Camping @ Cape Hedo - Day 3

Thanks to the air conditioning, people wake up slightly later today.

8:30am: Breakfast - pancakes! By YH and YS.
8:30-10am: Cleaning up and packing.
10am: Check out. We hit the road heading south from Cape Hedo along the eastern coast of Okinawa.
11am: Arrive at Yona Tunnel dive point, thanks to guidance by TF. Everyone except YS and M&M head for the water.
12:30pm: Back on the beach. Nice dive, lots of current and zoanthids. Find some rare unknown specimens, and Parazoanthus gracilis too.
2pm: Lunch in Nago, at a soba restaurant near YI's parents' home.
5pm: Everyone is back at the university, cleaning and unpacking.

A great trip! As is said in Japanese, "otsukare sama"!

Picture: The alien world of Yona Tunnel point.

Camping @ Cape Hedo - Day 2

HOT! The heat wakes most people (except M) up at about 6:30 or 7.
7am: Off to Oku Beach for a quick snorkel! Nice way to wake up.
8am: Breakfast - wow, like a restaurant - by ES and MH.
9:30am: Off to the beach for a dive - some people go to Oku, others to Hedo for a more adventurous entrance. Great dives, not too deep, but lots of coral and zoanthids.
1pm: Everyone is back at the bungalow. The river is a perfect way to wash the saltwater out of your wetsuit.
1:30pm: Lunch - okonomiyaki by YI and TF. Amazingly, no bones in it!
2:30pm: More people off for the next dive.
5pm: Back again. Frisbee, naps, or relaxing.
7pm: BBQ dinner again - JDR and MR make pork ribs with sauce.
9pm: Night dive or snorkel - Oku. Lots of lobster out and about. Very dark night, you can see Yoron Island and the Milky Way.
11:30pm: TF starts preparing seafood; like an "inaka izakaya". Poker breaks out.
3am: The end of poker, bedtime with the aircon on - we have learned from yesterday.

Picture: The perfect place for research! Oku Beach.

Camping @ Cape Hedo - Day 1

Hello - back from a great camping trip to Cape Hedo at the northern end of Okinawa. All members except MO (in Singapore) were able to participate. Weather was great, dives were fine, and everyone managed to dive or snorkel and get some research done.

As camping was 3 days - I will just do a quick overview of each day, so to start here is Day 1.

10 am: FS, TF, YI and JDR meet at Seatopia and fill up their cars with 28 tanks!
11 am: YM starts getting sampling gear ready in the lab with MH.
12 noon: Leave the university. BIG RAIN - uh oh.
2:30 pm: Shopping for food in Nago.
4:30 pm: Arrive in Oku and check in.
5:00 pm: A quick trip to Oku Beach for a snorkel.
8:30 pm: Dinner - chicken BBQ by FS and YM.
10:00 pm: Poker - taught by JDR, but he loses big - MH is the big winner.

Everyone falls asleep before midnight after a long day!

Lab Meeting 2008.9.17

Lots to discuss today...

1. Lab camping next week at Cape Hedo-misaki. We have rented a bungalow for two nights - everyone can come except MO, who will be in Singapore at Raffles Biodiversity Museum. Camping details...
a. Groups of two people will be responsible for one meal each. JDR will get some meat for BBQs this weekend. All food costs willl be divided evenly.
b. We need 28 tanks!!
c. Bring sleeping bags, fun stuff, and drinks too (juice, etc.).
d. JDR, FS, YI, and YM will drive cars.
e. Each person needs to pay about 1500 yen for the two nights to JDR.

Also, normal meeting items...
2. Slippers for the lab for YH and YS. YH needs to explain lab rules to YS.
3. JDR and YS will snorkel at Convention Center this Friday from 10am - Zoanthus spp. identification practice and snorkeling practice.
4. FS kindly asks that when you are doing experiments to put your slippers back on the shelf to not crowd the entrance.
5. ES, MO, and YM will get ocean water for the lab tanks from Sesoko. If this doesn't work we will switch back to weekly responsibility for everyone.
6. Please write your name on the hub end of the LAN cables in the student room. The hub has 7 ports, and there are 9 students - this is necessary to avoid disconnecting people from the net inadvertantly. Another hub has been ordered and should arrive soon.

Picture today of an Epizoanthus illoricatus colony at 30m at Manza.