Thanksgiving in the Bahamas

Happy Thanksgiving! How many people in the world can say that they spent this holiday snorkeling in the blue-green waters of the Bahamas? Although it was windy, we made it into the water first at Snapshot Reef in the morning and then at Rice Bay in the afternoon. Rice Bay actually has transect lines that John wanted to see and collect data. As we approached this area we could tell right away that it was going to be difficult to get much data as the wind and waves were strong. We made the decision to go out and do what we could. I took Jewels, another Earthwatch teacher, with me and a PI square and headed for the reef. Along the way we were able to spot several large lobster. These lobsters are much different looking than what you would see in a restaurant or even the ones I have seen at Catalina. The lobsters here are light in color and spotted somewhat with the colors of the reef wall. You had to look closely to even see them even though they were quite large. Jewels and I worked hard to collect data from the PI frames, but we found that the wave current was too strong to continue. We were being thrown against the reef and were afraid of damaging animals. The sad part for me is that we only observed algae, rocks, sand, and a few soft corals under our PI frames. I don’t have enough history to tell you whether this is normal or a change that has been occurring over time, but I am sure that our researchers would like to see more evidence of coral growth. I did, however, see a few very beautiful smooth brain corals that at least, at this point, look healthy. Unfortunately, I almost bumped into a Lion Fish, which is not a good sign for the environment as they are not native, and they are dangerous to humans. Everything considered, it was a fantastic day and it is always nice to crawl into bed each night knowing that you worked hard and tried to do some good in the world.