Guana Island

The fall of 2014 was an exciting semester as I took Advanced Tropical Ecology under Dr. Gad Perry and Dr. Clint Boal. I signed up for the course, a day before the semester started because another course I was interested in fell through. Taking Advanced Tropical Ecology was one of the most exciting courses I have taken in graduate school.

This course allowed me to get my “natural scientist” on, as the cool kids would say. Our class (five of my best friends in grad school), was able to design a project that allowed us to apply the scientific method to a natural resource management problem while gaining hands-on experience in tropical ecology. 

Our study site was located on Guana Island. Guana Island is an island found in the Caribbean Islands and a part of the British Virgin Islands.  Throughout the semester we met once a week to discuss our project design, implementation, execution, and following up with data analysis. Our project dealt with examining the impact that feral sheep had on the island. We recorded vegetation data using belt transects along with gap transects across the island. We are in the process of putting together a paper to publish our findings.

This course truly helped me expand my skills as a natural resource scientist. I also didn’t mind getting to visit Guana Island in October, as it was a nice change of pace for a wintering Lubbock.

Our trip started off a little bit rocky as four of the six women had their flights canceled from a particular airline. I along with another woman, were fortunate enough not to have to deal with the airline mistake. I had mixed emotions as I walked through the Transportation Security Administration check at the Lubbock International Airport because I didn’t want to leave any of the women behind but I also wanted to execute our project. Luckily, the women were able to make the flight down to Guana Island after driving from Lubbock, Texas to Dallas, Texas and then spending the night in the Miami, Florida airport.

Hiking out to The Pyramid.

The first night Alix and I arrived onto Beef Island by plane. Dr. Perry and Dr. Boal picked us up from the airport and we took a boat to get to Guana Island. This was my first time riding a boat a night. I could not describe to you the eagerness I had, to see what I couldn’t. When we docked onto Guana Island we saw tarpon beneath our feet. A type of fish bigger than me! (Glad I didn’t fall into the water.) The following day Alix and I received a small tour of Guana Island from Dr. Perry and Dr. Boal. We talked about flora and fauna found on the island, the history, previous research, and how our class project would fall into the grand scheme of things.

Our first day as a group, was spent hiking on the island and making sure our data collection ran as smoothly as possible. With each peak we hiked, I saw an ocean that I never knew could be so blue. I saw flora and fauna I had never seen before. I also had a close encounter with stinging nettle as we were running transects. Luckily it was not as itchy as I thought it would be. On another day we hiked to a different part of island. We planned our journey and data collection to have a stopping point off of Long Man’s point. The girls jumped into the Caribbean Sea and I waded in the shallow pools. As I was wading, I placed my foot in a shallow pool and felt a prick, I quickly rethought my decision to step into the pool. I didn’t know what I had stepped on was a sea urchin until we got back to the resort for dinner.

That same evening my foot got swollen and I took Benadryl and applied Benadryl to my foot in hopes of easing the swelling. Dr. Boal offered to cut the prick open in hopes of relieving the pressure. I told him I would be alright given my queasiness for human surgical procedures and anything of that sort (especially blood). I awoke the next morning to a still swollen foot. At breakfast I was scared that I would hike out to one end of the island and not be able to hike back, or[L1]  that in the midst of Benadryl applications, I would fall asleep. The girls asked me how I was feeling, naturally my go-getter attitude, allowed me to persevere. And by lunch, my foot had reduced dramatically and was almost back to its normal size.

A Stout Iguana in the tree tops.

The following days became repetitive like all fieldwork, but as we traveled to different parts of the island we were rewarded with different vistas, which broke up the monotony of it all. One day my group took a wrong turn and actually ended up conquering one of the highest peaks on the island. We even got to see some Stout Rock Iguanas basking in the treetops. I personally never knew that lizards would ever climb to treetops. I was later informed how these reptiles thermoregulate at different times in their life.

Throughout the trip I flirted with the idea of maybe becoming a tropical ecologist or a cliff ecologist. I was inspired partially by getting to walk around on the island and seeing everything in the ecosystem.

A #selfie in the Caribbean sun.

My inner dialogue went a lot like this:

“Could it be possible to wake up to this island or something similar every day?

Did I mention no venomous snakes?

I would definitely have to become a better swimmer so I can go snorkeling and scuba diving allllday errrrrryday.

This is nowhere close to vegetation in South Texas or the Southern High Plains.

There are not that many pointy things…except for the cacti… and stinging nettle”

Maybe it was also the scientist suppers that happened every evening that added to my thoughts of becoming a tropical ecologist. October is science month on Guana Island and researchers from all over the world come there to do research. I met an ecologist, entomologist, marine biologist, and herpetologist, all of which had long-term projects on the island. We ate dinner and talked science. I felt in my element as a natural scientist discussing what I had seen or heard on the island that day. These scientists told stories of years past and it just amazed me of the knowledge they acquired over the years.

A lunchbreak view.

The evenings were also spent discussing our project with Dr. Perry and Dr.Boal with occasional input from other scientists on the island. Snorkeling was also an activity in the evening, and a first for me! I wish I would’ve known more about the tropical fish I saw and the coral reef system they live in. They were brightly colored some in schools, and some alone. I will definitely have to make a trip back to the Caribbean once I refine my tropical ichthyology skills.

Arriving back to Lubbock was bittersweet. It was great to be back in Lubbock but sad to leave such a beautiful place and be in the company of amazing people. Thanks to a great group of women, our paper is in the works. #sciencewomen

I have to brag on these women that joined me on the trip. Each individual brought a different and unique perspective that added to our success in project design, implementation, execution, and data analysis. We were able to build each other up and support each other throughout this process. 

Science Women