Thankful for so much!

I returned to San Pedro this evening. It is good to be home. Really good to be home since I am not feeling all that great.

I was in another location Tuesday through Thursday doing fish surveys. Alicia (the manager of Bacalar Chico) and I went over to "assist" with the fish and coral surveys. By the way, Alicia is able to complete 5 coral surveys and I can complete my 8 fish on two tanks of air.

Alicia showed on Monday to get started. I had to wait until Tuesday morning because of meetings all day Monday. Before I left I had to stop by an office here to pick up blank forms for us to use for the surveys. This should have foreshadowed what was to come, but I was hopeful.

I arrive at my destination early Tuesday morning- 8:30, groggy but ready to work. Hum. Nothing, let me repeat, NOTHING was ready to go. The person "in charge" who we will call IM* had shown up minutes before I had. No one had gone for tanks. IM was also in shock that it would take 2 tanks for each of us to complete our segments of the surveys. The gear wasn't in the boat ready to go. In fact, the surveys I had brought were the only ones that we had with nothing on them. It is a rather well known fact, even outside of the SCUBA diving community, that paper disintegrates in water. Unfortunately IM, a supposed biologist, hadn't figured it out. Well, that among other things. Unfortunately IM also had not read the updated (2006) manual for conducting the surveys and was trying to tell us how to do the surveys from the 2002 manual. IM had not been in the water to dive much less conduct any surveys for 2 years. So back to the paper... In my efforts to learn the fish on the survey- a total of 83 fish in all of their color variations- I had recreated the fish survey on Excel. Alicia had already warned me so I had already sent a copy via email. With no surveys, no hope of waterproof paper, and flat out refusal to write the results of 8 transects, per site, on a piece of white plastic board we printed the surveys on plain paper. At 3pm we set out for the first site. (Hours ago we had determined that this person was just a completely and utter Incompetent Manager*.) Anger had set in. We were ready to vote IM off the island.

Never, ever have I appreciated Alicia's completely different work ethic and ability to plan as much has I have this week.

Wednesday you would think would go better. It didn't. In fact it was almost worst because everything was set from the day before. IM's employees just needed to transcribe the data we had collected. IM felt that we needed to do this but we stood our ground. Well that is except for my disintegrated paper that I had to interpret the tares. Because of the improper equipment it was a huge push to get in all of the fish surveys on Tuesday. Today Alicia and I assigned IM 2 fish surveys and 1 coral. IM wined. LITERALLY wined! We would have happily left her on shore. Probably should have. Anyway. Again we set out late and were utterly frustrated. As we head out to the Blue we know it is too rough but IM wasn't paying attention, we wait for IM to declare this. IM directs the captain to the location of our dive spot, the one that is supposed to be in the Blue. One of the problems is we are not clear of the reef. If we had continued on the route IM had suggested then we would have really been in trouble. The closer we got to the rolling waves in the channel the more we anticipated the order to turn around. The weather is getting worse and we can't go out in the Blue. The order never comes so Alicia does tell the captain to turn around. We finally find a spot to survey, get set up, complete the surveys, and dread Thursday.

Thursday. Most people that have been paying attention would have caught on would have known we weren't going to transcribe the data just because IM's employees didn't want to do anything. Aggravated beyond sitting quietly and playing nice I tell IM that we are here doing her a favor and IM needs to pick up the slack. IM counters that if you are going to do someone a favor you should do it right. I left. I packed my bag. Talked to Alicia about it but she talked me out of it. Again it was a late start. There was no way for us to complete all of the sites. I had appointments the next day in Belize City that I couldn't miss. Also found out before leaving for this site that IM does not know fish. So, I refuse to worry about her sloppy data. Here comes the sick part. As soon as I got in the water Thursday I felt sick. I continued my dive and completed my 6 surveys despite the uneasy feeling in my stomach. We got back to shore and I felt awful. As my body rid itself of the tacos and hand full of cereal I had for breakfast all kind of ideas were floating in my head. Diving injuries, bubbles in my blood, rashes on my skin, the bends. (or bad tacos). I dove within the limits, I did my safety stops, for heaven's sake for 2 days we hadn't been in water over 20 feet deep. Still nagging, still wondering, I wanted to be sure. Maybe seasickness? I tried to eat. Bad idea. Smells from the kitchen, from guests with cigarettes, ugh! Two bites of baked potato and I was on the run. So we left, talked to IM and the Big Boss in Belize, I ran to catch the boat home. If worse came to worse there was a decompression chamber there. I went to see the doctor. Got a shot for the nausea-OUCH!, sea sickness pills, and went home. Aching all over I tossed and turned until the sun was rising.

Yea. It is Friday and I have to head to Belize for an appointment. I decide to stop on IM's island, pick up my computer, and visit with Nadine (the newest nationalized Belizean Citizen in the country!). As the boat pulls up to the dock my head is in another orbit of its own. I practically crawled off of the boat and on the dock. I had a nice visit, despite the whole not feeling well. I figured that there was no way I would last at least two times longer on a boat so I called our nurse, she scheduled a flight, and I was on my way to Belize.

I had good appointments and good visits with friends, but I am oh so very glad to be sleeping in my bed in less than 10 minutes from now. I am so very thankful for my friends who take care of me when family can't, not having a serious condition to deal with constantly, and to never have to worry about whether or not I can see a doctor. I guess that my body fighting a little food poisoning every once and a while will help me remember how fortunate I truly am.

And one last thing that I am most thankful for this week- working with someone who gets it- Alicia, you are great!

I don't like suckerfish!

I don't care if they are Whitefin Sharksuckers or just plain old Sharksuckers, I don't like suckerfish.

I almost hate them. Ok, maybe not, but I really really don't like suckerfish.

The first time I was in the water with a few suckerfish (close to 3 feet long) I didn't have the opportunity to realize my dislike for these particular fish. We were finishing a dive at Tuffy when three suckerfish appeared. One of the three stole the hair band out of a lady's hair and was playing with it. It would toss it out of its mouth, let it drop a little, then scoop it up and do it over again. This was amusing, until one focused on me for a few seconds. I used my console (the part of my dive gear with the gauges attached to it) to tap at its nose. It apparently wasn't interested in my game, so it went on.

I discovered that I don't like suckerfish during the lobster surveys, at the end of the lobster season, earlier this year. This was discovered as I was very innocently looking in and around some outcrops of coral for lobsters.

When we do surveys we carry around a white hard plastic board that we attach the survey sheets to. The surveys are printed on waterproof paper or are written directly on the board in pencil. We attach the pencils to the board or our wrists by links of rubberbands.

Back to the story... So, I was looking in and around all of the bits of coral and I noticed that my pencil kept dragging around my leg. But then I realized it was not a pencil, it was in my hand, it was a suckerfish. This little (about 8 inches long) fish was trying to attach to me. Did I calmly handle the situation? NO, I freaked out. I proceeded to squeal like a little girl being attacked by sharks. So, I was swimming, bouncing from the bottom (about 5 feet deep) and trying to get the attention of Sherwin and Aldo. I looked like I was being attacked. They got there and I was nearly hyperventilating. What did they think? That I was being attacked by a shark or something of that nature. So I got into the boat, that evil little fish was still trying to attach, and I finally escaped. They asked me what was going on. I started laughing and telling them about the suckerfish.

Every dive and snorkel after that I have had a preoccupation of looking out for suckerfish. The sharks I have encountered have had a healthy fear/respect for humans. The barracuda that I have been in the water with always bolt in the opposite direction when I make a quick movement in their direction. Moray eels, well, I don't like to get too close to them either. Anyway, the big, supposed to be scary things don't bother me as much as these fish, whose main purpose in life is to suck onto other organisms to clean them. I don't even think they have teeth. It should make me feel better, but it doesn't really.

The fish surveys that I do have 8 transects per site. For each transect I swim the same 30-meter length 4 times. On the first pass I lay the line and count the adult fish found within the parameters. The second pass I count the juveniles. On the third pass I count the long spined black sea urchins and on the final pass I reel in the tape. I can usually get 5 or 6 transects done on about 2500 pounds of air.

So, I know as I entered the water on Thursday that I would be looking out for suckerfish, but I would be ok as long as they left me alone. I had on a full wetsuit. The only exposed skin was on my hands, neck, and a little on my face. I had my dive knife in case I got tangled in fishing line or something. I was ready. I was almost done laying the 30- meter transect and counting the adult fish when something to the right of me was caught in my peripheral vision. Yes, you guessed it, a suckerfish. He was about 2 and a half feet long and watching me. My heart started beating faster, my breathing was faster, my eyes darted between my survey and the fish. I continued. I counted the juveniles, I was on the way back for the third pass down the transect when it happened. He came after my head. I had been fine with him swimming next to my legs, they were covered. The toothless fish couldn't help himself. He tried to suck onto my head! Maybe my hair looked like an huge growth of algae. With all of my might I tried to hit him with my board. Did it help? NO, the board crept through the water, not finding its target. The fish swam away to only return and come after my head again and again! Did it hurt? No, it actually felt funny, but that was not the point... I will continue, he will not prevent me from completing the dive! I moved my shoulders as close to my ears as I could, tilted my head to the left and back, tucked my board beside my neck on the right. He was STILL trying to attach to my head! My heart was racing, my breathing was even faster. I decided to take a stance. I was beginning to reel in the tape, part 4 to my first transect. He was watching me. I contemplated my options. I started poking at him with my equipment- the survey board, the reel to the tape measure, my pencil. I contemplated my knife. I would only injure myself. My pencil was the easiest to handle, has the least amount of drag in the water, so it became the weapon of choice. We turned circles, me in the middle, the tape twirling around below me as we spun. He grew tired of our game momentarily and went to harass Alicia for a while. I was getting ready to lay the next transect when he appeared again. I laid down the tape and started the circles again. I would jab at him and would swim away. I was beside Alicia at this point so I told her that I was heading up to the boat.

When I got to the surface I was worked up to the point that I didn't even want to have him near the parts of my body that were covered. I got out of the boat, amused Aldo and Sam with my encounter, and relaxed in the sun.

I checked my air pressure just before getting out of the water. I used 1500 pounds of air on one survey and defending myself from the suckerfish.

I told my friend Enes about my suckerfish attack. She said that the suckerfish probably thought that I was playing with him. It is true that that was probably all that was happening, but I still don't like them.