Kathy's Carriacou diary: Bugs and barometers

Day 1

Building a microscope that can help us see mosquitoes clearly. Quite hard working alone. Sarah started off by saying 'I think this challenge is really boring. I don't want to film this." David didn't seem too keen to film either. Ah well.

And it all means trying to melt glass again! This time it's no good stuffing it into the furnace. The soot would mess up the glass and make it dirty and a poor lens - the glass needs to be really clean and clear. Decided it wouldn't be possible to make a decent large lens ... instead decided to make a tiny glass spherical lens. Tested out some spheres of water to check the kind of magnification I might get. Felt quite reassured: got magnification of maybe 3x and glass should be better than water (higher refractive index i.e. bends light more).

Gorgeous lunchtime swim - blue skies, palms and a windy site. We're in heaven here!

Due to lack of film crews and anyone to work with, people started calling me "no friends Sykes". But actually quite enjoyed the peace and quiet (through my tear-stained eyes!)

Now that we have Mike B's alcohol, I made myself a spirit burner. Happily made little spheres of glass - about 1-2mm in diameter. Made several so I'd have a chance to play around and break some.

Also helped Mike L with some maths. Pleased he trusts me and my maths enough to ask me.

Day 2

Lovely day. Probably my favourite so far.

Pottered about making my microscope. Didn't spend much time being filmed - so just got on and created. It was a treat to be able to saw metal and wood in the sun and put something together.

Took ages making holes in metal - trying to make a mechanism to focus the microscope and hold the glass bead in place. Finally, in the afternoon had a glass sphere wedged into place on top of an old saucepan. Got some onion cells on some glass and a human hair. Looked at the hair which looked big but so fuzzy. I was really disappointed. Then I checked out the onion cells begrudgingly thinking there was no chance I'd see anything. And there they were - onion cells looking like little bricks in a wall. Whooped with delight. So exciting! Almost as exciting as when I was doing research - looking through an electron microscope trying to see something completely new and seeing it. Amazed that a tiny glass sphere would magnify anything as much as this. And so clearly!

Mike B and Jonathan are doing weather as their challenge. They did a hysterical weather report in the evening. What a delight! So lucky to be with a group of such bizarre, lovely, mad people.

Day 3

Showed Kate a mosquito under my microscope. It was a close up of a bent, hairy leg - I am still gob-smacked to be able to see so clearly. I think I'm seeing at 200x magnification. Kate was thrilled to bits and everyone kept coming over to see what else they could see. The film crew, Derek and John, just kept on filming the view. Steve had to force us to have a lunch break, we were all so excited. Looked at salt crystals, pollen, pond water, blood, spiders' webs and basically anything I could fit underneath it. Mike L wanted me to see if I could find his cheek cells and mouth bacteria. We found the cells and Mike L thought he could see bacteria too - little bits of blobby background. Stretching my microscope to the limit!

Ellen and Mike L had great success in their antibacterial cream. We all need it - covered in cuts and wounds from sawing wood or drilling things. They'd been astonished at how hard it was to get bacteria to grow. It should have been rampant at these temperatures but it finally happened overnight and garlic was a great preventative of its formation. We were slathered in cream before we knew what hit us. But there are scents I'd rather to be slathered in than in garlic!

Swam back from the lime factory to Silver Beach where we were staying. Just me and Ellen - and we bombed it, really enjoyed it. Got back before the others arrived in the van.