Alligator wrangling in four steps...

American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) - direct descendant of 45 ft. crocodiles that roamed the Earth with the dinosaurs.



Did you know...

Alligators have a third eyelid called a nictitating membrane, which is transparent and allows them to see underwater.

In their lifetime, alligators can grow up to 2,000 teeth. Imagine being this guy's tooth fairy!

If you thought alligators were around all year, think again. Though the weather is quite nice in the southeastern United States, gators go into hibernation from December to March.

Alligators are now under protection and their numbers, once listed as an endangered species, are slowly climbing. They can live to be between 30 and 50 years old.

Barrier Island's alligator, Carolina, is roughly five years old and small for her age. She's been in captivity her entire life and will probably not grow to normal size. Alligators can get to be up to 10ft in length, but records have shown some to reach up to 19ft. We know we have a gator because Carolina has a rounded snout, only a slight overbite and is fairly dark in colour.

Easter tales and a romp through a swamp

Easter is usually a time when families get together over dinner or a meal and hang out. This Easter, being far away from home, I took advantage of the weekend to go "swampin" with some of my staff who were also spending this holiday sans family (though one had a few members with them... a very funny bunch, too, I might add).


Nine of us took off on Friday to start a trip that would take us to a dark and murky place - Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia. We overnighted at Laura S. State Park just outside the swamp... and let me just say that the mosquitos were bad. We did make it through the night, despite some having eaten a rather unsavoury can of beans, and woke up bright and early to get our canoes in the waters at Okefenokee.

And paddle we did. You can see from the pictures just how amazing the swamp is. We did see a number of gators, though nowhere near as many as if we'd paddled further into the swamp. I'm alright with that. I got close enough to them to have had my fill. We even named one that made camp right beside our overnight platform. He will forever be one-eyed George to us. Though we did tease him a bit, we were reminded by a slow and toothy display that he was a threatening predator to be respected.


Ooo, check out this cottonmouth snake (venomous) that one of our campers almost stepped on. It gets its name from its pink (cotton-coloured) mouth that it displays to ward off enemies. Worked for me!

After a peat moss fight (one of the best mucky messes you can ever get yourself into), lots of paddling, water snakes and other wildlife sightings and joke battles overflowing, we all got back safe and sound. This swamp is totally worth visiting. Our only regret was not being able to spend more time there, to get deeper into its belly... er, not an alligators.

For more photos from this trip, you can visit my album on google's website:

Okefenokee Adventure

In other travels, I visited Alexiss in Ottawa last weekend. It was super nice, despite circumstances including poor Lexy falling down some stairs. We celebrated Easter over some gifts sent to us from Mom and Dad and made a video of a "chick vs. bunny" race:



The weather made sure not to disappoint and snowed steadily while I was there. I took pictures of the paths that had to be carved out of the stuff to show my southern counterparts that, yes, we Canadians do endure a blustery winter. It's a bit embarrassing to admit that I've never been to Ottawa before, but I liked what I saw and met with some very exciting organizations/companies while I was there (so keeping my fingers crossed that something will come through from this visit). Seeing our parliment buildings was also kind of uplifting and made me feel proud to know my sister was starting her career with them. That's all for now folks. Remember to drop me an email to let me know how you're doing.

It's been a while

I'm in it real deep this time. Well, the water and the mud, that is.

Most of these pictures were taken in January. I really shouldn't rub it in, but it's really not that cold here right now. Granted, I am wearing a wet suit while seining with Jessica and I'm freezing in our infamous "mud pit" on a Let's Sea class, but that's nothing compared to Canada.

I've been rather tardy with a post because let's just say things have been up and down with the program down here. Our staff has been rather occupied with the comings and goings of bosses and, well, I can't really write more. It's enough to say that my southern experience has been quite the full one. This post will be a short, but I just wanted to share a few photos and will try and write something more meaningful soon.

Hope you are all well.

Bottlenose dolphins galore

Nature's body surfers. (from Tideland Treasures, great book, by the way)

Bottlenoses cavort in ships' wakes and near shore waters. This social mammal travels in "pods" or herds of 4 to 6. Members tend or defend wounded, sick or young. They communicate underwater by high-frequency squeaks and whistles emitted through their blowholes. Dolphin navigate and locate food by making guttural clicks and responding to echoes made when the sounds rebound from objects. This built-in sonar is known as "echolocation".

I got the above footage from the beach in front of the camp I work at. The dolphins regularly swim in this bit of the water known as the "estuary". The island across the way is known as Botany Bay. On a side note, I went kayaking there today to collect some shells. The temperature was above 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Mmmm, I'm kind of digging this weather.

Autumn leaves in Tennessee

Who would have thought I'd see autumn leaves at the end of November! Our Canadian Thanksgiving came and went more than a month ago, but I was able to celebrate this holiday over five whole days with our American friends who like to be extra festive. A friend and fellow staff member was very kind and invited me to spend time with her family in Knoxsville, Tennessee, and I graciously accepted. So into a car we got and off we went to see the Smoky Mountains to eat a delicious turkey meal.

As part of our vacation, Callie and I made a visit to the Tennesse Aquarium in Chattanooga. Callie and I worked our way through the facilities two buildings, which housed maccaroni penguins, seahorses, jelly fish, octupus, zillions of butterflies, sharks, stingrays and more. I took some pictures (see below) and would love to show you the rest of them when I see you. This aquarium was pretty impressive with all its hands-on displays and numerous exhibits. Chattanooga itself is a beautiful city with an impressive arts and culture vibe. I think I'll have to come back to this place and spend more time here.






























Another thing that was interesting about the American Thanksgiving that I had not yet experienced is "Black Friday." Get this - people actually get up at 3 a.m. to go to the stores for 4 a.m. in hopes of buying some of their Christmas gifts on sale. And they come out in hoards... yikes! So the big meal usually happens on Thursday and then the families pile into cars, drink coffee to offset the turkey, and get ready to be jolly for the next holiday spectacular. Oi. Er, but I did end up going shopping.

The weather is still getting cooler here, but no snow on the ground. I was covered from head to toe in mud today wearing but a t-shirt and shorts. There is talk that some of the staff might go ice skating this weekend. Don't worry, I'll show them what great skaters we Canadians are ;) 'Til next time!

A tailgate party, football fans and a Canadian

Ah, the college football experience. It's something I realized I could not escape while living here in the south. Not only are my roommates avid college "chuck the ball" fans, so are the locals, and just about anyone you might meet down here. An opportunity came up one weekend a short while ago to go and see one of these American games in action. I couldn't resist - I chalked it up to a cultural field trip and made an afternoon of it.

The Citadel versus Wofford College (one of our staff went to this school) was what we had on tap.

As I learned, one has to bring beer and be ready to tailgate pre-game. We parked the car and set up shop... I wasn't about to break the tradition. A few hours later, fans waving flags and Wofford clearly winning, I had had my fill of that football game.

Other weekend activities included turning 27 (yes, it was difficult, but it had to be done), cutting my hair short again, and romping through a corn maze. Check out the picture of me feeding a cow. This topped off our visit to the biggest corn maze I've ever seen. The children we took with us had a great time, especially when the cows came down the field to our hayride tractor to slurp up some treats.

Come back to rompwithrusnak soon and feel free to send an email to let me know what you've been up to.

Where the river meets the sea

Answer: The estuary.

Estuaries usually end where the mouth of a river meets the sea. They act as nurseries for many marine organisms. They are also important for flood control... resilient salt marsh soils and grasses absorb flood waters and dissipate storm surges. Interactions between open waters and estuaries that line the coast occur during the exchange of tidal waters and help living organisms to feed and spawn. Cool.

Well, it has been quite a while since I last typed a post. A lot has happened since the last time I wrote. I'll do my best to sum it all up. Teaching has been going very well. I just received three letters from students who took part in my classes last week. We caught a stingray in one of our seine nets and most of them were anxious to know how it was doing. I am pleased to say that our stingray is doing very well in the touch tank in our aquarium.

Some other fun things that have happened in some of my classes; dolphins swam up into the tidal creek my students and I were crabbing in and they started doing this cool thing called strand feeding (working together as a pod "group" to catch fish, one of the dolphins will actually beach itself to eat fish its group has forced onto land), my seining class had to pull nets and themselves out of the water as a school of mullet (fish - not the haircut) leaped out of the water as they tried to evade the sharks that were thrashing themselves after them, and so much more. This experience is full of surprises and a lot of fun.

In other news, Mom and Dad came to visit me last week. We had a super nice visit over six days touring around Charleston and then making our way south to Savannah, Georgia. We took in the South Carolina Aquarium, a fun Ghost Tour in Charleston, dinned at many yummy southern restaurants and had our fill of crab and shrimp, rode on a river boat and trolley (neither were the real thing, but did have a certain atmosphere), bought some art in Savannah and ate delectable sweets from the candy shops. I'm so glad that my parents were able to see this place (they even took in one of my classes at Barrier Island) and experienced the south. I already miss them a lot, but am excited to hear about how the rest of their trip up the eastern seaboard went. Here are two pics from our trip:


And finally, here is a photo of some of my fellow staff members (Jenn B. [far left], Callie, myself and Olivia) out for a night of dancing in Charleston. We did cut a rug on that dance floor. Until next time.