What a great day off I had -last Wednesday- I went out with Chinnicks for a spearshooting expedition, and he actually caught a fish! But that was not even the best, the snorkelling was fantastic, I saw lots and lots of fish, turtles, a barracuda (who took off when he saw us) and it was a great 2 hour swim, and afterwards I treated myself to a lovely Pizza (I have been waiting for this for weeks!!!)

At night I went to meet up for dinner with the only female fisherman we have met so far! And she gave me a whole lobster to take home 🙂

So there I was on Thursday, googeling how to cook a lobster! As it says, you have to cut them in half first, and then put them in the oven with butter and lemon! But how to cut a lobster with only rather bland knifes and little scissors? Sarah to the rescue!!! She actually managed (combined effort) and put it in the oven… we did not have any butter or lemon either, so we used olive oil and limes…and the lobster turned out fantastic (in the restaurant we would have paid 40 $US :-))

But, for my taste, I have to say lobsters are overrated! I really prefer crayfish, which we had yesterday in Island Harbour 🙂

Ok, I believe writing 3 posts in a day is more than enough babbling about… hope you enjoy- if not just stop reading!!!

I have been meaning to write this piece since quite a while, especially if we are normally just writing about the fun bits… so here comes the serious stuff!!! Get out your tissues, you might get really sad! (And it is I writing this, as new to the field) rather than either of the two experienced people….

Before coming out here I could not wait to get away from the desk,I had not much experience in Social Surveys, interviews other than that I was really interested in people. After all I have only started late with my love for Ecology, but have always been searching for more…

Anyways, here I was , Sarah as a personal trainer, myself and a whole load of questionnaires to ask people about 80 questions… the questionnaire was not really the scary thing, but when you start  to go to a random house, knock on the door (even though houses here have no bells and you are actually standing outside shouting “Hallo, Hallo”, and sometimes you hear from the inside “hallo” and again you shout “hallo” this could take quite some time! And you never know… who is it going to be, are they going to be nice and friendly, are they happy to see you, can you convince them to give you 30-40 minutes to talk to them? After having gone to 100 plus houses I still always feel slightly nervous when I shout the first “Hallo”.

I wonder if it will ever go, or whether it is like before you go on stage- the stagefright, and once you don’t feel it any more, your performance will change???

But once you have met someone, it only starts to get interesting! It is fantastic, the different people you meet, it is opening up your mind and just pure excitement! One day you might be talking to some fisherman, who goes out with his little boat to make a living, then you might meet a fantastic Reggae singer, who is one of the best on the islands, you meet people from all ways of life, and everyone has a story to tell: The Lady who drives the school bus and is accompanied by her talking parrot, the general manager of a large hotel, the owner of a restaurant who meets us at his private house with tennis court and infinity pool, fishermen who invite you out on trips on their boats (so far we had no time to do so)! But then you also hear very sad sad stories, from people who just love having someone to listen to them, stories about loneliness, loss, and stories about people being strong and making the best with the little they have or with what they had to endure with in the past, which is a very humbling experience.

And then there are all those marriage proposals ad declarations of love 🙂

And then there are the dangers for the social researcher- DOGS!!! We always thought they were the dangers top the postman, but social researchers seem to fall in the same category (maybe we will have to disguise ourselves better and our folders we are carrying look too much like postman Pat bags??)  But I have to say most of them are really lovely once they get to know you, but even I, as a dog person, have to say that at times I can get a bit scared…

But after all, the job never gets boring, it drains all the energy out of you and it is fantastic!

And I am just thinking about all the amazing things I could do with the data, once I am back… the sky is the limit! I thought Ecology was amazing and interesting… but compared to this, I should have discovered it much earlier.

Now I sorted this blog problem out (Sarah cannot post any more, but still seem to be able to, which is great) I can now give you some more of the fun we are having!!!

10 days ago, Katharine joined us from the UK- now we are three!!! Which makes work much faster and easier! Welcome Katharine (and she will have still much much more free space to blog, so will ask her to post some pictures :-))!!!

Last Tuesday we went “back to school! Primary school, that is (years 5-6, 10-11 years old) and had some great fun telling them all about the coral reefs. Everybody “became” a sea-creature, either a nudibranch, a parrotfish, a soft-coral,a hard-coral… and we created headbands for everybody, which was great fun! Then we went ahead to play a game about the food-chain- who eats whom! Everybody was very happy except for the zooplankton, as he was eaten by absolutely everybody (and could not eat anyone else)!!

Afterward we played something which, I think, Sarah called a Pub Quiz, however, without the pub and with kisses (only chocolate ones) for the right answers!

It was a real fun morning, and cannot wait to do some more in Turks and Caicos… Sadly no more time here to do more!

The afternoon was one of those rare afternoons off, so I introduced Sarah and Katharine to the joys of stand-up paddleboarding. We went out to a place called Little Bay, which is great for snorkelling and took masks as well. I gave Sarah and Katharine a “pull through the water, as they were holding on to the fin of the board with mask and snorkel on, I did  not realize what a strong workout that would be.

And then we finished the afternoon with a cocktail in the sunset (and I am not allowed to mention us drinking alcohol, but it was only one glass in the evening, and it makes the story so much more exciting and tropical ;))

Easter was Festival del Mar time in Island Harbour, their one big event of the year, and we were there!!! There was loads of fun, food and meeting old and new friends. We watched the traditional sailing boat races, saw the contestants of the fishing competition come back, and enjoyed a lot of life music! The beach was all built up with little stalls and there was fish and lobster on offer in large quantities, any style you could imagine! I tried the lionfish- first time ever for me- and I have to say it was really tasty! We should export it to the UK and use it for Fish’n’Chips, giving the good old cod and haddock a break!!!

On Sunday I had some conch soup, which was absolutely amazing and in the evening Sarah and I shared a lobster- it was huge- expertly prepared by the Jackmaster, self proclaimed “King of the Sea”. Very, very nice indeed, fresh from the BBQ.

I enjoyed watching the kids model boat races: They built the boats themselves, in the same fashion as traditional racing boats are built, then the boats are taken out to Scilly Cay (and island situated in the harbour), they fix the sails, and off those little boats race towards the shore, powered by wind and steered by the set sails! Really great! Then we watched the kids dancing competition- the girls dance like the adults- the beach volleyball tournament, the swimming competition (it was a relay and I did not know in advance, otherwise I would have tried to find a partner. I would have had a really good chance as well, judging from the teams that started-only 5- and that the first 4 got money prizes, medals and cups).

The cups were just ridiculous… every competition had huge prizes, cups and medals, the girls dancing competition had a prize money of a few hundred US Dollars, for the 6 year old!!!

We also watched some traditional Calypso music and in the evening went to see a great concert with an amazing international female reggae singer! Finally we got home- tired and happy- at 3 am!

What a fantastic weekend!