The Last Adventure of Scuba Smurf

At long last on the 2nd of May 2013, Scuba Smurf finally got to go on a dive at ReefDoctor and here's what he got up to...

This is an anemone or as scuba smurf calls it, an underwater smurf berry bush. Though unfortunately these smurf berries sting as scuba smurf found out moments later....

Scuba smurf posing with his new pal Mr Wrasse though as always insisted on being in the centre of the shot, something Mr Wrasse was not happy about. This lead to a huge argument after the picture was taken which concluded with scuba smurf and Mr Wrasse going their separate ways.

Just in time for his Open Water lesson. Though I think he may find doing the mask removal skill quite difficult seeing as his mask is glued to his face...

Scuba smurf here clearly not paying attention to the demonstration as he instead decides to pose for a photo. Worst. Student. Ever.

After being kicked out of his open water class Scuba Smurf decided to head off for a bit of an explore. Firstly he came across Mr Snake Eel. Unfortunately Scuba Smurf mistook his spots for smurf berries and decided he was hungry. This ended up being a very embarrassing incident for both parties.

Here Scuba Smurf can be seen with Mr Electric Torpedo Ray having a snooze on a rock. Being Scuba Smurf and not afraid of anything, he wanted to get a photo as close to the ray as possible, deciding to climb on top of Mr Electric Torpedo Ray. Needless to say the results were, ahem, shocking. (Snigger).

Next up on Scuba Smurf's underwater adventure was a visit to Mr Pufferfish. Scuba Smurf spent the time jumping up and down waving his hands trying to get Mr Pufferfish to puff up just so he could burst him with a pin to see if he will fly off like a balloon deflating. Luckily Mr Pufferfish isn't afraid of anything except marmalade jam and so just swam off. Leaving Scuba Smurf disappointed and regretting his decision not to buy the selection of Malagasy Jams that were on sale in the village market.

"All this scuba diving is exhausting!" Thinks Scuba Smurf as he snuggles into a soft coral for a quick nap before continuing his adventure..

Not long afterward Scuba Smurf came across Mr Red Rhino Sea Star though found him extremely boring because, as we all know, sea stars talk verrrryyy slllooooowwwwlllyyyyyyyyyyy... Scuba Smurf didn't have time to hang around as he was low on Smurf Berry Air having used a lot up having that nap earlier!

On his way back to the boat Scuba Smurf came across Mr Peacock Mantis Shrimp. All was going well but then they got into an argument about who would win in a fight between a small plastic smurf that was made in china and a peacock mantis shrimp found in the waters off the coast of Madagascar. This ended with Scuba Smurf having his lights punched out of him from one of  Mr Peacock Mantis Shrimps infamously strong left hooks... Luckily Scuba Smurf doesn't bruise like a peach, unfortunately he does bruise like a smurf berry.

Next up, Scuba Smurf came across Mr Cuttle Fish who was tripping on some sea weed. He kept telling Scuba Smurf that it was so weird how long his tentacles were. Scuba Smurf quickly moved on...

Before ascending Scuba Smurf had to do a quick benthic survey along the reef. His results concluded that the reef was made up of a very disappointingly small amount of smurf berries.

His final spot of the day was Mr Crocodile Flathead who began discussing the underlying metaphors surrounding the brilliant Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Scuba Smurf, not being of a literate mind agreed that there were a lot of flies in Ifaty and that of course there must be one in charge, though he highly doubted his name was William. Buzz was a much better name for a fly, he concluded. 

At this point Scuba Smurf realised he was completely out of smurf berry air, which is a worry when your underwater and don't float. Fortunately for Scuba Smurf he realised that there were advantages to being a small plastic toy smurf in the fact that you don't have any lungs and therefore don't actually need to breath. So he just walked back along the sea bed to ReefDoctor hoping that  it was smurf berries for dinner... It's never smurf berries for dinner....

 

Memories of a Conservationist in Training

As I am coming to the end of my time here, I thought I would look back on some of the highlights of my time in Madagascar of which I may have missed or forgotten to mention in past posts. This seems like the right thing to do as a lot of shows usually have highlight episodes at the end of a series and also I can't think of anything else to write about...

Jeffrey

Until around January, ReefDoctor had a weigh station set up on the beach just outside the site. Here, people would bring their catches of the day which we would weigh, measure and identify, it was an easy way for us to collect data on the state of the fisheries and it was an easy way for the locals to get some free rice. Win win. This has now moved into the village and many others have opened up along the coast to get more detailed information about fishing habits. However, from around October until December the little weigh station at ReefDoctor gained itself a mascot in the form of Jeffery.

Jeffery came from a village across the salt flats called Tsivanowey. Each day he would travel across the flats to sit near the weigh station and watch us at work. Now and then he would wander over to inspect the boats before returning to his spot under the tree. When we closed the weigh station for lunch, Jeffery would ensure that it was cleaned thoroughly with a rag he would reveal from one of the pockets of the huge black jacket he would wear. 

Many times we would try and offer him a bit of lunch or a drink both of which he would refuse only ever taking a single cigarette from Pepin only for it to be found that evening wedged in the fork of a tree. There was only one other thing he ever accepted. When Roderick was still here he presented Jeffery with a ReefDoctor T-shirt which he gratefully took and then proudly wore for every other one of his visits to the site. Since the cyclone Jeffery has not returned to the RD site though he has been occasionally seen in Ifaty still proudly wearing his RD T-shirt.

Beach Clean Ups

The coastline around Ifaty has been generally used as a dumping ground for rubbish that comes out of the village even though the  people here come across as being considerably more resourceful than people back in the developed world,  to see that you only have to look at the floats on their nets made out of cut up flip flops or the market stalls forlorn with car parts ranging from the smallest nut and suspension springs to steering wheels and windscreen wipers.

The main reason for this is that there is really no where else for it to go. What they can use, they use, but anything else is either burnt or discarded on the beach. Because of this ReefDoctor has begun to run a monthly beach clean up. This consists of a rubbish collection along the stretch of coastline in front of Ifaty. We have had it running now for a few months with a lot of positive support from the community with kids coming and helping to collect trash. 

We collect data from the clean ups on the rubbish types allowing us to see what materials are most often dumped and then we can look at options for other methods to dispose of them. There are also hopes to further expand the beach clean up project to possibly include a small educational presentation afterward for the kids to teach them why it important to care for their coast line.

I actually surprisingly enjoyed doing these clean ups, usually anytime in the past where I have been in a position of having to do one I groan and probably don't put as much effort into it as I should. However here we usually have a great time getting the local kids involved and since we began you can really see a difference along the beach front and maybe over time the people here will think twice before dumping rubbish on their coastline. 

The Sunsets

I will let them speak for themselves...

The Routine

Sometimes at ReefDoctor the days can be very long and tiring. They can consist of a 4am start to go out to do expert survey dives consisting of 6 separate transects. You then return around 11am to do data entry including putting that data onto hard copies and then entering it all into the excel database. After lunch there may be a staff meeting followed by a volunteer meeting. Then finally rounding off the working day with working the compressor to fill tanks for the next day.

This is what makes the routine so invaluable. The routine was created by myself and Dominic (one of the dive instructors) as a way of relaxing at the end of the day. It begins at 5pm exactly at which point we return to our respective rooms. Once there I get some music on and have a chilly bucket shower to re-awaken myself after a long hot day. Once this is complete a fresh set of non sweat saturated clothes are applied and the we return to the front porch where a beer is cracked open and we watch the sunset slowly sink into the horizon infront of us. Sometimes it is at this point where Julien and I will continue our ongoing Pétanque competition usually ending with Julien victorious and me in a bad mood. 

Around 6pm dinner will arrive and if we are lucky it will be zebu night which shall be the perfect end to the day though the debates regarding how much zebu each person should take can get rather heated...

Finally here's what Scuba Smurf has been up to...

When telling diving stories it is important not to over exaggerate as you can bore both people and chameleons. An important lesson that scuba smurf learnt the other day.