Today we went out on a boat to visit a patch reef to try to determine what percentage of coral was alive and what percentage was dead. It was not fun. At least, the data collection was not fun. The water was very shallow and the winds and waves were very strong. Our transect line kept getting dragged away and tangled up, and I was thrown backwards onto sharp and hard corals several times. It will be a miracle if we can somehow salvage usable data from today.

After data collection, we decided to take the boat to another patch reef (where we could snorkel purely for fun). I felt freezing cold and was shivering after the previous snorkeling ordeal, so I decided to stay in the boat instead of doing a recreational snorkel.

In retrospect, I regret that decision and I should have gone snorkeling again. I ended up getting wet and freezing cold on the boat ride back anyway, and from what I heard, the group saw some pretty unique organisms (including an invasive lionfish, which they promptly speared and captured)!

Even though we focused on data collection today, I still was able to see (and be thrown into) some pretty cool sponges.

Sponges seen today:

Scattered pore rope sponge (Aplysina fulva)

Erect rope sponge (Amphimedon compressa)

Fire sponge (Tedania ignis)

Brown variable sponge (Cliona varians)

P.S. The power has been going out (the island is having some generator issues), so I will have to post this blog a day late