Aloha everyone, sorry for the long absence! Since my last post I have been on some awesome adventures!
After leaving Jill Heinerth at the end of July I had about a 12 hour turnaround before heading to Nassau to join the crew and researchers of the Living Oceans Foundation aboard the R/V Golden Shadow for a research cruise to the Inaguas and Hogsty Reef. The cruise started with a downhill run and circumnavigation of Cuba to avoid tropical storm Emily. Once Emily passed we were finally able to begin surveying and diving our research sites: Great Inagua, Little Inagua, and Hogsty Reef. The cruise was a 20+ day leg of the Living Oceans Foundation multiyear research project called the Global Reef Expedition and was my first time diving in the Bahamas.
The research group was a mix of researchers from coral and fish experts to even a veterinarian pathologist! During the cruise I had the opportunity to help out on as many projects as possible but I spent a considerable amount of time working with the film crew hired to document the trip and helping a researcher studying grazing reef fish. For more information on that project check out this link “How Does Wave Action Impact Grazing Reef Fish?”. Click here to check out a short clip I helped with. As a warning it is just a tour of the boat and its crew.
The cruise was an awesome experience and something I could write five or six blogs about! As awesome as the cruise was I was pretty surprised at how little hard coral cover there was. It was jaw dropping to see beautiful gigantic coral heads that were completely dead or dying. It’s one thing to hear about the reduction of coral cover in the Bahamas but it is completely different to view it first hand. Having said that…the diving was beautiful and every dive was a new experience for me. Hope you enjoy the pictures!
