What a week it’s been. On Tuesday we went out crabbing and had a lecture on the blue crab fishery here. Contrary to what I was told earlier in the semester, this is NOT the same species we have at home in the Chesapeake, and I can tell you from experience the crabs at home taste much better. (Maybe just because the Old Bay was missing.)
Then on Thursday we went out observing osprey nest behavior again, in seven-hour shifts. I got up at 5:30, in order to be at the nests by 6:00, and watch them until 1:00. It wasn’t actually that bad, and I’m getting some serious tan lines.
Then Friday night, we had another camping trip to go turtle-monitoring in another estuary a little north of here. This time I drew the early shift, and woke up at 3:30 on Saturday morning to go out and check the nets at 4:00 and 6:00am. At 4:16 we caught a 115 pound turtle that we named Aretha. It took Poncho (the panguero), Cassie, and Stacey all lifting her to get her into the boat, and it was still quite the struggle. When we measured her, we had to practically sit on her to keep her still; she was incredibly strong. As big as she was, I’m pretty sure she was still significantly smaller than Calypso (the green sea turtle at the Aquarium in Baltimore) so I can’t even imagine what Calypso must weigh. Usually to weigh the turtles we put them in a small rubberized net and pick them up with a spring scale. Because one of us couldn’t do this alone for Aretha, we had to hook the scale onto a pole, and two people lifted the pole onto their shoulders. (See my Flickr for photos!)
Finally, here we are frantically studying for midterms which are tomorrow and Tuesday. At least spring break starts on Wednesday and I’ll be off to Cabo San Lucas for five days with Monica and Elyse! Also, I’m starting to get really excited for senior year! I’ll be living in an on-campus townhouse with three other girls, and I think I’ve nearly figured out my class schedule. Check back next week for spring break news!
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