Easter on the road in Nova Scotia.

Okay so I recant what I said in my last post. March did come in like a lion (huge snow storm on March 1) and go out like a lamb... Easter weekend was sunny and upwards of 10 degrees Celsius! Diego and I decided to take the weekend and hit the road and explore some place in Nova Scotia that we have never been before. So we settled on Cape Sable Island. This is a small island off the southermost tip of Nova Scotia. Its really almost a sand bar for all its magnificent beaches.

 

Map from the Harbour Authority of Cape Sable Island

 

So why would we go to an island of many beaches in March you ask? It has everything to do with this little goose...

Image by Mike Baird

These are Brant Geese or Branta bernicula. They pass through the Maritimes on their way North at this time of year, so they only stay for a short time in March. I know, I am not a birder or ornithologist, so why am I so interested?...other than being a biology nerd that is... these geese have a very special diet; they eat the marine plant eelgrass (Zostera marina)! Which if you have been following my blog, know that I was studying this particular plant for my doctoral thesis and it continues to be the subject of my research. Click here for more information on eelgrass itself and here for information on its distribution. So you might be thinking that I must have seen a lot of these geese throughout all of my many years of research BUT in actual fact, I had never seen one. There was a disease outbreak in the 1930s that wiped 90% of the eelgrass beds on both sides of the North Atlantic that in most places took more than 30 years to recover! The consequence, a collapse in the population of Brant geese and those that remained changed their migratory route inland instead of up the coast to take advantage of food in farmers fields...which means they no longer come near Halifax. So this was my chance to see these amazing birds that act like cows, increasing the productivity of eelgrass beds by cropping the tops of the plants but leaving the roots and rhizomes intact!

So off we went with our binoculars, maps, hiking trail guides and food for the weekend to stay at a little cottage on the ocean. Did I say binoculars...? Arriving at Cape Sable Island Cottages after more than 2 hours in the car I realized that we left our binoculars at home. So I said; "How hard can it really be, there are supposed to be hundreds.". In the end we spent 2 days looking for this elusive goose and managed only to see them at a distance or flying overhead. I am obviously not a birder! Oh! but the beaches and marshes we saw looking for them, were totally worth it!

 Did I say it was 10 degrees Celsius? It was when you were out of the icy wind! As you can see in the photos, the beaches seem endless and the reason is because the tide was low and the tides here are influenced by the Bay of Fundy which has the highest tides in the world! Although the tidal range is not a large as the head of the Bay of Fundy (13-15 m), it is double (2-4 m) than near Halifax (1-2 m). So when combined with a pretty flat (or low slope) beach there is a lot of the beach that is exposed. We also spent some time enjoying the cottage, hiking and visiting the surrounding communities. 

Easter Sunday Sunrise.

 Morning coffee and afternoon wine in the warmth of the sun and sheltered from the icy wind by the cottage.

Rail trail through the historic Town of Shelburne. They are mallards...not Brant geese.

Overall, we had a wonderful Easter!! In addition to not seeing the geese close up, there were a number hiking trails and beaches that we didn't get to so we have lots of reasons to go back next year...but this time with binoculars!

Yes, we have matching boots...and I have a smiley face!

I hope you had a great Easter weekend!

***I am not being paid to advertise the cottages, they were just lovely, clean and had a great view and want you to know about them if you are ever down that way.

Hiatus OVER!

Obviously, things have been crazy busy for me to ignore you all since September and I have so much to tell you. The most important piece of news is that I AM DONE MY PhD!!

I successfully defended my thesis on Dec 7 at 10 am. The defense is an oral exam where you present your thesis to your committee, supervisor, an external examiner and because it is open to the public...an audience. My presentation lasted 20 minutes and the question period was only an hour!! I have been to defenses where it has lasted 2-3 hours! I was lucky, I had a great committee with interesting and thought provoking questions... it was actually FUN! Not too many people can say that about an oral exam! I also had great support from friends, colleagues and family. There were about 25 people in the audience and even my parents came for the defense and the celebration afterwards! Now we can look forward to even more fun at my convocation in the spring!

The best part of finishing up was my reward. We went to Mexico for 3 weeks over the holidays! We spent most of our time eating and snorkeling in a marine reserve in Puerto Morelos, a small town of only 3 streets parallel to the beach and separated from the main highway by a huge protected mangrove. As Frank Sinatra said it...This is my kind of Town... Every day that we were there we indulged in delicious food, happy hour, family and of course LOTS of snorkeling!

 Who can resist this assortment of sweets brought to your table by vendors that just walk up and down the beach selling their wares from a tray that they carry on their head!

 We had Arracherra, or skirt steak at least 5 times while we were there...if you like beef, this is to DIE FOR!

 

 We went to a restaurant that served authentic cuisine from the Yucatan region and had panuchos (the first of the 3 photos) which are fried tortillas with beans, some type of meat, pickled red onions, avocado and of course salsa. The second photo is of papadzules which are corn tortillas dipped in a pumpkin seed sauce then filled with hardboiled eggs, topped with more pumpkin seed sauce and a bit of tomato based sauce. Lastly, the soup is called sopa de lima. Lima is a type of citrus that is the size of a lemon but greenish and sweeter than either lemon or lime, it is sometimes called sweet lime. The soup has chicken and pieces of fried corn tortillas and is delicious!

We also ate at a lot of street vendors that were recommended by locals...Tacos, chile relleno (stuffed chillies), tamales and all kinds of other amazing street food! If in doubt, ask a taxi driver where he/she eats and you are guaranteed to get something good. When we showed up at one cart in Cancun we were surprised that there was actually two different ones...how did we know which one to eat at? When a truck load of police showed up to eat at the one cart, we knew that was the right one! It was delicious!!

 

The AMAZING thing about a marine reserve is that they actually work to protect large predatory fishes and other sensitive species. There was not a day that we did not see at least 10 or more barracudas that were as large or larger than me!!!! The above photo is of a school of 30!! The smallest one in the school was at least the length of my arm (or about 60 cm long!).

 This is a school of snappers (predatory fishes that are very tasty so on unprotected reefs you almost never see even one and here they were schooling by the hundreds!!!

 We also had the pleasure of seeing at least 2-3 turtles everyday with the largest one being about the size of a smart car!

 Sting rays (top photo) and spotted eagle rays (bottom photo) were VERY common, almost a daily occurrence and on some days more than one at a time!

 We saw a number of lobsters hanging out under coral heads which are very rare outside of marine reserves.

 We saw a lot of coral and the health of the reefs themselves was patchy. Some areas were in great shape while others were covered in algae (bottom photo). The reefs in the Caribbean have taken a beating with hurricanes, eutrophication (high nutrient levels in the water from run off and sewage) due to coastal development and climate change. The high nutrients stimulates algae growth that then either smothers the corals or prevents them from recolonizing and phytoplankton in the water shades the corals and can cause bleaching and loss due to lack of light.

The seagrass pictured here can help to act as a filter by taking up a lot of nutrients but we are putting more than it can handle so there is obviously enough for the algae too. The seagrass beds were extensive and healthy so the eutrophication has not yet started to affect them but more nutrients and the seagrass beds could disappear too since they are also sensitive to light reduction and overgrowth by algae.

 Another very common sigh was this beautiful lionfish. On one day we counted seeing 12. You might think wow, what a great fish to see but in fact, it is not native to the Caribbean. It is from the south Pacific and was likely introduced by people with marine aquariums that no longer wanted them so they released the fish into the ocean. This fish is a voracious predator and is affecting local fish populations because nothing eats them and they eat everything! There is an active bounty on these fish in the Playa del Carmen region of Mexico but sadly it is not enough of an incentive to fish them and since they are underwater, they are out of sight and out of mind. You can read about lionfish control and management measures in the US here. Hopefully this will be a coordinated effort among all Caribbean countries.

Of course we spent a lot of time with family over the tree weeks we were there. We did all of the typical Christmas and New Years traditions with all 30 family members that were visiting this year!! So that is it in a nutshell.

I am looking forward to catching up with all of you!

Fruit Bats

We saw these on the touristy Quinte Avenida in downtown Playa del Carmen on the 22nd. They are so cool I thought you might like to see them. I think they are the Common Fruit Bat, but as you can see from the video trying to get a good look was difficult. However, they were grabbing the figs and flying off with them!

We also saw many Baltimore Orioles and Common Grackles that spend the summers in South-Central and Eastern Canada (and elsewhere but this is where I saw them) and winter here on the Yucatan Peninsula. On our walk today we saw a flash of iridescent blue in the forest and discovered a flock of Yucatan Jays. We have a gecko that lives in our room.The Spanish word for gecko in Mexico is cuija and they make kissing sounds at night. We also see lots of butterflies, flowers, iguanas and gartijas (a small lizard).

Feliz Navidad!

Okay, so I am a day late but still I hope you had a very Merry Christmas!! We started the day at the beach and found a small reef about 800 m away and did some snorkeling.
The party started at 8 pm and went until 6 am! I was pooped by 2 am and my Spanish was failing so I bailed early. We had a blast at the party, 10 adults and a 3 year old. This year the celebration was at Diego's sister's place to make it easier for our nephew Santiago to get to bed after opening his presents. The thing I find the most interesting is how they decorate their houses with Christmas trees, snowmen and Santa Claus. They actually import live trees from Canada and the vast majority of Mexicans have never seen real snow!!
They do have Santa Claus and he does come in the night so Santiago had more present to open in the morning! I asked them how Santa got into the houses since they don't have chimneys and they have bars on all the windows... I don't think any of them had ever thought of that before, not even as children! One tradition that we don't have is to celebrate the arrival of the Wise Men so on Jan 6. On that night the kids put out a shoe and get a little gift. There is also a traditional cake that I describe here when I was fortunate enough to experience the celebration in 2009.

There were lots of gifts to go around and with each gift you have to hug and sing which just adds to the fun and celebratory ambiance. It took almost 3 hours for all the gifts to be opened and then it was time to eat (at 12 am!!!). As usual we had WAY to much food and we will be eating leftovers for at least another couple of days. I made Canadian style turkey dinner to go with the more traditional Mexican dishes and everyone LOVED IT! I even brought canned whole berry cranberry sauce to give them the real experience.
We also had Bacalao a la Vizcaina which is salted cod fish soaked in water to remove the salt and then cooked in a tomato sauce with onions, potatoes and olives. This is a very traditional dish for Christmas in Mexico and dates back to the Spanish conquest. There is no cod fish in Mexico but the Spanish used to fish the cod off the Canadian and American coast and brought the tradition with them. The link to the bacalao recipe is from Diego's great-great grandmother! The one we ate this year (photo below) is from his brother-in-law's family.
We had pork loin stuffed with nuts, plums and grapes with a nut and red wine sauce. Although not traditional and it doesn't look very appealing in the photo below, it was DELICIOUS! I am getting the recipe for sure. There was also a lasagna with walnuts, almonds, capers, olives and ground beef...who would have thought to put nuts in a lasagna but it was very tasty!
For dessert we had ensalada de manzana (apple salad with a cream sauce - in the yellow bowl) and hojaldra. Hojaldra is very traditional at Christmas and New Years and comes from the Yucatan peninsula. It is a layer of a pastry, one of ham, another of cheese and then topped with another layer of pastry sprinkled with coarse grain sugar. Diego's sister made it and I forgot to take a photo but for New Years, Diego's mom is going to teach me how to make it and I will pass on the information because it is delicious!

Noche Buena

Noche Buena or Christmas Eve in Mexico...we are preparing for the family gathering tonight. This will inlcude traditional food such as romeritos (dried shrimp with a type of grass and potatoes cooked in a chocolate and chili gravy),bacalao (salted cod with potatoes in a tomato and chili sauce) with the accompanying Canadian stuffed turkey. The gifts are wrapped and ready to be opened. For now we will head to the beach since the party doesn't start until 8 pm!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas filled with good food, excellent company and lots of laughter.

Spring Peepers in St. Andrews NB

Has it been a month already??

Classes are winding down at DAL but my class is just winding up! I am at a statistics workshop at the Huntsman Marine Sciences Centre in St. Andrews New Brunswick! I was too tired today to work on anymore data...I have been staring at my data for 2 full days now (no end in sight until at least Friday!) So I decided to get out and stretch my legs after dinner and catch the sunset.
This is the Upper Campus and I am staying on the main floor of the brown building on the right (Needler Hall). The one on the left is a former summer estate house called the Anderson House.
One of my many sunset shots!

Finally, this little pond is just outside my window (turn up the volume!). I will listen to these little guys until I fall asleep tonight. What a wonderful place!

Happy Tuesday! :)

Morning Run

I am in Vancouver, British Columbia...on the west coast of Canada for a workshop. This morning I woke up bright and early as I am still on east coast time (4 hours head!) and went for a run on the beach... this was the view!
I will finish my workshop tomorrow and then I am off to Victoria on Vancouver Island to visit my cousin that I have not seen in at least 8 years! I am excited to see her! I will post more on my adventures later...our break is almost over!

I hope you are all having a great week!

Belated B-Day Post

It was my Dad's 60th Birthday last Friday. So to surprise him on this special occasion, Diego and I had planned a short visit!! They live in Ontario, so we only get to see them once, maybe twice, a year. They live in the country so it is always pleasant to visit them and be away from any big city.

View from the driveway, they have very few neighbours and most of them are farms!

However, living in the country means that they are 1.5 hours from the airport with no easy access without spending an entire day traveling to get to their door step. So, we decided it was best to get my Mom in on it. Her job was to get my Dad to drive to the airport without knowing we were coming. Impossible right? That's what I thought but leave it to my Mom to convince my Dad they they were going on a helicopter ride for his b-day!! He TOTALLY believed it!!! He was so surprised to see us!! Great work Mom!!


We spent a lovely 4 days with my parents relaxing and eating delicious food. I made my Dad his b-day cake, he loves sweet and tart so I made him the lemon cheesecake I posted here a while back and added some lovely blackberries on top. It is also my Mom's b-day coming on Thursday May 7 so our visit was a gift to both my parents but the surprise was for my Dad's milestone!

Happy Saturday!

My most comforting place.

I would have to agree with Vicky, the Ocean is definitely the most comforting place for me. I wouldn't be a marine biologist if it wasn't the Ocean! My partner Diego is also in oceanography so we share our fascination with the Ocean. We both love to go beachcombing, having BBQs on the beach, watching sunsets/sunrises and camping.

Those are our blue tents behind the bush...camping with Diego's sister and her husband on a deserted beach in Mexico.

Just us and the egret enjoying the sunset on our deserted beach in Mexico.

However, the best part for both of us is actually being in the Ocean!

Here we are snorkeling in Mexico this past Christmas!

It is such a different world under the surface, the ambient colour and temperature is different depending where you are and the time of year but most important, it is completely different from the conditions above the water!

Here I am on the left in Mexico, look at the brilliant blue of the water and note that my head is not covered! I am also wearing a 4 mm wetsuit (which means it lets a small amount of water between the skin and your suit that you warm up and it stays there).The centre photo was taken while working in Prince Edward Island in the summer of 2007. Here the water is really murky and kinda brown! Here my suit is a 7 mm drysuit (which means no water goes into the suit) and I am wearing merino wool pants and long sleeve top underneath. However, it was warm enough to go gloveless! The last photo was taken in Nova Scotia during my Masters in May 2005. The water is a blueish-green but very cold...maybe 4 degrees Celsius. I am again wearing my drysuit, but this time I am definitely wearing gloves and at least 3 layers of wool and fleece underneath!

I love the feeling that you are floating and can no longer feel the strong pull of gravity.

Sometimes the water can be so clear it feels like you are in a zero gravity world! But of course here in Nova Scotia clear water usually means really cold water!!!

The variety of life is astonishing! In the tropics, the waters are dominated by sand with islands of corals and sponges. These are likened to oases in a desert and are where much of the life aggregates.

A mixed schoal of fish, surrounding a mostly dead coral head.

A moray eel living in a hole in a coral and sponge reef.

But in more northern latitudes you get a predominance of large seaweeds that form huge beds full of life!

Beautiful frilly kelp plants on a boulder with a ground cover of a large branched green algae called Codium and a mixed yellowy turf in Nova Scotia.

A close up of the turf and our favorit friend the American Lobster!

Not to mention the sounds...or lack thereof in Nova Scotian waters (except for thos pesky power boats) and the loud crackling of the coral reef in the Caribbean.

To me the underwater world is my place of comfort! I always dreamed of being a mermaid or dolphin as a kid. I guess a Marine Biologist is the next best thing!!!