We started out at Calabash Caye at the Turneffe Attol research station. They work together with the University of Belize. We stayed in dorm style rooms with bunk beds and shared bathrooms. There was also no AC and they only had cold water. Since it was a conservation area they used solar panels for energy and a lot of the time the power would go out if there was no sun or if the generator went out at night. There was also a lot of bugs. However, I loved it there. The people really made the place and the guides were genuinely interested in helping us learn about the fish and species. It was a little hot and itchy but I saw things I have never seen before. My favorite part of the week stay there was singing karaoke and having a bonfire and smores with everyone. All the students were singing and we even got our teacher and the guides to sing. We stayed at Calabash for 7 nights before heading to South Water Caye at blue marlin. Blue Marlin is a five star resort so it was definitely different from calabash. I think going to calabash made me better appreciate my time in Belize overall. I got to stay at a resort and see how many people live normally too. At South Water we did have AC and warm water. However they were still conservative and they also used solar panels to power everything. At both sites we would snorkel twice a day and work on your research projects. My project was studying queen conch and how their populations differ in take vs no take zones. A take zone means you can fish conchs as long as they meet the regulations while a no take zone means no fishing is allowed and it’s supposed to help give conch time to reproduce. Conch are extremely overfished. In calabash they have more resources to patrol so the no take zones are enforced. At south water they only have one fishery’s office and one boat so it is not as enforced. There are a lot of “conch pirates” which fish in no take zones even though it is illegal. It was so fun getting to learn all about conchs and see all the beautiful shells. My favorite part at South Water was when they had drummers and dancers come to teach us Belizean dances. It was so fun having everyone get up and dance and just spend quality time together. I have loved getting to know all my classmates and building strong friendships. We are almost done with our trip so we are presenting our research projects. I am excited to see what all the other groups researched.
