22:45 I confirmed with DL today that I had spotted an Orange-Fronted Parakeet on return from the hike from the previous day. Such conversations are fairly common, especially as the scientists had been living here for around 20 years and knew at least this park like the back of their hand.
First thing on the agenda today was to
collect shells from shell back meaning another shell-o-rama was on its
way. We tidepooled this morning too, I
caught the sun on my neck. Afterwards
quite a few people took part in some whale watching...
I got to see a couple of ‘humps’ of Humpback Whales though I was hoping for the rare event of a breach (whale jumping clear out of the water) if not a fluke (when a whale deep dives flicking its tail vertically) however no such luck today L Though it wasn’t all that unlucky, whilst whale watching we also saw through a scope that some large Golden or Pacific Jack were jumping on the ocean’s surface and some dolphins were jumping about too. Nearing the end of this pretty sweet ‘whale session’ I double-taked as I put my binoculars up again to look at whales as out the corner of my eye I saw a fin only about 3 meters from the beach!!! Turns out a Nurse Shark was hanging out by the shoreline perhaps catching some easy meals. No mistaking those brown double dorsal (back) fins, I was really ecstatic that a shark was A) so close to the beach and B) very close to where we snorkel so I was now hoping to spend some time with one in the water – sounds crazy but they are apparently harmless, though either way I love sharks and would happily swim with one so long as I had rock on one side of me and not open ocean.
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| 3.5 Scientists Whale & Nurse Shark Watching (D.Philpot) |
I got to see a couple of ‘humps’ of Humpback Whales though I was hoping for the rare event of a breach (whale jumping clear out of the water) if not a fluke (when a whale deep dives flicking its tail vertically) however no such luck today L Though it wasn’t all that unlucky, whilst whale watching we also saw through a scope that some large Golden or Pacific Jack were jumping on the ocean’s surface and some dolphins were jumping about too. Nearing the end of this pretty sweet ‘whale session’ I double-taked as I put my binoculars up again to look at whales as out the corner of my eye I saw a fin only about 3 meters from the beach!!! Turns out a Nurse Shark was hanging out by the shoreline perhaps catching some easy meals. No mistaking those brown double dorsal (back) fins, I was really ecstatic that a shark was A) so close to the beach and B) very close to where we snorkel so I was now hoping to spend some time with one in the water – sounds crazy but they are apparently harmless, though either way I love sharks and would happily swim with one so long as I had rock on one side of me and not open ocean.
This evening we hiked to the
waterfall. I showed the students the
Tarzan vine and, once all on-vine safety checks were made, let some of the
braver students swing across and snap some neat photos. Also saw a group of Howler Monkeys sitting
right above us which was great to witness.
Upon returning I set up another ‘Insect Sheet’ which returned a couple
of interesting Beetles. DL took the
black light to look for florescence in Scorpions among other creatures, which I
was intrigued to see and upon lowering it to the grass we saw a luminous orange
creature… Turns out, after much care to
removing surrounding leaves etc., that it was a piece of florescent orange duct
tape haha. Its moments like these which
make life as a scientist particularly entertaining.