Island home: part 3

I rounded the bend, drove cautiously down the steep driveway, and parked next to a stone wall. I didn't see Maikani's car yet, so I must have arrived first. Stepping out of my rented SUV, I noticed a man and a woman on the balcony above me. Tentatively, I called to them, "Are you Maikani's family?"

They were obviously expecting me. The woman, Maikani's mom, welcomed me inside, while her dad organized the other children to get my bags out of the car. One of Maikani's sisters showed me to my room. "Are you hungry?" came a call from the kitchen.

This is a very different type of welcome for me in Palau. Usually, I arrive late at night, crash in a dorm at the research station, and see nobody but my own team until the next business day. This trip, the research station was overwhelmed with visiting scientists, so many of us are having to live off site. Maikani offered me the spare room in her family's home, and it seemed like a much better option than a hotel. 

So far, I am loving it here. Maikani's parents own two houses right next to each other, and their large family is spread between them. Besides the two parents and 5 children, there are plenty of relatives in the area who stop by. Uncles bring baked goods and chill on the porch. Younger cousins are dropped off when their parents are busy. I always knew Maikani had a large family, but now I'm getting to see it first-hand. 

This is my fourth trip to Palau in two years, and the small island nation feels like home. In fact, by the end of this trip, I will have spent a total of 5 months of my life in Palau. That's approaching the amount of time I lived in Norway! This trip, I have a car, a local phone number, and a home away from the research station. It is not accurate to say that I live in Palau, but it feels like I'm getting darn close. 

This is going to be a long trip, too - nearly two months. It's coral spawning season, and we need every chance we can get to succeed with our experiments. Some of you might remember that last year, we successfully spawned and reared Porites lobata larvae in captivity for the first time. But by the time we returned in November, every single one of our precious juvenile corals was dead. This trip is our second chance - and probably our last chance - to answer our main scientific question. I'm calling it Spawn Fest 2023, and our headliner is Porites lobata. 

I'll try to post every few days while we're in Palau, so stay tuned for tales from the field! With any luck, we will be swimming in data by the end of this trip. I'm so excited to see how it goes.