We have spent the last 10 days sorting out things on the boat including making various UV covers to protect the outboards. We also went for drinks with a local couple, Don and Laurie, that we met at REEF and Nick has seen a few times whilst I was away. After drinks we all went to REEF for one of their monthly ‘Fish and Friends’ evenings. Interesting talks and free snacks!  This time the talk was on ‘Telemetry in Marine Research’. The speaker was doing an MSc looking at the monthly spawning routes of mullet and how best to protect them. Seems they travel along a narrow corridor from the Keys to the Dry Tortugas. She also talked about a spiny lobster tagging programme which showed how an individual that was tagged one year and found in the same location a year later. Its tracking device however showed it had roamed over a huge area during that year. There was also mention made of positive efforts by several research groups to make their raw data available to any researchers.

We also decided to invest in decent snorkeling gear finally. The plan was to learn to dive here as well but I have decided to wait until we return in the autumn for that – when my side has fully recovered. Quite an expensive treat but we felt living on a boat in the tropics justified the extravagance.

The plan now is to clean and prepare the boat for when Claude, Max and Benj arrive at the end of the month.