Orphanage Visit

Part of Whale Shark Research Project's mission is to get involved with the community to promote conservation and environmental stewardship. One of the audiences we like to reach out to are children, to help them understand from a young age why we need to help protect our planet.

Last Friday, we visited an orphanage down the street from the volunteer house called Ciudad de los niños. The orphanage is connected to the church Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadeloupe.

The kids we visited with were between 6 and 14 years old. Right off the bat, they seemed pretty excited that we were there, with a few of them coming up to us saying hello and asking what we were doing there.

Manolo started off by talking to them about whale sharks, asking if they knew what it looked like, if anyone had seen one before, how big they thought they were. The kids were all shouting out answers, not afraid of being shy. We had a tape measure that Manolo held one end and Tobias started walking back with the other and we told the kids to stop when they thought how big a whale shark was. They were really surprised when Tobias walked all the way back to 20 meters and they could see just how big our spotty friends can grow.

From there, we moved to our first game, which was to throw a ball through the whale shark's mouth. Each ball had a fact about the whale shark written in Spanish that the kids had to read out first before they could attempt to throw the ball. Some of the facts were 'a whale shark's throat is the size of a tennis ball,' 'whale sharks don't have any bones' and 'the whale shark's only predator is humans.' The mouth that they had to throw it through was a piece of cardboard that we painted and cut a hole through. If the children were successful in throwing the ball, they got a piece of candy. 

The candy, of course, was a huge hit and each time the kids were grabbing bigger and bigger handfuls. Even one of the nun's got in on the action and was sitting in the shade licking a lollipop.

When the candy was exhausted, we played a game of whale shark tag. One person was the shark and everyone else was plankton. Once you were tagged, you became a whale shark eating all the plankton and the last plankton left won.

We brought along a whale shark puppet that Nicole, one of the previous volunteers, had sent as a present. One of the girls really attached to it and we had to kindly ask for it back before we left. On a similar note, one of the boys really like the whale shark mouth and decided to wear it around.

We did a game of limbo, where each kid had to crawl under the bar as a different animal. We tested the kids telling them they couldn't pick the same one twice and they started getting creative, saying orangutan and sea horse and such. 

Next, we did an activity with an ocean and beach scene. The kids waited in line to pull something out of the bag and had to decide if it went in the ocean or went into the basura (trash). Some of the kids were jokers, putting the animals in the trash (no!!). Others weren't too keen on pulling trash and ran to queue up again so they could put an animal in the ocean.

Just like that our time was up and we said goodbye to our new friends. I think they were genuinely interested in us being there and teaching them about the ocean. I hope they appreciated our time there because we were really happy to spend the afternoon with them!

Sarah

700 Encounters!

Hello friends,

We are officially over 700 encounters for this season (which started in October)! We reached this benchmark on Thursday (February 18).

And our lucky little friend was a new shark that we had not yet encountered this season. We decided to name him Baluu, after our beloved Pepe Baluu - Steph's new dog.

Poor buddy is a little banged up

Unfortunately the circumstances of this encounter were a bit disheartening. The clients, Tobias and I were swimming by ourselves with the shark, when three other boats joined up and all dumped their swimmers on top of us. We swam back to the boat, seeing that there were too many people. The shark became visibly harassed, trying to exit the area, but the way the boats were positioned seemed to trap the shark between them and the shore. There were way too many swimmers with the shark - around 12 to 15. This could be dangerous both for the shark (it could try to swim off and run into an engine) or the swimmers (the shark could swim off quickly by whipping its tail which could hit a swimmer).


Just a friendly reminder to everyone out there that there should only be one boat per shark and no more than 6 swimmers and one guide. We want to keep our sharks of La Paz Bay happy and healthy! 

Do you see the 700? Sarah, Manolo & Tobias

Sarah

New intern from Sweden

Hey everyone! My name is Tobias. I'm 27 years old from sweden, and i'm the new intern for 6 hole weeks! I arrived on the 1 of february so a have been here 3 weeks already, the time here is going fast!
My first week here, i was to no use. With a Fever and cold i was most of the time in bed for recover my self, i was ill almost the whole week, i was human again on saturday, so it was not a good start for me. But during that week, i learned a lot about the organization, about Whale sharks, my work, and the city of La Paz. Both Darren and Sarah introduced me well about everything and helpt me When a was ill, so big thanks to both of them! I timed good for a Carneval that was going to be in the town, i diden't know there was going to be a "Jippo" (Swedish) in the center of La Paz! They had all kinds of games you could play, Sweet thing to eat like, Gorditas de nata, Churros m.m! They had different stages where all from kids to Local band was Playing, and then the parade, With the tema "Greek Gods"!
My second week though, was much better, throughout the whole week! I think we have seen more then 20 Whale Sharks, mabye 10 dolphins and something i have never seen befor, Mobulas. It is a sort of Mantaray that jump in the water! Darren told me that when they do jump, it is usually a lot of fish to eat nearby, so they jump of excitement, so Happy over food hahah!

I Hope that rest of my weeks here in La Paz will be as amazing as the second one, or better!
Thanks for now, and see you soon!
Adios

Carnaval comes to La Paz

Starting February 4, the malecon (boardwalk) in La Paz completely transformed. The malecon is normally a pretty busy area; a main traffic thoroughfare and popular with runners, bikers and rollerbladers. But when arrived, it became twice as busy.

Photo credit

Brightly colored tents popped up everywhere selling Tosti Locos and Tosti Elotes (both popular fast food dishes featuring Tostitos chips), Gorditas de Nata (kind of like a pancake with chocolate, fudge or condensed milk), breads, tacos and my personal favorite: churros. Other tents featured games, where unsurprisingly once you thought you had won there was always some trick that they don't tell you until after. There were moon bounces, inflatable games, mechanical bulls, haunted houses, and rides. I tried the mechanical bull and stayed on for approximately 10 seconds. Then there was a 12 year old kid who went on after me and stayed on for at least 2 minutes. What can you do. I also went on a ride where you load on one end and then wait at the top, about 80 - 100 feet in the air while the people on the other end load. Then you are spun around in both directions for about 5 minutes. It was pretty fun but scary when you're at the top looking over La Paz and you look down and realize the ride is perched on a trailer. 

Each day, Carnaval typically started from 4 pm when they would shut the street to pedestrian traffic only. At night there were different groups of music playing, from smaller acts such as the 'One Direction of La Paz' to bigger ones such as Los Angeles Azules. There was one main stage where the bigger acts performed and a couple smaller stages throughout the malecon for banda shows and other performers.

The main event of the Carnaval was the parade (defile) which lasted for three days. The first and busiest parade was on Sunday, which also happened to coincide with the Super Bowl. Manolo, Tobias (new volunteer!) and I watched the game from Harker Boards which was a great spot to watch the parade go by simultaneously. The theme of this year's Carnaval was Las Musas de la Alegría' or the muses of happiness, which was an ancient Greek theme. Most floats featured paper maché columns and temples with muses or gods, including Dionysus, god of wine. Most of the women and men in the parade wore togas and garlands in their hair while dancing along to Mexican music. Two of the floats had the Junior King and Queen of Carnaval and the King and Queen of Carnaval with embellished dresses and huge decorated wings. One of the cutest floats was a band of young drummers playing along to Back in Black by AC/DC. Other floats didn't seem to make a whole lot of sense, such as the one of adults and children dressed up like stuffed animals and teletubbies.

The crowds have since died down, but some of the tents still remain. Although it seemed like today a fair amount were packing up. It was fun to be able to experience La Paz during Carnaval, but I'm also ready for the malecon to return to normal :)

Sarah

Busy days...busy nights!

Hi folks, from the new interns, now in our second week and just loving every minute of the project....

Said goodbye to Nicole and Ashley, and took over on the craziest of days - I'm glad it was special for Nicole as she's put so much into the project and been super generous towards me and Becky with her time and expertise - so yes, her last day was a well deserved frenzy of activity with 53 whale shark encounters...nuts!! it was whale-sharks nose to tail and we've ID'd over 20 sharks from that day now!

Since she left we've been pretty flat out, with search trips & encounters every day plus back-to-back trips in a single day with tourists coming up from Cabo yesterday morning and another group from here in La Paz in the afternoon.

We were carried along by incredible weather though - flat sea and a clear blue sky that made everything feel perfect....well not quite perfect - that came on the trip back to the marina when our fabulous eagle-eyed captain Kundo spotted four humpbacks along with a lively pod of dolphins! They stayed with us right back through the bay....the sight of those humpbacks arching through the water really is one to stay with you.

Personally I'm very happy right now...enjoying the low key loveliness of La Paz at Christmas as a welcome antidote to the mania of a festive season in London, and surrounded by so much that makes me happy! Much to be grateful for indeed :-)

End of our internship but hello new people!

Ten weeks, where did that go?

The past ten weeks have absolutely flown by and this has been by far one of the best adventures I've been on throughout my travels!  We've had over 350 whale shark encounters, more than 60 individuals, humpback whales, dolphins, a manta, a hammerhead and so many other creatures!  If I weren't already obsessed with whale sharks when I arrived, I certainly would be now.  Those big spotty fish are just incredible.  I have no idea what I'll be doing next but I know there will be more sharks in my future!

We took this photo a few days ago as Manolo left for the holidays and it was the first day out for the new volunteers, Sharon and Becky!  They are getting all trained up and ready to start collecting data about the sharks.  They are both from the UK so the British have definitely invaded the office.  It's also getting a bit colder so the wetsuits are coming out and we are all looking stylish in the sea. 

Many thanks to Darren and Manolo for teaching us about the sharks and getting us out on the water as much as possible!  and thanks to Stephanie for getting us involved with the turtles!  I will definitely be returning at some point and if you are interested in joining the project, just go, you will not regret it!!! You might see a blog or two more from me- I need to write about balloons! 

With so much whale shark love and sadness to leave,

Nicole

Remember that penguin in Happy Feet?

Remember when the penguin gets stuck in a six pack holder?

So we've all heard that we need to stop using plastic bags, single use plastic items, styrofoam and basically all things that are unfortunately convenient.  I get it, I've been trying to use less plastic but by no means am I anywhere near perfect.  I wish I could be but little by little, I am getting better. What isn't convenient is that our trash is going into the ocean and the more we use, the more demand there is to keep producing more, and in the end, more will end up in the sea.  I think what has been opening my eyes more than anything is actually grabbing bits of plastic from in front of whale sharks.  Everyday when we are out on the ocean, we grab bits of plastic out of the sea.  We find plastic bags, shredded plastic, labels off bottles, all sorts of stuff.  We do our best to collect whatever we swim by and sometimes we end up literally grabbing tiny shreds of plastic from in front of sharks.  They don't need to be eating that stuff, it can't be good for the big spotty fish who prefers plankton.

If you haven't yet seen the videos of turtles having straws and forks removed from their faces, I recommend you watch.  Google them. They aren't nice smiling videos but thankfully the turtles were okay.  They will really make you think twice next time you are offered a straw to drink out of a glass bottle.  Just drink out of the bottle, skip the straw.  (this happened to me at dinner tonight, thought twice about it and skipped the straw!) Stephanie has also had us thinking more about recycling and has shown me the places you can recycle here in La Paz!

So what's my point, what am I getting to?  Every single day in La Paz, I pick up these ridiculous 6 and 8 pack holders off the ground (usually outside convenience stores).  I remember them from when I was younger and I remember learning to cut them to make sure they didn't harm any wildlife.  I've read that in the US and Canada, they are now required to be photodegradable where they start to degrade in the sun.  The ones I've collected in Mexico don't have the marks claiming they are photodegradable (maybe they are, maybe they aren't).  What I don't understand is why people can't just cut them up and get rid of them?  I really don't notice them in the states anymore nor have I noticed them in any other country as much as I do in Mexico.  Everyday, they are all over the streets. The trash bothers me but these frustrate me more than anything else.  Google animals in six pack rings. Birds, turtles all sorts of critters.  These aren't easy to snap apart and break, you need scissors or to put in some effort to rip them apart.  Can a turtle put in that much effort with just his shell? No.

These were all collected in 5 mins this morning.

Thanks for reading!  If you see any of these laying around the streets of Mexico (or your hometown), pick them up and break them apart.  Why should the birds and turtles have to wait for them to degrade if they even degrade at all? and please think twice about whether or not you need that plastic bag, straw or fork.


Just wait until I write about balloons!  :)

-Nicole