Wednesday, February 2, 2011

2011 GIFT Tournament Experiences Part I

I have just returned from another wonderful time in Costa Rica and wanted to share part of my most recent Frenzy experience. Jamie has covered our tournament days in other posts. I wanted to add some of the other happenings during the 2011 GIFT.

During our first two practice days, I got to know more members of the Frenzy team. Dr. John Dean who is our scientific advisor, was joined be his lovely wife Robin. While Jamie, John and I spent hours in discussion of our upcoming sailfish tagging program, Robin and Jenny Walker enjoyed the on-shore activities in the area. I think the highlight for them was watching a family of three 3-toed sloths in a tree just out the front door of Casa Carolina. Also having the little Titi monkeys crawling all over Saule who works at the house was quite a thrill.

Dr. Dean is a remarkable person and a wealth of knowledge about the science of many species of fish. I had a great time talking with him especially since my undergraduate degree was in Biology and I actually participated in some research in my day. He caught me up with some of what has happened in the field since my minor involvement some 30 years ago.


The three of us are very excited about team Frenzy developing a tagging program for the Pacific Sailfish. Our plan is to place some satellite tags to gather information about the life cycle of this beautiful fish throughout the year. Then, working closely with colleagues of John both at home and at the University of Costa Rica in San Jose, we will collect biological data on age and reproduction characteristics of this fish. Our ultimate goal will be to add knowledge about the life cycle of this remarkable fish so that the population can be managed and maintained for years to come. I’m looking forward to participating in the scientific aspect of this project and John will be sending me some prior research papers on work so I can get myself up to speed on the hard science.

We also had some fun during our days together on the water. Jamie got to jump in and snorkel in water that was 7000 feet deep! It was a new record for him and he got some great underwater pictures of one of my sailfish. I look forward to when he shares the pictures on the blog. Here is a short film clip of him in the water and I particularly enjoy where he swam down to touch the tail of the fish as it swam off. I can’t wait for my turn to do the same.

We finished off our visit with the Deans when they treated us all to a gourmet dinner at Kapi Kapi, another of the great restaurants in the Manuel Antonio area. I want to thank the Deans for the wonderful time we spent together and for all the great things to come as we work together.

The Frenzy continues….

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