and dissecting eyeballs. Also, the guys managed to get their chance to do some grocery shopping (a relief the shop was able to accept US dollars).

From here on in the lizard group will be catching geckos and run them on a vertical racetrack on different substrates as part of our second project.

Well I’ve got to fly (or…swim). Going to catch the next boat for scuba diving!

Peace,
Eddie