Lobster Sex

After travelling for a few days I've made it out of the urban jungles of Nairobi and Mombasa and found myself on Lamu Island. It is wonderful here. A UNESCO world heritage site, a group of Swahili villages on an island in the Indian Ocean. It so nice here I am going to set down my bags for awhile. The island is heavily dependant on fishing and tourism for its livelihood, so I fit in naturally!

Yesterday was Kenya's Independence Day (Dec 12) and there were some great parties happening. I ended up taking a ferry to a floating bar about 15min off the coast. It was wonderful to be on the water chatting and drinking with a wonderful mix of locals and expats, which I really enjoyed because I get tired of the same old backpacker talk you have over and over again in the tourist traps.
Anyways, about 3am we all jump back onto the ferry to head home and upon reaching the wharf we come across the lobster fishermen hauling in their traps. It was a full moon so the catch was really good that night (the moon affects the tides and fish movements are influenced strongly on full moon nights).
I am really interested in lobster. One of my jobs as an undergrad was helping to set up a Marine Protected Area for lobsters back home in NL. So I learned alot of their conservation and biology. I have a habit of checking to see if any of the females are pregnant when they are caught (you can see black eggs along her tail) which is a really destructive practice. I didn't see any that night, I hope that the fishermen threw back the pregnant ones.

Anyway as I was checking the lobsters the local guys I was with asked me how I could tell the males and females apart. The guys who lived there on the ocean their whole lives had no idea. So I showed them how the males have extra claspers on their tails where the females didn't. Everyone circled around me to learn. Then one of the fisherman said something in Swahili and my friend translated it for me 'He's never seen a mzungu handle a lobster like that before!' I blushed. That's a compliment in my books. How silly is that?! It was fun though. I always seem to find myself giving fish sex lessons wherever I go...lol

One of the local guys who was walking me home (he also works at the hotel where I am staying) was particularly interested in learning more. He said that he had a book that said when the tides would be high and low, when the sun and moon would set, and when there would be eclipses. But he didn't understand how these happened or how they could be predicted. He asked me if I knew. So we stopped right there on the wharf at 3:30am and I gave him a science lesson. We collected rocks and coins and I built a model solar system. I showed him how the earth revolved around the sun and how the moon revolved around the earth. Then I showed him that when the sun, earth and moon aligned that the shadow could block the sun/moon out and it would disappear in an eclipse. I could see the proverbial light bulb click above his head, his expression was so great to see, he finally understood what was happening. Nature was such an important force in his livelihood but until then it was all a mystery.

Yes, I am fully aware that I am a science geek, but at that moment it felt so good to help explain this to someone who was so curious. Science is cool! I know Tim will back me up on this :)

This guy wasn't stupid by any means, but he never had the chance to go to school after the age of 12 (he's 32 now). He said that one day his father came to him and said that their family couldn't afford to fully educate all 8 children, and that if he wanted to finish school that meant that his younger siblings wouldn't be able to go at all. How hard is that decision?! Its so unfair that a 12 yr old has to be put in that position. But I could sympathize with him because I knew people from my parents generation back in NL who had similar situations. So I answered every science question he asked me. We were there for hours but it was time so well spent. I'd do it again tonight if someone asked. I love using science to help people improve their lives. Its become such a motivating force in my life.

After last night I'll never think of the old shoe box model universe the same way again. Maybe tonight I'll try to set up a volcano using baking soda...