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| The begginings of the quadrats |
Once the quadrats were built we settled in for a quick lunch then quickly turned it around and set up our gear to go diving! We visited two incredible reefs today. The first was called Paul's anchor, and it featured 3 old anchors from pirate ships that have now started to mold into the reef itself. We managed to find one of them though! The students took transects on this reef as well as pictures of the bleaching orbicella annularis coral.
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| Photo credit: Ashley Barnett Imaging bleaching orbicella annularis with coral health indicator cards |
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| Photo credit: Jessica Waites
Making sure to do my saftey stop!
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The second reef we dove was Jackson's point. This dive was work free, and I know the students were thankful because this reef was gorgeous! There were tons of fish and so many nooks and crannys to peer into and swim through. Everyone had a blast diving here and I for one want to go back! We had an awesome time exploring and getting up close and personal with this flourishing reef.
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| Photo credit: Emma Wennick School of fish swimming over the reef |
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| Photo credit: Maural Sowlat A grouper swimming close by -- the grouper we have encountered are very friendly and will actually swim along side you and follow you as you dive. It is so cool! |
After our dives we headed back in to CCMI and had ourselves a big (much needed) dinner. Everyone settled in for the night going through pictures of the day and the data collected. I can tell everyone is really getting into what we are doing and are truly loving diving!
Tomorrow is supposed to be another clear day (we've been so lucky with the weather) so we are planning on more dives in the morning! Can't wait.
- J
Pirate anchors, how cool is that????! Wonderful that you were able to spy out at least one of them. You're turning into a fish with so much diving, you must feel heavy when you come back onto the land :-)
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