Freakishly Large Hermit Crabs

Last night we had a lecture about the stratigraphy of the island, followed by a visit to "The Short Stop" the local bar- although the "local" bar is a 1.6 mile walk from the research center. It was interesting. The walk was nice- and we saw some of these freakishly large hermit crabs... and we could hear them stumbling around in the dark woods all around us!

The islanders seem to like to play dominoes, and they're all very friendly (especially to the women in our group). We called it an early night, because it was going to be an early morning. On the way home from the bar, we made friends with one of the island's dogs, which they call "potcakes". Potcakes were described to us as "enthusiastic companions" and "extremely loyal"... so needless to say, this potcake walked with us all the way back to our building... and was sleeping outside when we woke up this morning. Of course Katia wants to take one (or more) home with her.

This morning we started at 7:00 with breakfast, then started our tour of the island geology. As expected, there were some amazing views to be seen, and we spent much of the day looking at sea cliffs. It was great.... but a long day. We got to visit the biggest town on the island, Cockburn (pronounced ko-burn), and it consisted of a two very small stores and a woman selling straw baskets. We had lunch in the field, and studied more of the fossilized reefs and sand dunes, then finally got into the water for an amazing snorkel on the south end of the island. Right after walking into the water you could see all of the colorful fish and coral. Hopefully the pictures from the underwater camera will come out.

The food here is good, and the people are very nice, but the research station feels like the Dharma Inititative town from LOST (the TV show).... feels A LOT like it. There is rusty 1950s era equipment everywhere, and all the buildings are made from cinder blocks, and covered with thick layers of green and white paint. You'll have to see pictures. It's interesting.

Tonight our lecture is about caves, and I'm guessing that we'll be spending a bit of time underground tomorrow!