The End is Near

Another Degas day, another blog entry. This week wasn’t as hectic as last but it was my last week for data collection. As usual the couple of days to spare disappeared but since 4:30pm on Wednesday, there were no more transects to lay or starfish to find and measure. There was a slight delay in data collection because one afternoon we weren’t allowed in the water due to Man ‘o War jellyfish (they aren’t very dangerous, just hurt a bit). The movement study went ok, although a lot of them did go strangely missing which was annoying.

On Tuesday evening I gave a talk about my project in front of all of the staff and volunteers on the island. It was a bit nerve wracking but I got through it and everyone said I did well. I think that my results will be significant too which is really good for my dissertation. It’s a relief to get everything out of the way so I can relax a bit more in this my last week. Mary and Sarah (also from Oxford) have also finished now too and James arrived on Hoga from finishing in the jungle on Friday.

Sarah and I went for another jolly into the deep on Monday. We went to buoy 4 and it was good to see the site in the daylight this time! We also watched Pelayo (a PhD student) banging terracotta tiles into the reef wall. He’ll then see how many new coral colonies grow on them after a certain period of time (three months to a year).

Social night last night was fun. I had nothing to do the next day so stayed up late chatting. We also did some crazy dancing to some really fast Spanish ska music which was very tiring.

Today I walked up the beach to a village called Furakke with Sarah. She was taking some pictures of the Agar (a type of seaweed) farms up there. It was roasting! This afternoon lots of us went across to the ‘mainland’ Kaledupa (actually just a bigger island). There were some sports happening as it is Indonesian independence day on Sunday. We had a Hoga vs Kaledupa volleyball match and a game which is similar but has no hands rules like football. It was good to get off Hoga and see a bit more real Indonesia. We went up to the market to do some shopping too but I think many people were at the big football matches. There were loads of children about and some were dressed in what I think were scout uniform. Everyone was really interested in us and said hello.

Tonight will be fairly relaxed and I think an early night is in order as tomorrow I’m going on the Bintang Sedang. The Bintang (as well as a beer) is Opwall’s live aboard boat which volunteers can stay on for a week. You can see it in the picture. It’s really cool as we can get to dive sites which are further afield and also do some marine mammal spotting. Everyone who has been on it so far has said it was amazing and I’m really looking forward to doing two dives a day and not a lot else! After that, however, it will be time to leave Hoga and start the long journey back to Cumbria, so I’ll see everyone soon!
Abi
xxx