First day of December of 2005, and today was my last trip to St John's Island before I head off to Japan next week ^^ (those licky pple going for the Summer Exchange thingie to Sydney wld be leaving on Sat morning, meaning I ain't gonna see them til mid-Jan).... Since Jani left last nite (and coming back for like 3 days while I am away, meaning I won't see her for at least a month...), and Wai had plant physio this morning, Oozie and Caleb helped collect the blocks from the reef... They also went to check on the structure that was re-built during reading week, and it collapsed AGAIN..... Oh well, guess another re-contstruction effort needs to be organised soon ^^ The sea was pretty chopy when we left the Yacht Club, and the seaspray was unbelievably strong.... Was getting pretty wet before we even reach the divespot at SJI.... Then when we got there, the boatman promptly informed us that the anchor was spoilt, and since it was so choppy AND with the heavy rain rapidly heading in our direction, we had to wait it out on Mudskipper for at least 20min or so.... During this explanation, this HUGE wave just crashed against the leftside of the boat, and EVERYBODY got real wet. Wish I cld have caught Oozie's expression... But then again, since my camera ain't water-proof, it was a gd thing that I din't bring it ^^ First ride on Mudskipper w/o Jani, and the weather was weird... The choppy sea did make it really conducive for sleeping ^^ Good thing that there were only 3 of us (other than the boatmen), so we cld all kinda lie down and nap....
Rain moved on pretty fast, and the 2 of them went down to get my trays as well as check on the structure... Then on to TMSI to collect the blocks in the tanks (that were by now real icky and full of slimy algae (Wai is prob gonna get a heyday when she helps collect my blocks in 2 weeks' time ^^) Was like playing treasure hunt trying to find the 20 correct blocks in a tank containing 100 of them, well at least at first since I missed some of the blocks due to all the algae.... Really can't imagine how the tanks wld look like after 10 weeks.... The ones from the reef appeared to have more silt deposit than biofilm on them but I shall find out properly when I do the DNA extraction after I get back.... Got Oozie and Caleb to help in the swabbing of the blocks, and guess the only confusing part was probably my labelling system *lol* Thanks guys, you two were a great help today!! Everything is stored in the freezer now.... Not looking forward to doing tonnes of DNA extraction when I get back... Hope that Jani has already settled ordering of the chemicals through the Environmental Science lab @ engine...
Think I better head home soon and work out what I need to buy for the trip, as well as list out what I wanna buy ON the trip ^^ Need to remember to change money by Mon...
Rain moved on pretty fast, and the 2 of them went down to get my trays as well as check on the structure... Then on to TMSI to collect the blocks in the tanks (that were by now real icky and full of slimy algae (Wai is prob gonna get a heyday when she helps collect my blocks in 2 weeks' time ^^) Was like playing treasure hunt trying to find the 20 correct blocks in a tank containing 100 of them, well at least at first since I missed some of the blocks due to all the algae.... Really can't imagine how the tanks wld look like after 10 weeks.... The ones from the reef appeared to have more silt deposit than biofilm on them but I shall find out properly when I do the DNA extraction after I get back.... Got Oozie and Caleb to help in the swabbing of the blocks, and guess the only confusing part was probably my labelling system *lol* Thanks guys, you two were a great help today!! Everything is stored in the freezer now.... Not looking forward to doing tonnes of DNA extraction when I get back... Hope that Jani has already settled ordering of the chemicals through the Environmental Science lab @ engine...
Think I better head home soon and work out what I need to buy for the trip, as well as list out what I wanna buy ON the trip ^^ Need to remember to change money by Mon...
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