When stuffed animals attack...

We’re having a bit of a heat wave here.  It feels like it did when we first arrived, which must mean that it cooled down for a while.  I though we were simply acclimating to the heat, but maybe not.  I’m resolutely staying outside of the one air conditioned room because I know that once I enter, I will never leave.  The heat is causing some people to “put their sassy pants on” as my friend Molly would say, but high tempers are understandable.  We’re done with our ID exams and have moved on to conch assessments, which means that we lay a 30 meter transect and swim along, diving down to check for live and dead conch.  It’s actually pretty fun, especially since I have a good group.  However, we’re down to one working boat that can only go about 10 mph, so it’s been a long day. 

Otherwise, life here is moving along smoothly.  I know I’ve mentioned this already, but we’re a third of the way done, which is crazy to think about.  We essentially have our midterms this week and next because classes will end in November and we’ll start our directed research projects.  I cannot wait!   It will mean more time in the water, possibly diving, plus valuable experience.

Much more analogous to this than I'd care to admit.

Speaking of valuable experience, I had quite the experience with an octopus.  And by valuable I mean terrifying.  I was washing my laundry down at the dock with a friend (Karissa) one Saturday, as you do, with my legs in the water when I felt what I thought was a hand on the back of my leg.  There were some kids in the water, so this wouldn’t have been totally weird.  However, when I looked down, there was a tentacle.  I freaked out and jumped out of the water, screaming “oh my God, oh my God!”  Karissa, of course, had no idea what I was freaking out about.  Then, the octopus crawled out of the water and onto the dock and she started to freak out.  We grabbed our laundry and leaped back across the dock as the octopus made its way back into the water on the other side.  Now, this was not the kracken, but rather a small, pink octopus.  Totally non-threatening.  Super cool in hindsight, terrifying at the time.  Life never ceases to be exciting on South!