Sea Urchin Spawning

In a previous blog post I wrote about sea urchin research by Mark Cyrus. So far I've just heard about his work, but this week I got to help spawn sea urchin for future projects. It's actually a pretty simple procedure and was really interesting to help out with. Basically we injected the urchin with potassium chloride (the same chemical used for lethal injections) to induce sperm or egg release. Then you just set the urchin upside down on top of a beaker and wait. After the egg and sperm are collected and quantified, all that's left is to mix! I didn't realize how much sea urchin spines move when they are out of water. It was fascinating to watch. I would write more, but here is a video of a science class spawning sea urchin that will explain it better than I can.

A very cool day at work. Hopefully I will get to shadow and help with more of the project while I am here.

Weekend Warriors

Every week I watch the clock for 2pm on Friday to finally arrive, partially because that is the meeting time for the VAC weekly activity, but mostly because this signals the start of the ever amazing Cape Town weekend. This week I was fighting a cold and eventually lost my voice, prompting me to forgo late night dancing downtown and karaoke at Gary's Corner Bar (losing one's voice really inhibits their ability to belt a duet of Marvin Gaye with a vocally talented stranger). Despite these small set backs I still got to enjoy a full weekend of incredible South African activities including surfing, Seal Island, and springbok burgers. 

This Friday's weekly VAC activity was a boat tour out of Hout Bay to Duiker Island, home to a cape fur seal colony. Each Friday activity is fun, but from my interest in marine biology I was especially excited to push off of the coast and view some marine wildlife.

All the interns agreed that we wouldn't mind living in Hout Bay with a sail boat.

Before we boarded the tour boat we had about half an hour to get some ice cream and wander around the dock. There were a few young boys feeding seals from the dock with fish scraps. We were impressed by the boys feeding the large seals with their hands and even more impressed when they started holding the fish in their mouths and letting the seals jump out of the water to the scraps.

For some reason the seals were really enjoying this position... should we have been offended?

Jenna and the crate of fish scraps.

Amazing photo by Jen Reynolds of a dock boy feeding the seal by his teeth. 

After the pre tour entertainment, we boarded the boat and headed out towards Duiker Island. After a short ride spent mostly by hanging over the side fascinated by the abundance of red jellyfish (mostly by my part) we arrived at Duiker Island to view the seal colony (also to mainly my enjoyment). After Seal Island we got to view a ship wreck named the "American."

American VAC interns filling up the tour boat... to see the American.

Seals for days!

I love marine mammals!

Ship wreck.

Photo by Samantha Murray. Notice the SA flag in the corner. 

Saturday morning rolled around and of course that means a trip to the Old Biscuit Mill! The trip involved the usual consuming of good food, admiring of crafts I can't afford, and socializing with people I love. Basically another perfect Saturday morning.

The market is actually called the Neighbor Goods Market, but because of it's location everyone calls it the Old Biscuit Mill.

I finally got a springbok burger. It was delicious. 

I was so full by the time we got frozen yogurt that I had to casually lay down to eat it, but it was worth it.

After breakfast a group of the VAC interns hopped on a train and headed out to Muizenburg. Half of the group went to enjoy the beach and explore the town, the other half, myself included were intent on catching some waves. When we arrived at the beach the red shark flags were up, but to our relief the guys in the surf shop said that there had not been a sighting in hours. So, we got outfitted in wet suits and boards and by the time we hit the water the red flags were back down. I almost wet my wet suit when a siren went off, but when I looked around no one was running out of the water and the black shark flags were still up. Luckily the sirens were just the time signal for the youth surf competition. Because of the competition, music was being blasted out into the water, more than making up for the waves being small. We spent a fantastic few hours dancing in the water, and more importantly riding waves like we knew what we were doing. I'm not sure what it is about surfing, the gallon of saltwater I seem to constantly hold in my mouth, or the endless tumbles in water and sand, but there is just something that gets me. On second thought it is probably the ice cream that we got afterwards. We bought a package deal that makes each surf trip less than ten dollars for each person. Would you rather go to a movie or surfing? I think we will be back.

To our entertainment, someone on the train had previously labeled each passenger.

Matt was not happy with his being labeled "desperate."

Black shark flags meaning "spotting conditions poor."

Colorful beach houses.

It may not have been perfect weather at Muizenberg, but we did get a rainbow at the end. 

After a night of deep sleep that can only be obtained by tired surfer, Sunday morning brought the World Cup Ruby finals. While everyone here in South Africa is still bitter about not being able to watch the Springboks compete for the title, we still got up early to watch the game in Gary's Corner Bar, with our best friend Gary. He usually has the best samoosas in town (filo dough triangles with various delicious fillings), but I think it was a bit to early for samoosas after working a late Saturday night crowd. Although we did get to watch the game on a projector on comfy couches with a few locals.

Kate excited about the game and her savanna. 

It's Sunday night and the weekend is sadly coming to an end, but the fun doesn't stop there. My supervisor told me that this week we are going to go to University of Cape Town to use their facilities to start working on the fish feed for our probiotics research. Also we are hoping to start some fish dissections to figure out exactly what and how we are going to test for the project. On top of that I just got Kings of Leon tickets for Wednesday night at Green Point Stadium. It's going to be an amazing week.

Exploring Downtown

After enjoying another amazing breakfast at the Old Biscuit Mill (poached egg, potato pancake, holandaise sauce, and smoked salmon... makes my mouth water just thinking about it) my roommate Jennifer and I jumped on the train for downtown. Since neither Jennifer or I work in downtown Cape Town and have seen very little of the city except for the train station and Long Street (where we go dancing on the weekends) we decided that we should do a little exploring. Jennifer and I agreed afterwards that it would have been a good idea to bring a map or even look at one before we left the house, but it was still a fun Saturday afternoon wandering around such a unique city.

First we walked through the Company Gardens. They are situated next to Parliament and like everything else in Cape Town, have amazing art and even more amazing views.

I think Table Mountain always steals the show, but the gardens were simply perfect.

I was enthralled by dog sized fish in this beautiful fountain. 

There were also babies in the fountain!

Aloe tree.

I'm not sure what these were, but they were stunning.

Jennifer and I walked past a church where a group was filming something involving cheering crowds, fire, and bloody monks. It was strange to stumble upon this scene while quietly walking through the Company Gardens.

A monk in makeup getting his hair messed up and blood poured down his face. 

After walking through the gardens, we half aimlessly, half in search of ice cream walked around the city streets, not finding ice cream, but finding some more cool things.

Mandela depicted by Jan du Plessis in 1,460 rubic cubes. 

Someone was nice enough to give this statue a pair of legwarmers. 

We are planning to explore downtown again soon, but armed with a map!

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden

This Sunday a group of interns and I went to have a picnic and wander around Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. We had never been there, and most of us had gotten in the taxi without really knowing what to expect or what activities we would be doing at this garden. Luckily Kirstenbosch prints guidelines right on our tickets to lead us through the Garden. It reads as follows:

Enjoy your visit and abide by the following:

DO NOT

• Disturb plants or animals
• Balls, bikes, skateboards
• Dogs, pets
• Garden furniture 
• Radios, noise, games
• Climb trees, swim
• Enter the flower beds
• Litter, fires, braais

DO

• Discover plants & animals
• Walk, hike, explore
• Bird watch
• Picnic on the lawns
• Relax at concerts
• Enjoy sculptures & art
• Take photographs
• Take litter home

We figured we had better follow the rules so we started off on the right foot by taking some photos...

I'm not sure what these flowers are called, but they were neat.

We definitely enjoyed the sculptures and art.

There were some really cool sculptures.

And some scary ones!

In 1811, Colonel Christopher Bird built this bird shaped pool (a play on his name) to collect spring water. It looked like a nice bath to me, but the rules said not to swim so I resisted.

Lady Anne Barnard's Bath

We found an aromatic garden, where all the plants were smelly. So, we decided to discover some plants.

I had to smell them all!

We also found an edible section of the garden and while I was chomping on some very tasty leaves I found this sign.. uh oh.

I survived.

Next we followed signs leading us to King Protea. We had to meet this King! King Protea turned out to be  South Africa's national flower.

King Protea, decribed by botanists in the 1700's as Table Mountain Tree-Artichoke. 

In following the rules we had to discover animals and bird watch. Check and check!

I liked this bird. He was busy going after some worms.

We found owls! There was a baby right next to the path snacking on something that looked like dryer lint. Unfortunately I broke the rule about not disturbing animals. He gave me a very dirty look for interrupting his lunch with some pictures.

That close!

He was not amused.

More cool animals!

More disturbing animals!

Finally we decided to do some more walking, hiking, and exploring. A few of us thought that it would be a great idea to follow the sign to Skeleton Gorge. What could go wrong?

Stairs... stairs... stairs... stairsssssss....

After a few hundred stairs we realized that we were not dressed or prepared in the least for a hike. After meeting a couple on the way down who told us that we were "really close.. only another hour or so!" We decided we should come back another day with hiking shoes and backpacks.

Deciding to be quitters.

After we quitting, we figured that it would be a good idea and break one more rule and found the nearest tree to climb.

The Kirstenbosch Gardens have free summer concerts over the next few months. Hopefully we will be back to enjoy the plants and animals again, and perhaps another attempt at Skeleton Gorge. 

Elephant's Eye

This Friday for our weekly VAC activity we hiked up to Elephant's Eye, named for obvious reasons...

It was a beautiful hike and a perfect day.

Can you see the Elephant in the mountain? His eye is the cave at the end of the trail.

Just reaching the cave. Jenna in the front of the picture with me just past her.

Inside the cave looking out at the amazing view of Cape Town.

The inside of the cave looked fake, like a set from a movie. 

Another great VAC activity. Next Friday we are going to go on a Duiker Island boat trip for some seal and whale watching. Can't wait!

Lion's Head

A couple nights ago a group of the interns and I went on a hike up to the top of Lion's Head. It has amazing views in general with the peak overlooking Cape Town, the ocean, and Table Mountain all at once, but everyone says that the best time to hike is during a full moon. So, we climbed to the top to watch the sunset and made our way back down lit only by moonlight for the last bit of the walk. It was definitely one of the most fun trails I've ever been on. At one point there are chains and metal hand/foot holds to help you scale a rock face and there are even a couple ladders. Not everyone in our group was so happy that we were going back down these obsticals after sunset, but we all made it without any problems. It was perfect timing too because we got to see everything in the daylight on the way up, caught a bright pink sunset, and got to overlook the city lights when it got dark on our way down.

My first sunset over the Atlantic.

I work down there!

View over cape town. 

Even though it was windy at the top, Alex decided that it was a good idea to eat rice krispies.

Climbing back down. 

Kelly and Matt climbing down the metal rungs in the dark. 

A picture taken by Jeremy. 

Our group looking over the city lights. Another amazing picture by Jeremy.