Getting started...

Hi, my name is Luna and I will be uploading a few things now and then to tell you guys how my internship here at Mozdivers and Zavora Marine Lab with Yara is going.

Hey there!! I am Luna! :)

I have been here for little more than a week now…but I have learned and done sooo much that it feels like more.

Thanks to Yara, I have started to actually really like nudibranchs and see more from the underwater world than just “the big stuff”… Although the first dives were impressive because everything was new to me…they were a bit frustrating too I have to say…I only found a few rather big nudibranchs (eg a Chromodoris hamiltoni, on the pic, quite common in one of the reefs… :/) while Yara found ten or 15 more, 3 new ones for her database and not only big ones and some even very well camuflated…Other times I didn’t even see them (as on my first dive here). But I gotta say on that first dive I was rather distracted by the wonderful underwater world that opened before my eyes…

Chromodoris hamiltoni.

Nonetheless, the “Milliworld” of nudibranchs has its magic. Yesterday we went on a survey search and I found quite a lot…so improving a lot in just a few days! Can you spot the nudibranch in the quadrat on the picture? ;)

Quadrat ID survey for nudis.

Not everything is about diving and getting field data though… Sometime, we need to enter the data too… Yara has quite some really cool ID-programs that help you to match your found nudi (or Manta) to the ones that are already in the database. Although it is time-consuming and maybe a bit boring to work on the computer, for me everything is new right know, so I enjoy it nonetheless… Entering and analyzing data is part of the process of being a good scientist… And we have a loot of data!! :D I have to look pics over pics from different nudis and match them to my underwater description or pics… It takes some time, but there are some species I can distinguish already. yeyy :D I have even started to complain about the “nonsense” classification of some Chromodoris…feeling like a real marine scientist here!!

Even with all this, there has not been a day where I actually wanted to go home because it was too much. I like to work and to learn as much as possible and Yara encourages me to do so.

And even with the lots of work we have…we enjoy our evenings! Today, two friends of Yara (Fernando and Isabel) from Maputo and Pemba are leaving…it was wonderful diving with them and having them here. Thanks for the great dives and time in between. ;) In 10 days that I have been here, we’ve had two braais, have walked Comex (The King of Zavora!!) on the beach, made trips to Inharrime, etc. By now I know (and knew it after a few hours...Everybody is very nice here and eager to start a conversation and help and get to know you!

Today, on a national holiday here in Mozambique…we will be working! Because as Yara said yesterday at dinner…”Every day is a new day.” We will be looking through our pictures of yesterdays wreck dive to Rio Sainas and making a bit of IDs and making a list of species there! Our day off will be (probably) tomorrow then!

I will keep you posted about my stay here…until then…baba :)