Exactly one year later...

hey folks,

I was thinking about Mo'orea today and cannot believe it was over a year ago now! In good news though I have been exploring the world and nerding out more than ever.

If you want to keep up with my latest exploints check out my new (ish) blog.

www.ohtheplacesbrigoes.blogspot.com

Enjoy and thanks for reading!

Last Entry

Hey there kids,

So the time has come. Mo'orea and I sadly parted ways and I have been reunited with good old berkeley. It is cold and rainy here and I live alone in my studio apartment. The days of dorms and living on the lagoon are no more. I miss my little island!!

I have been incredibly busy since I returned to the states but now everything is coming to an end. This whole semester the grade I will receive for 13 units is based on two things, an oral presentation and a paper. I have written the paper and am continually editing it and the presentation is now over and done with. It is amazing. I am feeling quite accomplished and my paper is formatted in the professional scientific journal way! In a couple weeks I can say I am published and it gives me joy beyond words.

To finish on the right note I am going to sum up the results and conclusions of my study. Here goes...

I identified 37 rays total, 29 from the Lagoon (site 1) and 8 from Te Honu Iti (site 2). I identified five kinds of scarring, only one of which the origin is confirmed. Those five types are wavy, thick black, scrape cluster, thin scrape, and cospecific bite. Using the Lincoln Peterson method for my mock mark recapture study the populations estimates for sites 1 and 2 respectively were 30 and 8. This suggests all the rays I identified were all of the rays living at each site. There was not cross over between sites, which confirms my theory on site fidelity ie these rays are double dipping so to speak at different locations. They stay where they get fed and consistently come back to it.

Now onto the discussion portion of the evening...

My conclusions are that the rays at site 1 are highly more injured and have a much lower body condition than do the rays at site 2. At site one the rays would swim onto you and follow you. They responded to every boat motor and every shadow. I kayaked to my site and they would respond to my little dinky kayak even. These rays are being fed what the boats are feeding the sharks as well. They chum one section of water and get two birds with one stone, black tips and rays. I saw a ray, which are known for eating gastropods and stumatopods, eat a fish head. It had so much trouble with it, it was literally banging itself and the fishhead against the sand in an attempt to compact it in some way.

Overview near Site 1. I worked in the far right area near the darker water, which is a boat channel.

At site two it is a different story. I went to site two once at lunch and once on Wednesday during the dinner hour and there were no rays. Te Honu Iti hand feeds once a night, except wednesdays, and from outside the water. They have stairs that lead down into the water and the rays just hover. They also have lights that illuminate the immediate water so the guests at the restaurant can see the rays when they swim by. The rays were incrediby skiddish and scared of me. The second I entered the water they would run away. Their frequncies of scars was much less as well. They completely lacked two car categories, which makes me guess they are boat related as the water at Te Honu Iti is far too shallow.

The restaurant.

Chef Roger, in the middle, let me interrupt his dinner ambiance frequently.

In conclusion...ecotourism is definitely affecting the rays of site 1. This is a managable problem though. With monitoring and regulation these rays can avoid the detrimental effects that have plagued the Southern Stingray. The Southern stingray has HUGE parasite loads and no natural breeding cycle anymore. Constant feeding equals constant breeding, which causes the females to have severe calcium depletions not to mention messing with natural history is just not okay! The rays at the lagoon are not there yet, there is still time to reverse damage and manage and adjust our ways so that we can save the species and its natural behavior. Biodiversity needs to and should be preserved and to the best of our ability. We can do something about this problem and with further study things can change and problems can be resolved.

Well there is a very condensed version of my paper...hope you enjoyed it!!

my little island I miss so dearly

One of the first days in the truck...feels so long ago, but still makes me so incredibly happy

sarah and I being awesome...that is how we roll.


Thank you all for reading and sharing my experience. This was quite literally the best opportunity I have ever had and is my most treasured memory. I will hold this near and dear to my heart forever. Thank you to those who helped me get here and to those who cheered me on.

love and thanks,

Brianna McCoy.

Farwell Mo'orea...

It is that time guys...I am now back in California typing on my laptop in my mom's house on Thanksgiving. Here is a recap on the last days in Mo'orea...

So on November 15th we all had to leave the Gump Station. Most of us said our goodbyes there as we all spit up and had different destinations for our two weeks off. Sarah, Yoko, Caitie, and myself all went to a place called Chez Nelson. As we were waiting in the front for Siesta (I never figured out what it is called in Tahitian, but everywhere is closed from 12-2) we discovered boundless cuteness in the form of a puppy. Our first encounter with this bundle of joy was it running and hitting a fence...cutest thing ever. It then ran over to us...of course I picked it up...here is the cuteness.

pup pup aka bundle of joy.

pup pup's mom, aka mama dog. ADORABLE.

There was a third dog who we named circus dog...needless to say I was in doggy heaven.

me in doggy heaven.

Sarah being awesome.

We then got into our room. The first night it was just Yoko, Sarah and me. We walked around then all took naps. We went out to eat and enjoyed an amazing meal. There was live music and one of the singers was the guy that gave me the beautiful lei on my birthday at the Sheraton!! We then learned how to shave coconuts and make freash coconut milk, which is absolutely delicious. Then we all went to bed. Next day, Caitie arrived and camped outside while Yoko, Sarah and myelf shared the room. We walked around all day and watched the sunset from a restaurant deck.

lovely ladies

Sunset at Hauru point

We all went to bed. It was Sarah's last night and she originally wanted to go early but decided staying later sounded more fun so we decided we should rent a car. Enter uno fire...

With Sarah being badass of course.

We proceeded to drive around the island looking at the sites and stopping at our favorite palces. We went to the Ag school, and the Belvedere, the Gump Station, and Maherepa, all over.

Belvedere

At the Belvedere, our old home on the right...good ol' Cook's Bay

Last beers on the dock at the Gump Station again with Cook's bay in the background.

After our last beers at the station we had to take Sarah to the airport. We proceeded to have more beers in her honor, well they did, I was the driver since no one else can drive stick.

last hinanos in the parking lot before Sarah left...

And then there were three...

So we watched Sarah take off for her fifteen minute flight and then 23 hour trek to Paris to have thanksgiving there. I missed her the whole time!!! So Caitie, Yoko, and I drove around and went out to our last meal as all of us left Mo'orea on Tuesday. Then we all came back and went to sleep early in preperation for the long day ahead. Then Yoko woke me up from a sound sleep by saying, "Brianna I think I need to go to the Hospital". That woke me up quick. I immediately ask Caitie if there even was a hospital on the island (its a very small island) and luckily there was one. We got in the car that thank god we had rented and drove to the Hospital. None of us spoke French, so it made telling them what was wrong very difficult. We were shooed out of the room and there was no waiting room so Caitie and I went into the car and waited. Both of us fell asleep and woke up to none other than Yoko knocking on the window. She was released we went home...As we were driving the sun was rising over Tahiti right as we hit the Temae look out it was beautiful. We extended our stay at Chez Nelson, as the original plan was to leave Mo'orea at 11 and spend the day in Tahiti. But I extended the car and the hotel and then took Caitie to the airport. She decided to go to another island called Huehini where a couple of other classmates went. I saw her off and then there were two...

Yoko slept most of the day and we left Chez Nelson at 2pm. We then proceeded to drive around and have our last goodbyes to the lovely island we had come to call home.

Good bye coconut trees and crystal blue waters

goodbye uno fire and plumeria

Goodbye Juice de fruits and your free liqoure tastings and delicious pample-juice

Good bye Are's, Are's parking lot, pao pao bridge sitters, Chez Lydie, and Snack Ro.

Good bye Mauputa, the mountain with the hole in it where the gods hung Mo'orea with a fish hook and where we almost lost Brandon.

Good bye Mo'orea and flower wearing.

Good bye Temae

Na Na Mo'orea.

And then there were none...We arrived in Tahiti and stored our stuff and hit the Roulets that started it all. We had Poisson Cru and Grilled Mahi Mahi with BBQ sauce and beet and potatoe salad...the meals and the place that started it all. Then we went back to Faaa (Fa-a-a-a-a-a-a-a) and waited for our Australian adventures to begin.

Tahiti...finally

Sorry this has taken me so long to finally write...

So as a last hurrah for the class, after Tetiaroa of course, we went to Tahiti for the day, Nov 11. We woke up bright and early and packed into the trucks. We hadn't done the whole gang like this since the first week we were here, so it was a very surreal feeling. We all know each other now and are kinda like a little family. We drove over to the Ferry terminal and got on board. The ferry, well the express ferry, takes about half an hour from Mo'orea to Papeete, Tahiti. We laughed and slept and enjoyed the company of a super tourist...it was awesome.

We got off the ferry and into the trucks again and started our drive around Tahiti Nui. We went up the sides of beautiful cindercones and old volcanic hill sides. We stopped at point Venus, where Darwin once stood, and the transect of Venus was measured, well one of the many spots. We stood on a beautiful lookout and just had fun. We then went to a place called the blow hole. It is a geologic formation that causes water to shoot out like a blowhole on the coast and across the road causes a HUGE gust of air, knocked many of us off of our feet. That was not the smartest as it is located on a blind curve on a busy road.

From there we hiked up to an amazing waterfall.



It really is absolutely stunning. True to form we all jumped in and some attempted rock climbing and we just enjoyed ourselves. We then took class pictures (minus caitie)

us looking kinda normal...

By far the usual.

From there we continued around the island and went to a stunning black sand beach for lunch and swimming. I, true to form, spent most of the time swimming. The sand was soooo incredibly soft. The waves were awesome...we were definitely doing some body surfing. The surfing crew showed us how its done and I think most of us managed to ride a wave in this newly discovered professional manner. The we went and saw some caverns, which I guess other classes get to swim in but they were closed. We then drove around and saw Tahiti Iti although we did not go onto it. The road doesn't go all the way around, but there is an amazing surfing spot there at the end of the road. Our last stop was at the cultural museam. It was really interesting to see the history of French Polynesia. I love the country and hope to return.

We got to the Ferry terminal half an hour early and true to form found a good brewery and drank three pitchers in 30 minutes and then boarded the ferry. The sun was setting as we were crossing. Albert snapped a nice picture of me watching the sunset...

And then it was back to home away from home, the good ol' gump station.

Sorry this was so rushed, but I wanted to make sure I wrote something. Yoko is currently napping and we are in Cape Tribulation. Exploring time for me!!!


love you all,
bri.

quick update, more coming soon.

Sorry I have not posted in a while. I have been super busy and getting everything together for leaving Mo'orea, which is in less than four hours, and also figuring Australia out.

I will write a big ol' blog when I get to Australia, or tonight in the airport if there is an internet connection.

So much has happened in the past few days it has been crazy.

Here are the highlights, with more details coming soon:


-Went to Tahiti on an amazing trip...good last hurrah as a class
-Got accosted by a Gendarm.
-Moved out of the Gump Station and said Good-bye to everyone
-Moved into Chez Nelson for our last few nights
-Sarah Left
-Took Yoko to the Hospital for food poisoning...scary as hell and none of us knew french
-Caitie Left

and then there were two...

Also, November 19, 2008 will exist for me for only two hours, while I get to relive the hours of 10 am-3:30 pm on November 26...weird time warpingness.

more to come I promise.

love,
Bri.

Tetiaroa

On Thurdsay, November 6, the crew had the opportunity to go to Tetiaroa!!! Tetiaroa is an atoll with a series of motus and a bird sanctuary. Marlon Brando bought the islands in the 70's and since his death they have been turned over to a trust. The Gump station has offered to help create a conservation plan but nothing has been set in stone. Seriously, these islands are amazing, a literal heaven on Earth. It was very hard to leave them.

Let's start from the beginning shall we? 6:45 am, on docks and ready to load onto the boats. We needed three boats to schlep our crew out to the atoll. The station boat was used and then two local fishing boats. FISHING boats maybe 15 feet MAYBE. This two hour jaunt is through open ocean mind you. The trek takes between 1.5-2.5 hours depending on conditions. On Wednesday the ocean was like glass...Thursday was a different story. Of course standing on the dock we had no clue what we were in for. I took a dramamine and stocked up on some ginger root and took my seat on the ice chest that was used as a bench for the 7 of us piled on the boat. No handles, no seats per say, just an ice box for the catch.

Ginger stock piling

And then we were off...

I was in the white boat.

Our journey began in Cook's bay, we leave the bay and enter the reef pass and into open ocean we went. The swell was already a bit rough and definitely made me and a few others a bit nervous about the ride. We learned later that had it gotten any worse we would have immediately turned around and not gone.

The ride was bumpy to say the least. As I mentioned we were literally sitting on a wood ice chest. There were a couple handles, but not enough for the seven of us. All seven could barely fit on top of the thing! When sitting we were well above the edge of the boat so it seemed like a rather likely possibility that we would fly out of the boat. We held on for dear life to avoid this and there were a couple waves were I was worried, but one in particular where I thought we were all going down. In better news we didn't!! We successfully made it across that stretch of the Pacific and to the barrier reef of Tetiaroa.

Now Tetiaroa is unique in that it has no reef passes. Passes can be natural or man made, but Tetiaroa has neither. The catch with that little tid bit of information is that there is no shore per say. We all jumped off the boats and into the water, following direction and also thinking these people are all a bit insane after Mr. Toad's Wild ride, but swim up to this cliff of coral. The method of getting to Tetiaroa? Penguin style, wait for a wave and slide on up onto the reef crest (on the algal ridge of course, woot sargassum, actually it was more like f***ing TURBINARIA, spikey stuff, sticks everywhere, generally unpleasant). We all made it onto the reef and now the question of bags is upon us. How do we get the bags from boat, which cannot come to close to said coral cliff...throw them that's how. We found a delicate balance between edge of cliff and wave action and the ability to stand up and not fall off and the fishermen started tossin'. I lost a shirt in the shuffle and I believe a fin was lost but other than that we came out unscathed and were ready to hit the shore.

Walking from the crest through the lagoon to the shore. See the boats in the background?

The crew got the low down of the history, geology, and some biology of the atoll. Then we got to explore!

Conglumerate Platform, lagoon, reef crest and waves breaking, another island in the atoll. Oh, and did I mention absolutely striking?

And go swimming in pristine waters...

And proceed to have chicken fights.

The chicken fights were girl versus guys and then the members of BOB plus one. Sea cucumber fights commenced shortly after. Ben hit Olivier square between the eyes; Hayley put one in Heather's bathing suit bottoms. It was hilarious and so fun. We soon got beckoned out of the water by none other than...

Carole Hickman!!

Carole is one of our professors and is amazing and spunk and just pure awesomeness. She then told us about where we were going next, an island that is a bird sanctuary. To get there we need to wade through a shallow lagoon...

check.

What we saw when we got there...PERFECTION. The sand was the softest I have ever felt in my life.

Look at that sky.

Beautiful Brown Booby, Sula leucogaster

and again.

Baby Brown Booby...so adorable.

After walking around the bird island we came back to our beach and ate some grub. In this process Danny decided he was le tired and put his head inbetween two branches. He was stuck for a brief moment, but here I am laughing at it...

He became unstuck shortly after this photo.

After lunch we decided we would all go snorkeling. I started in the lagoon, but quickly wanted to go out and off the reef crest. It was PHANOMENOL. Really deep with this huge cliff in the back ground. There were cut outs and trenches. They were all around 20 ft down, so good free diving skills were a must. We saw a monopora, or rosebud coral, black tips, huge puffers, and some flat out amazing coral structures. Coral reefs are such a unique ecosystem and I am incredibly lucky to be this fortunate and see so many in this amazing country.

The second attempt at penguin style was awesome and worked flawlessly. We then walked back and had to walk back again to return from whence we came. It was a sad moment to jump off the edge knowing I may never see that place or anything close to it ever again.

Back to our fishing boats we went! We resituated ourselves on our icebox, noticing this time our butts were a bit sore and muscles a bit tired, but off into the middle of the Pacific we went. The ride was rough again, but fun, less frightening. Our guy saw a Mahi Mahi and went after it. He was incredible he whipped out his spear, turned the boat and throws the spear and one toss he has the fish. It was HUGE. It was sad though too. I watched this stunning creature go from shimmering blues and yellows to a dull, dead yellow green.

We all stood up as to allow him to actually use his ice chest. We get situated again and Mo'orea is so close...all of a sudden we dart to the side and the wood on my handle breaks. I went FLYING. I saw the edge of the boat and saw there was potential for me to fly straight into the Pacific. I hook the edge with my inner elbow and left rib cage, bounce back into the ice chest and come to a halt on water bottles...OW. That hurt a lot. My knee just started feeling better. I stayed on the floor despite the risk of sea sickness, but thankfully I did not get sick. Not-a-once. We made it back to Cook's Bay and our amazing little station sore and safetly. The experience was well worth it though. Amazing trip...this place never fails to please.

puh-puh-please let me stay!

love,
bri.

Yes We Can.

OBAMA WON OBAMA WON OBAMA WON OBAMA WON!!!!


For the first time in a very long time I am actually proud to be a US citizen. I actually have some hope for the future and things WILL actually change. Obama won. It was so surreal. The whole Gump station went to the Sheraton to their TV to the only way to see CNN. I was part of the late car, so as I walk into the Sheraton, I am not sure how it is going to go. I avoided the polls, the predicitions all day for sheer terror that McCain and PALIN may be ahead. I realized how little faith I had in the people of America. As I turn the corner a friendly face looks at me dead in the eye as I see McCain in the background and the words, "McCain is conceding!!!!!!" We all burst out into cheers and yells and alll ordered drinks at the bar in celebration. We all listened to McCain's very gracious speech and then waited anxiously for Obama to come to that stage in Chicago and address his waiting fans. Seriously, I welled up when he was speaking! It has been so long since I was actually proud to be an American citizen and proud to listen to a government leader. We are not a generation of apathy; we just have had no ability to do anything about our countries situation until now. When given that voice, power, and ability look what we can do!

GO OBAMA!!!!

In other news something that is severely disappointing to me is that prop 8 passed. We have NO RIGHT to dictate how people should live their lives and what makes people happy. DO NOT tell me marriage is a religious institution between a man and a woman. You can get married in Vegas, you can get a MARRIAGE license from city hall without ever stepping foot into a church. The institution is no longer a religious one. I am sorry if it was and non-religious folk had to have a civil union instead of a marriage I would be fine with the distinction, but that is not the case. Gay marriage should be 100% legal and I am very disappointed in California today.

But now to end on a happier note. In celebration (or if it went the other way to drown our sorrows) Caitie, Hayley, Sarah and myself decided to go camping...well kinda. Our original plan was to actually camp, sleep under the stars on the pristine sand however it POURED!! So we decided to hit up the bungalows at the campsite instead. We packed 3 bottles of wine, lots of snacks and sat on the beach and talked the night away. It had stopped raining by that point and we were just sitting looking on at the glass-like lagoon and enjoying the company. We forgot cups, so we were all just drinking the vino straight out of the bottle; we are a classy bunch. Then in the morning we went and sat on the beach again and as we were walking back a French woman says, "you have a new president," we say, "yes obama! (Very enthusiastically with big smiles and arms raised)" and she says, "WE ARE VERY PLEASED", and all of us say that we are too. PEOPLE ALREADY LIKE AMERICANS MORE. It is awesome. I do not have to be ashamed of where I am from. OBAMA WILL MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE. And to make it even better we got a ride all the way back from Hauru where we were staying. The guy turned around and took us the other direction that he was going. It was awesome.

My lovely ladies and our Ritz cracker breakfest.

Cute dog, looked like Chihuahua and Corgi...beautiful water and sailboat.

Hitchhiking Mo'orea Style with Sarah looking adorable.