Live from the Bahamas

Join us on San Salvador Island for a behind-the-scenes look at the Gerace Research Centre. Host Dr. Joe Staton talks with director Dr. Troy Dexter, dining hall manager Raquel Nairn, student Lydia Gattozzi, and art professor Joanna Angell about reef dives, island life, and blending science with creativity.

Chapters

• 0:00 30 Second Intro
• 0:30 Main
• 3:00 30 Second Outro

Transcript

0:02

Welcome to Tide Talk, the podcast where we dive into research and marine biology and coastal ecology happening right here in the low country, taking place at the University of South Carolina in Beaufort. I'm Dr. Joe Staten and I'll be your guide as we explore the stories, people and passions that shape this research that is so important to our shores and beyond. Whether you're listening from the beach, your backyard or somewhere in between, we are here to bring the waves to you. So grab your suntan lotion, kick back and we'll ride this tide together. Let's get started. From stunning coral reefs to limestone caves, from classroom to coastline, this is field work in action. Let's dive in. To kick things off, we're joined by Dr. Troy Dexter, Executive Director of the Geraice Research Center on San Salvador Island. With a passion for field-based science, Dr. Dexter has played a key role in supporting researchers, educators, and students from around the world who have come to study the island's unique ecosystems and history. Under his leadership, the center has continued to thrive as a hub for interdisciplinary research. Ranging from marine biology and geology to archeology and environmental science. Today, he'll share his experiences at GERACE, how it supports programs like ours, and why San Salvador is such a vital place for hands-on learning and discovery. Well, we're joined here today in the Bahamas, the sunny Bahamas with Troy Dexter, who is the executive director of the Juraise Research Center. And tell us a little bit about your background. Troy, where did you grow up and how did you get to here? Okay, well thank you for having me. I am originally from New Jersey, so a bit of a long trip here. I won't say what exit, but yeah. My background is in paleontology, so I master's degree in Tennessee and my PhD at Virginia Tech. Go Hokies. So a lot of my work, early work, was looking at Paleozoic Echinoderms. And then for my PhD work, I came out here with a graduate course. It was a six-week course. I was lucky to be the TA for the class. Each student had a different project they were working on, so I was focusing on the heart urchins, the myoma ventricosa sea urchines, and drill holes being made by the King Helmet, the Cassis tuberosa. That class led to other projects and other work. And after I graduated from Virginia Tech and during my postdoc work, I kept coming back here working on that project, working with other colleagues. And yeah, got back here a number of times. And when the position came open, gave it a shot. I've been here since 2016. Yeah, so you were, I remember talking to you about this, you were using the, the mayoma tests and they were fossilized to try to date some of the sediments in those areas. We were for here, we were looking at the tests, the drill hole markings to see how they line up to fossil, uh, ekanoids that we had. I was working at the Florida Museum of Natural History where we have a very large collection. So we're trying to kind of match back those markings to what we see in the fossil record for ecological interactions. The age dating work I had done was on clamshell. So I kind of got away from the echinoderms when I got to my PhD. Right. So I, fortunately, worked my way back to Echinoderms when I came here. So kind of fell in love with the place and how did that transition into becoming the director, the executive director, excuse me. Well, my, so like I said, it was a long class. It was a graduate class. Um, my first four or five days here, looking at another four or five weeks, I was thinking, what did I get myself into? Um, you know, it's hot. It was buggy, but after a week or so I got used to it. And then in addition to working on the project, I was doing the drop-offs with my advisor. To different field sites. So I was constantly going around the island, dropping people off, picking people up as they're collecting data and just got used to San Salvador. And, you know, I was thinking even back then, like, yeah, I could live here. This isn't too bad. And then in addition to coming back here a number of times, during my postdoc work, I had helped put together a conference, the North American Paleontological Convention. There's a lot of overlap with that and what I do here. There was making sure people had housing in the area for the conference, making sure they had transportation back and forth to the conference. And of course, the Jerry's Research Center runs its own conference every two or three years. So there's a lot of logistics involved in that that kind of fit what I do now. I will say my first week on the job here, it was pretty overwhelming. We had just gone through Hurricane Joaquin like five months before that. And while the station was Functional it was still you could still see the damage vehicles had issues water system had issues So it was you know, it was from 5 in the morning till you know 10 11 at night everyday for you know a few weeks trial by fire yeah yeah so about how many visitors do you guys have every year how many groups come down and people We have about 45 to 55 groups each year. I did just look this up earlier today. We have between 700 and 900 individual visitors each year It used to be a little bit more before COVID. We would hit up to about 1,000 to maybe 1,100 each year We're a little slower since COVID, but we're getting back to where we were. Right, right. Well, that's pretty impressive because you have living facilities and a dining hall and a full staff and they take pretty good care of us, so we appreciate that. What would you say, so you've been here how long now? Nine years. I started beginning of March of 2016. Okay, your significant other works in Nassau. How does that work out? Uh, there's challenges. I met her here. Um, uh, so we were together here until our son was born. And then three or four months after he was born, COVID hits transferred to NASA and I was mostly in NASA, we basically shut the whole station down for a year and a half. But yeah, we um, since we get busy when since their university groups coming usually on their breaks. Winter break, spring break, or summer break. There are periods where things slow back down again, like February and April, and the fall isn't too busy. So yeah, I try to get back there fairly regularly. . Days, times in the lab where you can catch up on the maintenance work. What would you say are the biggest rewards? I think I know the challenges part. We can talk about it later, but I mean, obviously it's a big change to go from academia to management. What have you found that was something you really have enjoyed about the job you didn't expect to enjoy? As an abstraction, oh, this is a great place for students. It's a great experience for them. But actually seeing it firsthand and having everyone who departs saying, I want to try to get back here again someday. I've had such a wonderful experience. Something that changes their lives. Just to be a part of that, I got into education to educate students. And I think coming here and. Giving them this opportunity is very fulfilling. Yeah, it's amazing. It's not just the marine biology, but also the cultural aspects. And there's a lot of archeological and paleontological, why that's a mouthful, aspects of the island too. So, you know, I've been impressed with the diversity of stuff that we'd be able to expose our students to. And this is our second trip back. And I know we're looking forward to coming back next year too. What about challenges? What do you, I mean, obviously you're on an island, so that kind of sells itself. But you guys are, do so well at making that seem not like a problem, but. But we don't see the gears behind the scenes that turn. So how do you overcome that sort of thing? Okay, so obviously there's no Home Depot here, there's no Walmart, it takes a lot of advanced planning. When something breaks, you need to get it here as quickly as possible, which isn't always the easiest thing. As an example, we do get stuff from the US. There's a shipping company that comes twice a month, so we have our stuff shipped in Florida. We provide our invoices to the company, they ship the stuff here, stuff has to go through a broker, stuff to go through customs. So it takes, you can Amazon something, you know. 24 hours later and then it goes in the system and then you might get it a month later. Certainly adds another wrinkle to ordering online. Wow, wow. And when you know something breaks, you buy two of them. You just have to have a backup of everything. Absolutely, I can appreciate that. Well, anything else you wanna share with us that we haven't covered? Sure. Even if you can't come here for a class. And I should mention that we don't generally run our own classes. All the groups that come here are it's faculty members who are conducting their own classes We do have, you know, we do put people up to our scouting out of class who are interested in bringing students. But even if you cant come here for a classroom, even if you can come to the Dreyse Research Center, come to San Salvador, come to The Smaller Islands in the Bahamas. It is so much different than Nassau. Than what most tourists experience and it's really worth it. It's a whole, it's a completely different lifestyle. Yeah, I'm constantly surprised I hear that there's a lot of Airbnb's kind of burgeoning on the island. So there's opportunities people come here to not necessarily stay at the lab, but they could come and just visit and certainly a beautiful coastline. The waters are just as blue and postcard-like as you could ever imagine. And the students are quite taken out. When they step off the plane, they go, wow, this is like fantasy land of blue water where you can see all kinds of things in the reefs. Some of the reefs are suffering like reefs are everywhere, but there's still some live reefs out there and some really interesting fish and other things people of our kids have really enjoyed seeing. Well, thanks for joining us. And I would tell everybody that teaches marine biology or even anything else that wanna come down here. I'm It's a great place. This year we brought communications majors with us to talk about environmental communications and maybe next year we'll have nurses come with us to do clinics on the island for the folks. So they're all ready to come down and join us. We keep singing your praises and thanks so much for being a great host. We appreciate it. Thank you, and thank you for having me. No problem. Thank you. We're joined by Raquel Nairn, long-time dining hall manager for the Jerais Research Center. Raquel plays a key role in supporting the research and education on the island, managing the menu for all the students and visiting scientists. With years of experience at the research center, Raquel brings a deep knowledge of the center's history, changes in San Salvador, and the rhythms of life in the Bahamas. Today, she'll share what it's like to be working with faculty and students, how the island has changed over the years, and what makes San Salvador so special. Welcome, Raquel. Thank you. You're welcome. So how did you first get involved with working at the research center? My first interjection here was when I left Club Med and they were looking for an assistant. So me being knowledgeable about different dishes and stuff like that and people, they said okay you'd make a good fit for the field station. So I came in and I like it. And you've been here how long now? About 17 years now. Wow, wow. So you predate the executive director. I hope he looks to you for knowledge. He does. For both of us, we do the same thing for each other. Well, that's good, good teamwork. So you grew up in Nassau, but you've been in San Salvador for over 30 years. What do you think are some of the things for you that make the island so special? What should attract students and faculty here? The peacefulness, it's very, very tranquil. For me, I like quiet. I like being able to just be free, and it's a very free here. Nassau is so congested. The hustle and bustle. Oh, Lord, the traffic. Yeah, but that's what I love about this island. It's nice. So what is it like working with the faculty and students who come to the island? Are there any memorable moments that stand out for you? Yeah, coming in, I met a lot of, well we've had a lot of changes in staff, and each one played a very, very positive role in me being here. I've learned a lot, I've taught a lot and made the completion very good. You mentioned your experience here cooking at Club Med before you came, and you talked to me earlier about some of the diversity. Tell me about some of the island's foods diversity and culture that you try to share with students. Well, it's not so tough. What I like about it is you can introduce them to certain things that they never knew about, like grits or some people like fish, the different fishes. We used to serve fish, but we don't do it anymore. But yeah, like the diversity. And then I learned a lot about veganism and vegetarianism. And I learned it a lot. And I was, you know, I like it. Because... I get to share that with when somebody comes in and say, well, I'm a vegan. I'm like, OK, I got you. Yes, I have to admit you guys bend over backwards to accommodate people's different dietary needs. And even though you don't serve fish, we do have some local restaurants we've escaped to for the pescatarian experience. Well, we do serve fish, man, you're having fish today, not in the way we used to. OK, yeah, well, yeah. Well, I think you also told me just a lot of students don't eat fish anymore, which is odd, because it's so good for you. So lastly, I guess, and you can go wherever you want to with this, what is your experience with, what is the most important thing people should know about San Salvador and the research center? What is something they should find out or learn while they're here? The research center here, I understand from talking with a lot of different professors and even students who come back, this is top notch. A lot of them have been other places and they love this because of their learning ability. You know, they can, the water is right there. They can go out and they do that. They go in the back field. It's like it's different here for them. It is not so hard. It s very accessible to learn different stuff here. Yeah, well, it makes it very easy. You guys are all inclusive, reasonable fees for people that are visiting. So it really makes it easy to be able to come in from the field and have a start off with a good breakfast, have a good lunch and have a lovely dinner. And then after dinner, exercises are a lot more easy without having to fend for yourselves for things in the field. So we really do appreciate that. And we look forward to coming back again. Well, thanks so much for talking to us today. And I appreciate it. We enjoyed our time last year and I think people are looking forward to next year as well. Thanks very much. We'll be here with open arms and open kitchen, cafeteria door. There you go! Well, thanks so much. You're welcome. Thank you, too. Appreciate it. Next up, we're excited to hear from Lydia Gutosi, a communications major at USCB, who joins this year's Bahamas Drip through the environmental media course led by Dr. Caroline Sawyer. This year's program combines the environmental media course with the one on natural history of the Bahamas. Lydia brings a unique perspective, exploring how storytelling, media, and communication can capture the impact of field research and study abroad experiences. Live from the Bahamas, we're talking today with Lydia Gattosi, who is one of our undergraduates at USCB, and she is here as part of the environmental communications course at the Jeree Spring Lab. You're originally from? Cleveland, Ohio. Yeah, Cleveland Rocks. Yes. Okay. Oh, yes. Well, how'd you end up at USC and tell us something about your experience at USC in here. Yes, so I am on the women's basketball team, so I spent two years playing college basketball at, it was Canisius College when I was there, it's now Canisias University, so I played there for two years. That sounds fun. That's outside of Buffalo, right? Yes. Yes, right outside of Buffalo. So I played there for two years and then decided I wanted to go into the transfer portal, put my name in the portal. And we actually, when I was a freshman in high school, we played a camp at Purdue. And that's when Sharon Bersip, who is now the USCB coach, was at Purdue There you go. So we made connections there her my high school coach made connections and when I put my name in the portal He let her know that I was in the portals She watched my film and then went on a visit committed to USCB. So that's how I ended up here Awesome. Well, tell us more about your experience academically. Yeah, it's been amazing. I mean, on my visit, I met Dr. Sawyer right away and kind of just instantly felt a click with all of her knowledge she knew about broadcasting. It really started to open my eyes into what I thought I wanted to do more, what I wanna do more. Just with her experience, I've been able to learn how to use Adobe a lot, Premiere Pro, editing videos, which is something I discovered that I really, really liked and it's something that I brought here. So I've taking a ton of videos of everything here because ultimately I wanna make a... Vlog style type documentary about the island and our experiences. So tell me about those experiences. What have you done that you've really liked and. Well, yesterday was probably my favorite day. We went snorkeling pretty far out. Just little islands were around us. And those were some pretty big coral reefs, which was amazing off the boat. Yeah, right off the boats. So that was really an amazing experience, something I've never done. I've ever snorkel before. So it's just been a great experience. And then we went over to what what we've been referring to as Iguana Island. And we saw a ton of iguanas, which is something I have never seen in the wild either, which is really amazing. But I mean, the snorking and all has been amazing. It's almost. I've been saying it's like addicting, you just want to keep doing it and seeing more and more, which is pretty cool. Yeah, tell me a little bit more what what are your plans for the future? I know this is your your last season coming up in basketball and and academically. What do you think you want to do in the future. So currently, I'm working with the Savannah Bananas. They're broadcasting T, which is known as BTV Bananas TV. Ha, ha, ha. Which I really like a lot. It's a lot of the behind-the-scenes things, so working cameras. I've learned how to run replay, create melts, which are like highlights that play at the end of a game. I made a ton of connections, I've met media relations people, so that I've started to love. I always kind of love the broadcasting world and sideline reporting is sideline is ultimately what I want to get into, but right now with TV and kind of learning the behind the scenes things. Getting my foot in the door, meeting people. So definitely more towards the broadcasting side is what I want to get into. Yeah, it's amazing. I knew they were big locally, but now I'm seeing their own 60 minutes and they're getting national cachet. So it's a good entry for you. Oh yeah, they played at Clemson and sold out with 81,000 fans, so yeah they're pretty big. It's amazing, it's amazing. I mean, what I love is that they're very fan first. That's really what their business started as, is being fan first, so Jesse, who started the Banana Ball, Savannah Bananas, he always says that his idol is Walt Disney because Walt Disney is very fan-first, and the other day they had Disney come down. For a game and they brought Mickey Mouse and they kinda talked about how they're gonna be playing in Disney. So, yeah. Awesome. Well, if anybody wants to know more about you, they can look at you how on social media, what's your It's just my first and last name, L-Y-D-I-A-G-A T-T-O-Z-ZI. And Getozi on the go. Yes, because it was the only go, that's something that I started at my last school, it was just kind of a little fun segment that we would put on social media for people to see what it was like to be a college athlete and it was to highlight different professors, counselors around campus that a lot of athletes knew and yeah, started it at USCB as well. Well, thank you very much for joining us today and we're glad you could come on the trip. Yeah, of course. It's been amazing. It was a great experience. Well, I'm glad you're enjoying it, and thanks very much for joining us today. Thank you so much for having me. Well, I'm happy to be joined by one of our esteemed art professors, Professor Joanna Angel, who teaches in the studio art program at USCB. And they're coming us down to the field course in the Bahamas this May. And welcome. Thank you. Yeah, I thought it was a really neat idea that you had about kind of engaging science students and communication students in art to add a different facet of how they were viewing and seeing things. And certainly. I think my experience was always integrating art in my labs and things like that when I was a student really helped me learn things. And so tell us a little bit more about some of your experiences with the students this year. Sure, thank you. I had a wonderful time getting to know the communications and biology students and getting to them as artists, which they all proved themselves to be. They were amazing and made beautiful prints. I think the experience, the exercise is so valuable just because it's another way of seeing what you're looking at. We all speak different languages, arts, biology, communications, science, but... When you slow yourself down and observe something that you're studying and its visual elements at the pace it requires of you when you're making art or print, I think it gives you a great insight. Yes, tell us a little bit more about the printmaking process that was really interested me that what we did down there, my print to include. Yeah, you did great. So we were making relief prints using Speedy Carve and some fabric inks that we brought down to the studio or the lab. And so students were asked to look around, which they, of course, were doing anyway, and find something they wanted to carve an image of. And so some folks chose sharks, some turtles. I chose a fan coral. Which I kind of fell in love with. And so folks made different choices and they made drawings. I gave a really quick drawing lesson in maybe 20 minutes and they were all experts by the end of that lesson. And then they translated their drawings onto SpeedyCarve, they carved. And in relief printing, what you carve away is not what prints and what remains of the block is what prints. And so we proofed. Uh our prints and printed them on fabric and everybody had t-shirts uh and they printed some beautiful collaborative t-shirt Yeah, that was really turned out, I have to say, that's much better than I expected. Speedy Carve, for those who aren't familiar, because I wasn't, is kind of like 21st century, a lino cut or some other kind of carving like you do with wood blocks. But it's a lot easier than those hard surfaces. So it was it was fascinating to do that. Now, getting back to your earlier point, you know, the slowing down, I think is so important because when I teach labs to students back in the States, we have so much power in our fingertips, right? They take pictures of things in class and go, I'll look at it later. And the one thing I tell students, and they don't tend to take me seriously during the year, but I think when you're in the Bahamas, it's nature surrounding you, is when you are drawing something, even if you are really not good at drawing, you're trying your best to look at proportions and how things are oriented and how they're juxtaposed with each other. And so you get a, I think a little bit more intuitive feel about some of the science and also about how you communicate that as a communications major. So I thought that really aspect. You know, adding the A into STEAM, right? STEM with an A. It's not just a trivial exercise to appease humanities. I think it really is something important to try to engage with the students. Thanks, yeah, I think so too. One of the, when I teach drawing, one of the first exercises I give is, I've called it, because I love fancy titles, drawing as science and inquiry. And I ask students to go outside, pick something up or pick a small natural object and draw it. And learn from it, and then describe what they learned. You know, how many legs does that centipede have, for instance, and that's a lot to count, but what's the shape of the rim of that leaf, for instance? And I think it's important for, especially in our day and age, when we think everything's gonna be on a screen, I think is really important to look around at, you know, this earth that we all rely on, to see what's really going on. Well, as far as outside of your experience, what would you say was the most fascinating thing you, I mean, you saw about your, now your love of Sea Fans. Yes. But what else did you find particularly engaging with our trip? Well, I enjoyed getting to know the faculty a little bit better and the students especially and It just study abroad is such a wonderful thing. You're taken out of your comfort zone to some to some degree and you're you're put into a small community of people and then you're in a part of the world that you haven't seen before so the color I think every day I woke up and you know on the back of the truck I'd be pointing at color color color because it was just so different from the low country. So yeah, it's beautiful. Well, that's certainly what attracts, I think, our marine biology students is, you know, we're in this verdant salt marsh dominated environment back in Beaufort. But when we're the Caribbean, it's sandy beaches and coral reefs that are in various stages of disuse, not really disuse but some degradation, unfortunately, with changes, but also other things that are thriving. And you really get a sense of a different ecological underpinnings of those kinds of things rather than the salt marsh, which is the dominant. Primary producer in Beaufort County. Anything else you want to share about the trip? Yeah I don't think this would have happened if I hadn't started the gallery season last year by bringing April Planders and Evelyn Colleen to the Sea Island Center gallery where we their two print portfolios focused on the environment and climate change and what's going on in the world. I will say in the Palmas you're in the ocean which is you know we've more of it than we do land, don't we? It's a vast world that is so fun to explore. And I think bringing art and science together, we can carry a message, not that art has to have a message necessarily, but we can certainly bring people's attention to the coral reef ecology, things we need to pay attention to in our time. Yeah, for those who were just joining us for the first time, we did interview those two artists in an earlier podcast. You can go back and check that out. But both of them focused on marine marine environments. Corals introduced species was was the focus of the other artists work. So, well, thanks very much for joining us today. Well, thank you very much for having me. Hopefully this can be an ongoing thing and for years to come, hopefully we'll get maybe some art students engaged to coming down. I hope so. I think they have a wonderful time. Thank you very much for coming. Thank you, Dr. Staple. That's a wrap for today's episode of Tide Talk. We've had the chance to dive into what's happening at the Juraise Research Center and hear from some of the remarkable people that work here. Thanks for joining us as we explore the incredible natural history of the Bahamas. Stay tuned for more updates and be sure to subscribe for future episodes. Until next time, keep diving into discovery with us on TideTalk. That's all for this episode of Tie Talk. Thank you for listening. Be sure to subscribe for more episodes featuring the latest in biology research, low country discoveries, and student opportunities. If you'd like to support our work, consider making a donation or reaching out to join the conversation. If you have an idea for a future episode or would like to be a guest, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us through email at tie-talk at usdb.edu and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and bluesky at usdtb-tie-talk. Thai Talk is a production of the Sandshark Center for Innovative Media. Executive Producer, Dr. Caroline Sawyer, Host, Dr Joe Staton, Editor, Taylor De Silva, and I'm your Producer, Piper Davis.