Where in the World is Natalie Suderman?

After I conquered my nosebleeds it was finally time to get in the water and start diving. After I completed my Advanced Open Water certification (without incident, hooray!) and mastered all the fish species I needed to learn I could finally start performing...wait for it...fish surveys! What is a fish survey you ask. It's a way of sampling the reef for fish abundance, size distribution and diversity and used as an indicator of reef health. So first we roll out a transect line in one direction and then swimming along the tape measure we mark down how many of each type of fish we see, and mark the appropriate size range each fish fits into. Like this We continue to swim in one direction to minimize the possibility of counting the same fish twice, until we reach the end of the 30m tape, at which point we turn around and start counting juveniles. The purpose of this is that juveniles are much smaller and generally more abundant, and can look quite different than mature adult...

When you're out to survey lobster, one would normally expect to actually find some lobsters. Lobsters were one of those creatures I only ever found when I wasn't looking for them, which made me a pretty poor lobster surveyor.  Lobster surveys were usually done via snorkeling, because we only surveyed the back reef sites, which were shallower. It also meant that more people could participate, so it was a good activity for everyone to try. We were on the hunt for the Caribbean Spiny Lobster. This species is important to the local community since it is hunted to eat, and served at nearly every restaurant. Thus, the project needs to keep an eye on the local lobster population throughout the year. Surveying the lobster is, in theory, very simple. All we had to do was mark its gender and size class. That's it. Sounds easy, right? It's just hard to measure a lobster you can't find. We came prepared But no lobster in sight I participated in nume...

So about a half an hour after I arrive to base the very first day, my nose begins to bleed. Mind you, I've known everyone for a maximum of an hour by now and here I am looking like a T-Rex ate my nose. It was a bloody affair and half the people weren't even at camp yet. Because our group was too large, David, one of the staff, had to make two trips to bring everyone down, so when the second group arrived I was the first sight they were greeted with as they stepped off the boat. Me, squatting in the sand trying to keep the puppy away from eating used tissues, while the sand-flies and mosquitoes had a field day. Not the first impression I wanted to make. It was a bad nose bleed. The worst I have maybe ever had, and I was supposed to begin my advanced diving course the next day, but there was no way my nose was going to be okay with that. So instead, Dagny let me join the manatee group for the first day so that I could participate in something, at least. As it would turn o...

Even though I'm a diving volunteer on the project, it doesn't mean I'm diving 24/7. In fact, it means I still have quite a lot of non-diving time. So what do I do with all my non-diving hours? I'm glad you asked. There were lots of activities to be done around base. In addition to chores we needed to learn our fish and coral species so that we could actually be useful on dives. So in the first few weeks, I spent most of my time practicing my fish. We also had opportunities to spruce up camp a little bit. The staff had some paint for posters and murals, so we could add a little pizzazz to our humble abode. We were an artistic bunch Third, we could make informational posters to help other volunteers in the future, or for community outreach events, and I was the only one who dared try their hand at poster making. I like the way it turned out. In addition to surveys of fish and coral on the reef, we also performed sea-grass and mangrove surveys....

Welcome to Belize and welcome to base camp! Let me show you around. Base is only accessible by boat, and it was a 20 minute ride from the South island to our base on the North island. Before we start the tour let me introduce you to my assistant. Everyone say hello. Alright, maybe he's not having the best day. Anyway. moving on. Getting off the boat, this is the scene that would've greeted you: home sweet home The bottom story is where all the volunteers (me) lived, and on the top is where the fisheries department lived. If you turn around you can get a full view of the dock. To the right, our clothesline. We had no shortage of chickens on base, and while I don't have a photograph of them (because I have no wish to remember them) here's their coop. Drinking water was collected rainwater that had been filtered and stored in a huge vat. Our lifesource As we enter the "house" or whatever you want to cal...