Music is my lifeline

Sunday afternoon and the tide is out, the sun is shining and I'm listening to Nightmares on Wax on my computer. Music is a real lifeline for me here. The fear of being without the security blanket of my music meant that as well as my computer which holds a lot of music, I also have two different MP3 players in case one breaks!

Which, given the climate and the lifespan of nearly all electrical equipment out here, is extremely likely.

If I'm feeling unhappy or lonely or just wanting to chill out, I get to plug into my ipod and escape into the world of music. I also have some audio books on the big ipod and that is another way of relaxing if I'm too tired to read or if the electricity is off and I'm still too awake to sleep.

Last night was party night. I got my first Tai be nomination for not doing boat maintenance that day. I was working at the time, but boat maintenance is supposed to be compulsary for everyone who has dived that week and so it was a fair nomination. Luckily, there was an excess of Tai be nominations this week (4 other people hadn't done boat maintenance, someone got locked in the toilet, someone else knew the toilet lock was broken but didn't tell anyone, and various other misdemeanours) so I didn't get enough votes to 'lose'....

The award went to Charlie for the second week running for something she did whilst drunk (after her snorkel test) on the last party night! Happily, we also now have an alternative to the alcoholic snorkel test - but it does involve cleaning the water filter, and so I suspect that most people would still opt for the drunken option.

I don't support the snorkel test as punishment in particular, but I'm coming round to the idea of the tai be itself. It usually is accompanied by much hilarity and humility and shouldn't be taken too seriously. Everyone gets a chance to defend themselves, and this is usually one of the funniest parts of the evening.

Anyway, after we'd done the tai be and sua be, I decided I wasn't feeling in a particularly drinking mood and took myself off to the beach with my ipod. It was full moon and so I decided to hold my own private full moon party on the beach and found myself dancing barefoot in the moonlight enjoying the temperature (warm but not too humid) and the beautiful location. The tide was out and it was so peaceful. I felt pretty free and alive dancing on the beach - just so long as I didn't think too hard about the fact that the moonlight was so bright, it caused moon shadows and so that meant that

anyone looking out would have seen me dancing like a madwoman.

I find that I'm pretty busy most of the time at the moment. I did five dives again this week plus had loads of managing work and loads of accounts spreadsheets and other admin and logistics work to get through. As a consequence, my favourite moments are those when I just get to sit back and

just take in the clean air and beautiful view, while doing my yoga on my veranda in the mornings, from my hammock or as last night, alone on the beach.

Me and my hammock are definitely still in the honeymoon phase of our relationship and I'm hoping we never start taking each other for granted or falling out with (of?!) each other.

Other news from site - one of our boat marshalls and boat captains spotted a manta ray on the surface while the divers were out diving. I saw my first guitar fish and something that could have been a sea snake. Unless it was a kind of eel. I got to eat aubergine for lunch twice this week (that always makes me happy) and we had soft bread at two breakfasts. We had our expedition 'goals' meeting with the staff which was pretty successful this time and involved all staff, including the boat drivers and local staff. Our dive manager's boyfriend got stung by a stingray whilst out measuring sea cucumbers. He's fine now but there was quite a bit of initial panic at first. Our medic knew what to do (bathe area with hot/boiling water) and there don't seem to be any ill after effects. Justin has now taken the baton for being ill and has been in bed for the past two days with a fever. He seems much better today thankfully. Oh, and we're now well into series 4 of Buffy, (our nighttime entertainment) which I'm afraid to report is extremely disappointing so far. Might have to request that someone send us a care package of some decent dvds - either tv series or films - for when we get to the end of series 5 of Buffy.

Hotness

If I thought it was hot last week, I was sadly mistaken. Last week was merely mild. THIS week, it's hot. The thermometer outside Nosy Cao now reads 39 degrees. And according to our Malagasy staff, it will get hotter still. I'm not sure how this is possible.
Am also not sure how it's possible to work effectively in this kind of heat. And in fact, it's not! Keep making silly mistakes and am definitely on a 'go slow'.
One of the volunteers brought us a National Geographic from 1944 with a section on Madagascar. It's really fascinating. I particularly like this excerpt: "The natives
themselves are goodhearted, merry do-nothings. They work only long enough each year to earn what they need for their taxes and their modest needs. Many of them, employed on farms or in the mines, quit and go home as soon as they have received five or six dollars. With two dollars they pay their taxes, and the remaining three or four are sufficient to buy a few sacks of rice and a new shirt. Between jobs they sit or lie all day long on their mats in the shade of the palm trees". The writer is talking about this in terms of how this attitude is a problem in terms of labour shortages -
because people stop work when they have earned all that they need.
Frankly, I think they had the right idea. How different would the world be if
everyone just had that attitude.....?
So... What have I done this week? Well, this week I have: enjoyed lying in my hammock swinging in the breeze, done five dives, logged my 350th dive, taken (and failed) a fish test, given two invertebrates tests - failing one person and passing another, done an invertebrate point out and two diving reviews. I really enjoyed giving tests and pointing out stuff. :) the visibility has been particularly bad this week, which makes pointing out stuff quite tricky.
I have also; read a book, started another, eaten some nice fish kebabs, some barracuda, mackerel and emperor fish. I have introduced myself (again) to the Nahudas of the village and introduced the new lot of volunteers to them too. I have danced joyfully in the epi-bar to Madagascan music, felt homesick for my cats (as I do most days) and my friends, eaten macadamias and almonds as sent by my cousin via an American volunteer, given a site and village tour, inducted the volunteers to the BV way of life and done yoga once. :) Phew. So it's been a busy week!
The first week with a new lot of volunteers always is. As the expedition manager, I have to do quite a lot of admin, quite a lot of informing them of rules and regulations and health and safety and also really want to keep an eye out for their welfare. Then, as a divemaster, I have to make sure they can all dive, and I've also been doing some of the point outs. So it's pretty hectic.
We ran the second day of the expedition really differently this time and it went really well I think. Instead of sitting them down in the classroom and talking at them, we got them to learn a lot of the duties and protocols 'in situ'. I think it worked well.
We had a day off yesterday and walked up to the phone point to make some calls to home. Luckily it was excessively windy so it cooled things down considerably. It was nice to speak to some friendly voices. My mum offered to send us some stuff with the January expedition but the the things I really miss are things that can't be sent - cat cuddles, friends, family. And ice-cream. And cheese. Mainly, I miss conversations with people who really know me. Oh, and on the way back from the phone tower, we saw a Hoopo (?) - a really cool bird. :)
That's it for this week. Oh... And kitten news - both have mysteriously disappeared. They've been taken into the village - though whether it's for pet or food purposes, I'm not sure. And the rest of our cats have such bad mange that I can't even look at them any more.

Weather, food and animal updates

It was always hot. But suddenly, someone seems to have turned the thermostat up another notch, and while they were there, also upped the humidity too.
The temperature when we got here was bearable. Pleasant even, especially with the sea breeze. Not quite as hot as the heady hot days of the British summer of 2006, but getting that way. Now, it seems as though we're getting to about 30 degrees before 7.30am. And the humidity just seems to increase in intensity throughout the day. There's no point wearing deoderant any more. You're just sweating so much anyway, it's just pointless. Standing in the shade in the breeze (when there is one) is bearable. But if you're indoors or in the sun, you're just sweating like the proverbial pig, finding it difficult to function or think straight and fantasising about November frosts and porridge for breakfast.
I've learned the malagasy word for hot and am using it frequently. Becky (the dive manager) told me that she was finding it so hard in the heat the other day, and that she was actually scared, as it's just going to get hotter! I share her fear. The rains have started inland already but we've yet to see a drop in Andavadoaka. It would certainly be a relief to see some. (Sunday update; it rained! A bit).
We've seen a couple of thunderstorms way, way, way away in the distance. I've mentioned before that there is infrequent running water here... And no water heater. But in this weather, the water now coming through the pipes is getting to be as warm as it would do if you used the hot tap at home, before it gets to be actually hot.

Meanwhile, this week saw the end of the expedition. Finally. The last night was quite emotional as it was the last night of one of the field scientists, after a 9 month stint on site. Everyone was really sad to see her go, myself included. I really liked her and would have liked to have got to spend more
time out here with her. She got a good send-off though. On our last party night, we also did the ritual 'tai be' (big shit) awards and sua be (big good) awards. The latter is supposed to reward people who go above and beyond their job, or do something extra good. Previous winners have included Justin for fuel monitoring and boat maintenance, Anna for her cheerfulness despite being ill a lot and not diving, and for looking after others.
So, I was extremely flattered that Justin and I were nominated by one of the volunteers. Then, one of the staff members nominated us too, and even though we had a bit of competition from Angelo (for helping Caroline out in the mangroves and for sustaining injuries during the process) and Vola (for helping out with the wedding of one of the staff members), everyone voted and we won! It's the best feedback that I could have asked at the end of my first expedition. I think I've done a reasonably good job given the circumstances (not much training, short induction period etc) but it's not always easy to always know for sure. so I just felt really really touched and flattered that other people onsite thought so too, and thought so enough to reward us so publically for it.
Both Justin and I agree that we've had such a fab bunch of volunteers to have started our first expedition with, and that our staff team have been really supportive, helpful and pretty amazing too.
After all that, and the subsequent alcohol drinking on the part of most of the volunteers... We then had to organise them getting packed up onto their 4X4 camion which finally arrived onsite at 11pm. It was pretty chaotic as, of course, no one wanted to stop partying. We said our final goodbyes to expedition 33 and crashed out at about 12.30. They finally left site at about 4am the following morning (Wednesday).
We just got word today (Friday) that they arrived on Thursday at around 1pm. The roads have started to deteriorate cos of the rains. So they were in the back of the truck (no seats, just foam) for about 33 hours. Eek. Have I mentioned before that we're pretty remote here?? You can forget that temporarily, until someone tries to leave, or come to site. I, for one, am glad to be staying on site. To have a little bit of peace for a few days, a little bit of time off, and do some of the admin tasks that need doing.
I'm looking forward to the next bunch of volunteers arriving - there'll be another 15 of them to add to the 4 from this expedition who are doing another six week block. It'll be pretty mad and it'll be interesting to see how their group dynamics evolve and what personalities they'll have. I'm also looking forward to the fact that this time, at least, I've done the first part of an expedition once before and have some idea of how things work now and what's supposed to happen!

Other news: Went up to the phone point earlier this week. This is a spot, up on a cliff overlooking the sea on the one side and the desert/spiny scrub land on the other where you can actually get mobile phone reception. It takes about an hour to walk there - which in the current climate, is pretty arduous. Thankfully, we'd brought plenty of water. Saw lots of cool birds in the scrub and the views were spectacular when we finally got to the 'point'... It's not a mast or anything, just a pile of rocks, around which you can get reception. But you can't get reception anywhere else. It was quite a thrill to be using a phone (I had to call the office)... The spot is also a bit of a haven for mosquitos and I got more bites during that brief call to London than I have all expedition. Then we had to turn round and walk back home.

Wildlife update
We had a couple of dragonfly mass suicide nights, when red dragonflies flew around at night and hurled themselves into lightbulbs to fry to death, or into the mouths of cats or geckos to be eaten. I'm not sure what had brought these dragonflies to such depths of despair. Or, indeed where they had come from, as I'd never seen them before that night.

Meanwhile, one of the skinny cats has given birth as there are two, fairly recent, kittens mewing and looking as cute as only kittens that haven't adapted to the harsh life of coco beach can look. Shame they're going to get into fights, get mange, fleas and ticks, and not enough food to eat.
I had a bit of a bug myself this week and spent three days lying in bed with no appetite. I also threw up over the balcony and later that night found that this had encouraged about 30 hermit crabs to come and party on that very spot by our hut. I know that things must be pretty desperate on the food front when I found myself bursting into tears when I read the words "grilled goat's cheese with a lemon and pepper dressing" in the book I was reading.... It's going to be a long nine months.

Diving and weddings

This week saw the first BV wedding on site between one of our staff members and her boyfriend. They only set the date about two weeks ago, so it's been a bit of a frenzy trying to get everything organised. However, it ended up being a really cute day, with the bride being surprised with a new (cotton, non merengue) wedding dress bought by one of our scientists when he was in Tulear. We bought the happy couple a night in the 'posh' Laguna Blue resort and the local children from the environmental club (and quite a few hangers on) sang as the bride walked up the beach aisle of shells. I have to admit, I was pretty moved. The ceremony itself was pretty short and sweet, and the choir and associated villagers sang and ran after the couple as they wererowed back on site on a pirogue. It was quite a spectacle.
Other than the wedding (my personal highlight was a couple of glasses of proper, South African white wine), it's been quite a quiet week. Have been busying myself with rewriting or writing various information sheets for volunteers and staff, and getting to grips with the temperamental laminator.
The weather is definitely hotting up - it's got to be well over 30 degrees most days and standing in direct sunlight is pretty painful. We got good news from London -as well as a brand new water filter, we're also going to be getting a solar stove for staff use. I'm quite excited about the prospect of making a few sauces or a pasta dish... Am also definitely starting to get bored of pasta, beans and omelettes. Fresh vegetables/salad are a luxury. I spose we're still getting the Uk government's recommended "five portions".... Only we're probably getting through five portions a week, rather than a day.
I'm taking vitamins of course, but my body still craves the fresh stuff. If only the Unicorn grocery did a delivery to Madagascar..... However,on the plus side is that right now, it's mango season good and proper. I'm eating a mango a day (not the same mango, a different one) and it's my main source of fresh vitamins and fibre...
Have done a couple of really good dives this week however - including a really nice exploratory dive on a new reef where we saw a turtle and most of the fish that we're supposed to learn for the science.
Then, this morning, we did a special 'staff dive' as one of our field scientists is leaving at the end of this expedition (on Wednesday). We went to a site that we're not supposed to take volunteers to. The coral wasn't much to write home about but the fish were really spectacular. The visibility was incredible - the best that I've seen so far this expedition and we could see clearly for at least 20 metres. Probably twice that. There was a huge school of large jacks, a potato grouper almost as large as me, and some Great Barracuda.
Towards the end of the dive, while we were doing our 'safety stop' in the blue, one of the group also pointed out a huge ray above us on the surface a few metres away. It was too big to be anything other than a devil ray (which is sort of a mini manta ray). So that was pretty exciting too. It feels somewhat unfair to be doing dives that we're not allowed to take volunteers to (for safety reasons - it's too deep and there have been extremely strong currents there in the past). I'm going to sit and have a think about whether I'd allow future staff dives to go to such sites during expeditions.
Not much else to report this week in fact. I can hardly believe we're almost at the end of our first expedition. All the volunteers leave on Wednesday already. Time really does fly out here. We did a staff expedition feedback and totted up our achievements for this expedition and lessons learnt. We have a long list of things achieved, and some good suggestions of what we can improve on for next time.
The general mood seems to be that Justin and I are doing really well, and creating an open atmosphere and that as a result, there's been no bickering or bitching amongst staff. I'm pretty flattered, but of course it's still relatively early days in the scale of things, and we're probably still in the honeymoon period as far as all the staff are concerned. But also, the staff were really welcoming and helpful and we wouldn't have been able to fit in as well as we have if it wasn't for them.
For anyone interested in the fate of the zebu from last week's non-sacrifice, I'm afraid to report that it was tracked down in the spiny forest and finally killed on Tuesday. The basketball court saw its first official game. We were all out diving though and missed the whole thing. By the next blog, I might have a whole new set of volunteers to contend with - depending on the reliability of their transport.