The Serenity, our stout vessel
Dive platform prepping for training
Dive briefing
Open water training dives
Mastering SCUBA skills.....nice hover!
Simulating a controlled emergency swimming ascent
Ummmm, this isn't in the PADI book....but it does come in handy for looking under ledges.
Certified DIVERS!
Sail training....raise the mainsail!
Skipper for the day
Bosun's chair to the mast head
sleeping in the galley provides easy access to grub
sunset kayak expedition
Nature hike to Spyglass Hill, the peak of Norman Island
abundance of lizards
these hermit crabs are found high on the mountain
cool spider
invasive monkey species
at the summit
Spyglass Hill was where lookouts were posted for approaching ships during Normal Island's pirate heyday
exploring the coral reef
vase sponge
pillar coral
flamingo tongue
nice mix of a gorgonian sea rod, sea fans, montastrea coral, and sponges
spiny lobsters
green moray eel
Diadema sea urchin
nice acropora palmata colony
acropora palmata and anchovy school
massive school of anchovies
surrounded in an anchovy bait ball
tarpon patroling the bait
tarpon cruising
stoplight parrotfish
trumpet fish
learning transect/quadrat benthic surveys technique
conducting surveys to assess reef diversity and health
exploring the rich seagrass habitat
mantis shrimp and anemone
gooseneck barnacle
cool anemone
the HMS Rhone, shipwreck and artifical reef
lurking baracuda
exiting the hull of the shipwreck where it was broken in half
porcupine fish
spotted moray eel
little colony of tunicates
Lecture time!
Shirts and shoes optional in this classroom
The Baths, at Virgin Gorda
dinghy pilot practice. please fasten your seatbelts.
The Baths at Virgin Gorda
inventorying some of the local invertebrates
filtering and measuring the contents of our sedimentation traps
two weeks of sedimentation, a stressor that impairs reefs
Colonies of fecal coliform bacteria incubated from seawater that receives untreated waste discharge....another stressor for reefs from human development
endangered local inguana species are bred in captivity and released to the wild
nap time!
Grillin time!
Escape hatch in the deck of the galley.
brittle star, type of starfish
small grouper
students learn how to ID reef fish, and survey fish diversity and abundance
juvenile stoplight parrotfish taking a big bite of coral skeleton and algae
Blades of turtle grass deployed on the reef in a transect....nice bite mark!
the % consumed at each reef serves as a measure of herbivory intensity
flashcards....studying for the final exam
processing data to summarize results of field studies....wow, that data must have turned out nice.
yellowtail damselfish
schoolmaster snapper cruising the reef
peacock flounder, beautiful fish
presentations of results for field studies
how many hypotheses?
cluster of diadema sea urchins...ravenous herbivores
urchin trying to camouflage itself
hiding porcupine fish
colony of tunicates of fire coral
hermit crab
sea urchin under investigation
microscope view
aristotle's latern, sea urchin mouth
live conch
the amazing conch eye
reef squid
