I woke early every morning and joined a few for bird watching. This morning was a great morning for macaws. They are very distinctive in their shape when flying and their calls are a distinct squawk. I was able to get video of them that also caught some of their vibrant colors.
Macaws
Have I mentioned I get motion sickness? This was a day I was anxious about because of the boat ride and the actual snorkeling. We hiked down to the beach where two boats were waiting for us. We were told to get a snorkeling buddy who would also be our partner for the night’s Biomimicry work. Heine (from The Netherlands) asked if I wanted to be his partner. I thought he was joking because we often joked with each other. I was afraid he might tell me there was a shark. I told him I’d partner with him for the work afterwards and was excited because I had not worked with him yet.
The boat ride was not too bad. I took my meds and sat in the back. It was about a 40 minute boat ride to Caño Island. We saw a large group of Brown Boobies preening in the water (and yes there were jokes). They are known to be around spotted dolphins. And we saw spotted dolphins! They were not very big, but you could see the spots.
Crown of Thorns starfish
We jumped right off the boat into the warm waters above a coral reef. The first thing I saw was this. I did not know what it was at the time, but it’s called the Crown of Thorns starfish. Its size was a little bigger than a dinner plate. I’m still so amazed at the beauty, and as I did in the water, I’m doing now, I just keep coming back for a look. Spend a couple of moments just “wowing” over the starfish. I’ll pick up the story below.
I bobbed along the waves sticking my head in the water to see what was going on beneath me. We had some confident snorkelers with us and it was so beautiful watching them gracefully dive to the depths to explore more closely the life around the reef. I looked more like a clumsy chef chopping the waters trying to figure out deflating my life jacket a bit and tightening my goggles. Someone yelled that there was a sea turtle and I was able to get my goggles on and see its backside before quickly gliding away. Luckily, someone in our group got a beautiful picture that I am able to share with you.
Checking in on my partner and not feeling well myself, we headed back to the boat. There is a certain point with motion sickness where I will need to curl up in a bed (floor, corner, rock) so I did not want to hit that threshold or I would be miserable and out of commission for the rest of the day. I was monitoring myself closely. Everyone got on the boat and then I heard we were going to another snorkeling location. My eyes widened. I really wanted to go to another location to snorkel, but that would send me over the edge. Shore was not very far and I considered jumping in and swimming, but I meekly asked if there was another option and the captain happily drove me close to shore where I was surprised to be accompanied by four other friends. We laid out on the beach where I half-slept to the sound of ocean waves and friends speaking Biomimicry. I don’t know how long we were there, but the boat came back and we headed to a park where we would be having lunch.
We couldn’t even make it past the beach without having a biology lesson because there was a skull of a caiman that we were curious about. We then had burritos filled with rice, black beans, tomatoes, and plantains and a side of fresh watermelon. We sat under the trees and watched curious monkeys eyeing the watermelon.
At one point I saw two from our group walking away from us down a trail. I was curious and someone said they were going to the bathroom. I wasn’t quite sure why no one else was going, but I wanted to catch up to them. At some point I lost them when I came upon a juncture. I took the path least traveled thinking that maybe the bathrooms were behind a patch of trees and bushes. It occurred to me that I may be going the wrong direction for two reasons: there was no longer a path and I saw the couple coming up the other pathway. Oops. But then I saw two capuchin monkeys in the trees. As I continued to watch the monkeys I made my way back to the juncture. The monkeys seemed to be heading that way as well. The group was also heading this way. I put my water bottle down so I could take video of the monkeys.
They were getting very close now, as was the group. Everyone was stopped in/ at a tree and looked at each other.
We are both curious species, but we were in the capuchins’ home and we were upsetting them so we went on our way. There were so many things to see on our hike: buttress trees, strangling trees, fungi, trash, and more monkeys.
We saw spider, howlers, and capuchins at the park. We hiked a half a mile in an hour. No sloths were spotted, except for us. We hiked back to the boats for the ride back. It was such a pleasant boat ride back. I was feeling good, satisfied. I believe others were feeling the same way. (At least one was doing Biomimicry in their head I would later find out.) We had an exhausting, glorious day exploring and discovering ecosystems. I shed a few tears of gratefulness. In 2015, when I was in Biomimicry class and learned there were immersions I never thought I would be able to go on one, and yet, here I was.
We were dropped off at the beach where the boats are taken out of the water for the night. We all used the restrooms and boarded the bus for the short ride to La Cusinga. We were about a minute down the road when Karen L. asked where her buddy was. (Admittedly, I forgot to check that my buddy was on the bus.) Now, if a group ever left a person in a Spanish speaking country, we joked that this is the person you would want to leave. She’s calm, super friendly, and Spanish is her first language. The bus was able to turn around, but as we got closer to the restrooms we could not see her. Across from the restrooms was the office for the boat company we had just left and there Katarina was laughing it up with our guides with a drink in one hand and a free t-shirt draped over her arm. We all cheered as she got on the bus. Everyone yelled our thanks and waved to our guides as the bus pulled away. One of the instructors made a comment that when Karen asked where her buddy was that it probably reminded everyone to check to see if their buddy was on board. I chuckled, and then realized I had still not checked to see if my buddy was on the bus! I tried to act like it was a joke that I was checking on my buddy while secretly panicked and embarrassed that even with a prompt I had not checked to see if my buddy was on the bus. No worries; she was… ummm… just like I knew she would be.
We were given a little time to clean up before the next session. Our assignment was to think about what we had seen and learned about to solve a challenge and then create a small, rustic prototype using recycled materials. My partner Heine had been thinking about this the whole boat ride back. He was thinking about all those who were experiencing motion sickness and how we could solve it. We thought about how snakes move through water and how fins help with movement. It didn’t take us long to think about a new design for a boat that would glide on top of the waves, all the motion would be underneath. I somewhat knew what Heine did for work, but to see it in action was super fun. He builds prototypes. Heine knew what he was doing, but he always included me by asking questions and listening to my thoughts as we looked through the recycled materials. Once we gathered the materials Heine built that boat in like 15 minutes! I couldn’t even stand there and look like I was being helpful; I was mesmerized watching his hands putting pieces together while listening to his explanations. I could see why Biomimicry is such an interdisciplinary process. You need everyone at the table. Even me. I realized my brain that is full of ideas would be helpful, but I was finding my sustainability education was coming forth as well. I was spouting ideas I never would have voiced out loud because I knew that an engineer or designer could figure it out. It was so much fun! We presented after dinner.
