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Hey all,

After my last email I took a boat to Cayos Cachinos, the home of Operation Wallacea’s marine expedition in Honduras. The island is run by the Honduran Coral Reef Foundation and has some very impressive facilities. They run three compressors for the dive tanks. There is permanent electricity supplied by solar panels, and energy cells topped up with a generator. A "restaurant" serves really good food (even if the portions are too small) where I had proper meat for the first time in ages. Accommodation is in stilt huts for the long term researchers or tents with mattresses for the short term people like me. Luxury!

My main job in going to the island was to set up two new computers and then network the computer room with the dry-lab and the science rooms. So there was more crawling around under buildings drilling holes and hammering in wire clips for me. Away from the coolness of the cloud forest it was incredibly hot work, with sweat running off me in torrents. But at the end of the day I could run down the pier and dive in to the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea.

On my second day on the island I managed to squeeze a dive in. I tagged along on a dive for an Advanced Open Water course down to the wreck of a 2-seater Cessna aircraft that had crashed while National Geographic surveyed the area. It was a pretty cool dive, but a far cry from the colourful waters of South-East Sulawesi.

Tim Coles, the Project Director, was on the island with me and he wanted me to get back to the forest quite soon to help with the visit of an important government figure. So I only spent two and a half days on Cayos. But that was enough. While it was nice to lie on the pier in the sun, reading my book and listening to music, I found myself getting quite bored; particularly in the evenings. It is cliched to say, but in the forest it is very much like a big family, with logistics staff, scientists, volunteers, local guides, and school groups all chilling out and chatting together. At Base Camp there is no social hierarchy or disparate groups like on Cayos, and for that reason as the 4×4 was winding up the track from Cofradia I was really looking forward to getting back.

Unfortunately my cheesy expectations were dashed, as back at Base Camp things were pretty frantic. Ed (the Cusuco Operations Manager) had taken a few days off and his presence was sorely missed. Adrian had taken up his role of Camp Manager and had, with an unnecessarily militant attitude, managed to alienate quite a few people. Meanwhile, Richard Field (the head scientist) and I worked our asses off to get all the documentation for the research programme up to date and collated a mini-website on the Base Camp intranet. The government people came and left without much impact and several of us wondered why such a fuss had been made.

Ed arrived back and some semblance of order was restored. But with his departure due in 2 or 3 weeks there were concerns as to what would happen when he leaves for good. Over the weekend we had a staff meeting and a follow up logistics meeting to discuss the outcomes of the staff meeting. One of the main outcomes was the need for better coordination of the school groups as the mismanagement of them was creating difficulties for the scientists. Adrian stepped (was pushed?) into the role of Schools Liaison Officer with me and Lynette taking up is responsibilities as Camp Manager.

I only took the job as Computer Systems Manager because I wanted to work on an expedition; I had originally applied for a jungle training position. So it is actually really cool that I am now officially working logistics — though the prospect of Ed leaving Lynette and me in charge is quite scary. Everyone has faith in our abilities so I?m hoping it will be ok!

Over the last week I feel I have slipped into the role well, so much so that Ed has now taken a few steps back and can actually concentrate on his role as Operations Manager planning emergency protocols and refining the systems that are in place. Adrian is also happy working with the schools, he is much more cheerful and everyone?s first impressions of him as a nice guy have been restored.

The only drama from last week occurred at 3am last Monday when we received an emergency radio message from Buenos Aires. BA is a village 6km from Base Camp where the Social Science projects are run. They run programmes promoting sustainable development and encouraging eco-friendly tourism in the region.

Sally, one of the bat scientists had become seriously ill and needed urgent attention. So it I was called upon to escort the Doctor down to BA. William is from Columbia and on the way down he told me stories of his country and his time in the military. It seems an incredibly volatile and dangerous place with doctors and nurses being killed if their patients die, so in his profession it pays to be diligent. We arrived at BA, William administered some drugs and at about 8am left Sally in the capable hands of the medical electives, we then walked the 6km back up to Base Camp. Nice way to start the day!

I am currently en route to Cayos again to fix a few things there. I’m not overly enamoured with Tim’s decision to send me there. I will arrive tomorrow lunchtime and will leave again at 4am on Tuesday morning, so it seems unlikely I will be able to fit a dive in. But again, it is not so bad if the only chore you have is to travel to a desert island in the Caribbean Sea!!

The expedition is past half-way now, so before I know it I’ll be back in the UK. Hope you’re all doing well and do send me emails ’cause I really like hearing what’s going on.

Take care

Dan

PS: More photos on the Honduras page.