"Because Once Wasn't Enough" by Molly Austin

I fell in love with the Shark Lab on my first longline check. I stayed at the lab in May 2013 as a course student with CCU, and that night I remember only wanting go to bed after a twelve-hour day of snorkeling and tending sunburns through lectures. Thankfully, I prodded myself awake.  There isn't a sedative in the world that could take me off the high that shortly followed. We were able to work up and tag a variety of different sharks, including blacktips, nurses, and my personal favorite, a 12 foot pregnant tiger shark. Pulling up to the line and finding this enormous creature swimming on one of our hooks gave me a feeling of excitement and respect I never could have anticipated. I remember thinking, "this shark is over two of my body lengths!' as I secured it while a staff member measured the length.

Driving back to the lab that night, I let the wind and stars take me into a euphoric state. Behind us, bioluminescent dinoflagellates glowed in our wake. It was in that moment, as I gazed in fascination at both sky and water--still elevated from what I just experienced--that I decided I had to come back to volunteer. 

Photo of me helping tag a tiger shark this past month, taken by Joshua Williams

It's been over a year since my course, and I am finally here now after graduating from Florida State University. Every day holds new challenges, whether they are intellectual, physical, or emotional. I have never been in a community where the work life and personal life are so intertwined. At the lab, you work with, live with, and spend a majority of your free time with the people around you. Even though we are in tight quarters and work long days, we still manage to have fun and the people here become a second family. They make the difficult work we do worth it.

Last week the power went out after dinner (this happens quite regularly on the islands), and the group embraced the situation to play hide and seek in the dark.  I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun...even after the power switched on, we continued to play until way past most people’s bedtimes. Everyone comes from a different walk of life here at the lab, and we are united by a passion for sharks and a desire to learn about the seas.

While I do a lot more grunt work now than I did as a former course student, I’m realizing that working in marine science and sharing space in a field station requires all of it. Some times you will feel helpless tracking nonexistent sharks in what feels like 1000 degree heat, or spending the majority of the day cleaning a house that will never truly be clean given the sandy surrounding, but you live for the days where everything seems to fall into place.

The exhilaration of 'dip-netting' your first shark in the pens and then reaching in to grab this thrashing mouth full of teeth never really fades. Coming to the Shark Lab has probably become one of the best decisions I have made in my life. There is not another place quite like this where every day you get the opportunity to contribute to shark research and conservation. Not only has this experience helped me grow professionally, but it has also helped me grow personally too. I am excited to see what the next two months hold in store for me. Plus, it's cool to tell everyone at home you work with sharks. :)  

Molly Austin
Sharklab Volunteer, July 15th to October 15th, 2014

"Who Would've Known?" by Luke Johnson

From the drive-way, the Bimini Biological Field Station looks just like a regular house with two SUVs parked in front and a view of the mangroves...but then you notice the plastic hammerhead mounted beside the front door.  If you were even to just take a peak on the inside, it’d be hard to miss that the lab has been preserving over 20 years of data on sharks here in the Bahama Islands.

It is required to go miles offshore and observe these animals in their natural habitat. And while on the lookout for sharks, you begin to observe the other beautiful fauna that are inhabiting our Bahamian waters. Last week, I went nurse shark wrangling. Being able to free-dive to find juvenile and neonate nurse sharks is an interesting experience, but that’s not the only thing to be observed near ledges.

Mantis shrimp, scorpion fish, and even flounders (which are pretty abnormal yet fascinating for having both eyes on one side of its body) can be seen from just one ledge. Angelfish, grunts, and snappers all can be seen just a mile or two off the south shore of South Bimini. I’ve been able to observe Southern stingrays, spiny lobsters, coral, moray eels, hawksbill turtles, barracuda, and luminescent fish during night tracking!

I’m pretty sure most Bahamians would agree with me if I said that picking up a shark is a foolish thing! However, only on my second day at the lab, I held a juvenile lemon shark and a neonate (newborn) nurse shark in my hands! With substantiating evidence I can say that these creatures, when untampered with, are among the most calm in the Caribbean Sea. I felt increasingly comfortable in their presence, from sitting in the middle of six juveniles circling me in the back pens, to snorkeling besides bigger adults that paid me no thought nor mind.

I see sharks all the time here at the lab, but if there’s one shark I’ll never get tired of looking at, it is the Caribbean Reef Shark (Carcharhinus perezi). These frightening, yet curious creatures are always present during shark dives not too far away from larger rocks off the coast of Bimini. Who would’ve known that these massive creatures with piercing eyes can be scared away by just a kick from a rubber snorkeling-set fin? 

The Spotted Eagle Ray is another beautiful fish that I consider a must-see for anyone planning to visit Bimini. These shallow-water elasmobranchs have soaring wings that are uniquely marked by white spots, and they are a rarity to find during the hot summers here in Bimini. While I was fishing off the coast of South Bimini at the Shark Lab, I spotted one up-close and just gazed at its graceful swim. Then, there’s the Southern Stingray. I know that a lot of people are afraid of rays because of their barbed tail, but honestly, they’re really friendly creatures! I don’t think I’ll ever forget feeding one straight out of my hand as a one of my tasks during this month long stay.

There are so many jellyfish in the waters here in Bimini. I did some research on them and found out that they’re called upside down jellies. Apparently, they lay on the sand floor on their bells in order to photosynthesize. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought about researching their stored energy production rate when daydreaming out on the field!

My name is Luke Johnson, and I am from Freeport, Bahamas. As a citizen from the islands, I feel blessed to have been able to participate as a volunteer here in South Bimini. I could only stay at the field station for a month before my college courses begin, but what I would definitely point out is that this is a great experience if you are looking for practical experience in marine maintenance. Here I learned how to drive a boat, navigate through using a GPS, and I gained exposure to all kinds of field research while becoming more ecologically minded. 

If you’re a Bahamian (or a minority, for that matter) and have considered coming here to gain experience, it’s a great way to see our waters and fish from a different point of view. You’d be contributing to building the diversity here at the Shark Lab as proof of international acceptance of staff and volunteers alike at the field station, helping create a cross-cultural exchange with those from the US, UK, Australia, France, Canada, and many other countries. The Bahamas has a lot more to offer than what most people think. I have been able to see this firsthand in this experience. We have to preserve and protect the wonderful oceans that we have in order to create a sustainable and beautiful future for future generations to come. That can start by coming to the Shark Lab, and getting an understanding of what makes everyone here so shark-obsessed and what sharks have to offer in harmonizing the food chain. Now I know!

Luke Johnson
Sharklab Volunteer, July 15th to August 15th, 2014

"My Journey to the Lab: From Landshark to Sharkland" by Kate Meyer

My name is Kate Meyer, and I’m absolutely and irreversibly in love with sharks. I’m convinced I was supposed to be a fish instead of a human, and I’m never happier than when I’m covered in salt water with sand in my hair. 

Even though I come from the landlocked state of Vermont in the US, I fell in love with the ocean as soon as I got my SCUBA certification on a family vacation when I was 12.  The creatures of the sea fascinated me, and I found myself obsessed with the top predators that keep our ocean ecosystems in balance. I was saddened by news of their declining numbers and set my mind to pursue a career in shark research and conservation to benefit our fragile oceans.

It was during my junior year at the University of California, Berkeley when I first heard about the Sharklab in a documentary on killer whale/shark interactions that my parents saved for me on our DVR (look up “The Whale that Ate Jaws,” you won't regret it!). I had just returned from three months of marine biology courses abroad in Australia and was convinced that an ocean-related future was something I wanted to pursue. Directly after seeing this, I started and submitted my Sharklab application to intern the following summer, and then waited a few long months only to receive a rejection letter at the end of March. This was deflating, but I told them if something opened up to keep me in mind. I’m very glad I did that. After resigning myself to plan a summer of non-sharky volunteer opportunities, soon after I received a follow-up email from the lab saying that a spot had in fact opened up! I was invited to come work for the July - August slot. 

I’ve never dealt well with abrupt changes, and having to decide on coming to the Sharklab with ten days’ notice was one of the hardest, but easiest decisions I've ever had to make. It only took a few hours to smack the sense into me. I cancelled my family vacations. I left my horse to get fat and lazy over the summer. I made calls to back out of several local volunteer commitments.  I bought my tickets to Bimini that same night, promising myself I would not to take a single minute at the lab for granted. 

…

Because of the nature of my acceptance, I feel a strong drive to prove myself as a volunteer who deserves the privilege to work here. Myself and two other volunteers arrived at a funky time because the lab was undertaking a “deep clean.” To be honest, our first day and a half consisted of cleaning out closets and kitchen cabinets, and bleaching pots and pans.  When we aren’t cleaning or helping with chores around the house, we’re out in the field for long days of research. We quickly realized that all this hard work was just part of living and working at a research station. Everyone does it. This sometimes means tracking for sharks all day without finding a single one, or setting nets and walk-checking them for hours with the same lacking result.  Patience and persistence is the name of the game here--your attitude about the work you’re doing can change everything.

And then the staff and volunteers went out on a surprise reef shark dive, where we snorkeled with caribbean reef sharks circling around us...  

I definitely didn't enjoy myself. Not one bit. Psyyyyyche! Being at the Sharklab for these two short weeks has totally reaffirmed my passion for this kind of work. Through long days on the field, saltwater showers, and the tropical storms this summer, I am more enthusiastic than ever to be a part of shark research in the future.  I feel motivated to keep learning, and the people I met here inspired me to love and care for the oceans like I’ve always wanted. Less than a week after coming to the lab, I had to remind myself I’m actually just a country girl from a land of forests and green pastures instead of a beachfaring islander, because I'd felt so at home. I couldn’t ask for more in life than to be surrounded by people as excited about sharks as I am, and people so willing to spend nine hours a day working in the hot sun while suffocating on mosquitos, all in the name of shark research. Plus now I’m really, really tan.

Thanks for reading!

Kate Meyer
Sharklab Volunteer, July 15th to August 15th, 2014

Justin’s Make-A-Wish Come True (7/31/2014)

On March 21st, we received an email from Sara Schorse, a trip coordinator for the Make-A-Wish foundation branch in Wisconsin. In the # 1 slot for his Wish trip request form, 14-year old Justin Gorton had written down ‘visit the Bimini Sharklab.’ 

“We have to do this!!!” was the unanimous consent on our end.  

Fast forward a few months to earlier this week, July 26th. Justin, his older sister, Ali, and their two parents arrived in Bimini from the non-tropical town of Lodi, WI, which maybe shares only two things in common with the islands: mosquitoes and ‘no-see-ums.' We squeezed a lot into this short trip, which they are currently continuing at the Bimini Sands.  Feel free to scroll through these photos to vicariously live their memorable experience and the inspiration of this young man, Justin. 

Immediately after arriving, we dropped off bags in the local ‘hotel’, Coconut Cove, leaving no time to waste.  Justin (left) and his family sat in the cooler equipment room to hear a spiel on the lab’s history and research before going to the back pens to see the juvenile sharks for the first time. 

After day one, Justin had held his own baby nurse shark. 

And by day two, he had conquered any fears to enter the fin-full waters and snorkel beside adult caribbean reef sharks.

On a paddleboard with a staff members, we entered one of South Bimini’s mangrove nurseries at Duck Pond, rowing in the paths of green sea turtles, some oversized conch, and a handful spiny lobsters.

He engaged in a download of the submersible underwater receiver (SUR) data, where we found out one of our tagged hammerheads from earlier this year had pinged off Round Rock only the day before! We thought hammerhead season had long closed after April with the departure of cooler, winter water.  

Justin has a fearlessness that sets a high standard for kids his age, an affirmative attitude that takes nothing for granted, and a full-faced smile that leaks out pure authentic joy.  

On his last night, it was no surprise to us that Justin would sign up to check our longlines right away at 11 PM, where he saw four different species of sharks found in Bimini--nurse, blacktip, lemon, and tiger--and watched us ‘work them up’ (take measurements) with the expression of a kid in a candy shop.  

These courageous acts are awe-worthy in and of themselves. But Justin lives every minute of his life with a degenerative condition known as Dechenne Muscular Dystrophy, which limits his physical mobility. A genetic lack of dystrophin prevents his muscle cells from binding to cytoskeletal support structures, making exertion of muscle incredibly difficult for him. 

We don’t feel this struggle, though, given Justin’s enviable optimism. One of the reasons he loves the ocean so much (aside from it containing sharks!) is because his buoyancy reduces the brunt load of gravitational stress on his body. In the water, Justin can move in peace. 

So when we asked him if he was OK during a snorkel, there was nothing that could detract from his grinning face and big ‘thumbs ups’ that became all too familiar.

We would like to thank Justin Gorton and his family, Ali, John, and Julia, for taking a chance with us and testing the Bimini waters for their Wish trip. Justin, you are a true inspiration, and we hope this trip helps push you closer towards your passions in the water, where you naturally thrive. You radiate joy into those around you, please cling to that. 

We'd also like to thank the Make-A-Wish Foundation for funding this expedition, providing the means for this eye-opening experience, impacting everyone involved.  Much to be grateful for!

Stay in touch, buddy!

The Sharklab Team