Today started out great, except the fact we woke up without running water. However, I finished up with the basic Quantum workshop. Frank had mentioned that Google was offering a developer grant which after looking into doesn't apply to Ecuador for some reason. He did however mention that the station has direct contact to Google and could possibly take that route for help. He rattled off a bunch of goals that he felt should be addressed and I added in some geospatial aspects to those problems that could ultimately create a better system for the station overall. This however is going to be quite the task because we are going to start meeting in order to create a proposal to Google stating our objectives and ways about efficiently dealing with those tasks. The underlying goal is to get them excited to get involved. It's cool to see that whether it be myself personally writing this or our group of GIS people collectively that people are more than willing to help as long as you can state your intentions.
That took up most of my morning all while Chema was chatting with a granted over marine biologist. I asked them what they had been doing all morning and she explained they had lost a $3500 tracking device that they had placed on what I think she said was Oahu? At any rate, there not cheap. It sends out a highly inaccurate GPS point when it believes it has a clear signal. The last point sent out was at 7am this morning on the south western side of this island, past Tortuga Bay to the north. Their plan was to go and try to find it...I said Chema, you have to get me on that boat with you. So by 2:00 I was on that boat. We rallied 7 people including two National Park people, and 5 of us from the station all huddled in this dinky fiberglass hull, half inflatable, zodiac with a 50hp motor. What seems like small swells from shore were no longer small swells in a 12 foot boat. We were bouncing around, getting that flight or fight reflex as we try not to be the one to go overboard. As we near the GPS location, which did happen to be in the water this morning, we realize that this is going to be extremely challenging. The device is about the size and also looks like a car cell phone charger which is conveniently colored blackish grey...the same color as every rock on this island. It also, if floating, doesn't float upright so it will also be half submerged. We park our zodiac in this small cove while dozens of the largest marine iguanas I've seen to date here, stare at us like we've just arrived on another planet. We start our search and continue our search until 4:30pm where we assume we've had enough for the day. Although we couldn't find the device, it was pretty neat to sift through the piles of debris that get washed up during high tides. Of the how ever many tourists come here, it looked as though about half have lost just one of their flip flops which have now taken residence in this very spot for the next million years.
Back to the boat, back to the dock, and off to the fish market to get dinner. I stopped and got two pounds of fresh Oahu fillets to cook Chema, and Joe. Then of course since I was in town I stopped by the bakery, this time getting what look like strawberry buns mhmmm I am excited for those. The fish we cooked up looked 5 star restaurant material....here me out...We sauteed a sauce of aja pepper seasoning, yellow pepper, onion, and garlic until it was caramelized. Then dropped in the fillets turning them accordingly. While cooking rice with squeezed orange juice and pepper. The fillets were complemented by a yellow pepper/green pepper salad with oregano. Rachel, all of this I'm making for youu when I get home by the way. We had it all made and eaten in less than 45 min. From there Deb came back with our care packages from home. Thanks family I now have more candy than I can possibly eat! Other than that I am now off to skype it up with Rach and go to bed : )
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