We definitely saved the best reef day for last! We went boating all around the atoll and snorkeled all morning. We started at the Channel, and I think it was my favorite reef of the whole trip! I finally got to see Dendrogyra cylindrus.
An AWESOME Dendrogyra cylindrus
I also got to see several Eusmilia fastigiata (Flower Coral) and some massive Acropora palmata. They were bigger than me!
Acropora palmataEusmilia fastigiata
After that, we went to a spot called the Aquarium. It was really shallow and easy snorkeling. I spotted a flounder! I also saw my first Montastrea cavernosa. Unfortunately, I never found a Pineapple Coral (Dichocoenia stokesi). Despite that, I had such an amazing time at the reef this week!
The fun didn’t stop after lunch. We dissected the Lionfish that Scott has been hunting throughout the trip. Mikey and I’s had 7 fish in its stomach. It was pretty gross. We compared the size of our fish to the fish that they caught on the 2015 trip.
After analyzing that data, we took a boat to a nearby island and had a wonderful evening on the dock. We could not possibly ask for a more perfect goodbye to Glover’s Atoll. The ocean and sunset were absolutely gorgeous! Tomorrow we’re heading back to the Belize Zoo on our way into the Chiquibul Rainforest!
Ellie and I on the dock, enjoying our last night at Glovers!
Wow, and one week has past. It’s a weird feeling of sadness knowing that I’ll leave this place at the same time I’m pretty excited to be checking out the rainforest. What to feel?
We started the day checking out three different reef types: one on the channel, one called The Aquarium and a deep patch reef off Middle Caye. I was expecting The Aquarium to be the prettiest one with the most organism variety but apparently not. The channel reef was the one that impressed me the most, with magnificent stacked coral reefs that looked like mountains underwater. It was fun swimming around and through it observing all the organisms in their natural habitat. I finally got to see a full nurse shark and followed it for a little bit. It exuded silent charisma as it swam about slowly and menacingly. I followed a school of blue tang around for a bit and that was fun too, picking out the non-blue tang species swimming with them.
Nurse shark just chilling on the reef.
In The Aquarium, I was slightly disappointed as the standard was set too high from the first reef. I guess the lack of species variety was due to the shallowness of the area, which prevented the corals from forming intricate structures where species can live in. It was still cool finding new organisms around, and there were many more of my taxon species there compared to the channel reef. I saw a lot more Christmas Tree Worms (Spirobranchus giganteus) and some hugeee Magnificent Feather Dusters (Sabellastarte magnifica). And apparently another nurse shark was hanging out around sipping tea but I wasn’t there to see it.
The Aquarium is pretty shallow as seen here.
In the last deep patch reef, there were only a few patches, but there were similar to the channel reef in that they were very tall and the corals were all big. There was one particularly big one which looked like a comfortable bean bag which everyone took turns taking pictures with.
After lunch, we did presentations and then dissected the Lionfish. It smelled like a fish market for a little bit and I gutted fish for the first time which was fun. We rushed through making the poster to report our findings on the Lionfish measurements as we really wanted to visit a neighboring island, which was the reward for finishing the poster quickly. Eventually we did visit the other island which was a chill time and we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon and enjoyed the last day here. I’m gonna miss the quaint little village which has been my home for the past few days, the relaxed vibes of sun, beach and snorkeling, and last but not least, Clivus. It’s been an unforgettable time for sure. Here I come, Las Cuevas!
Today was an incredible day! We spent the morning snorkeling and doing reef zonation. We started the day in the Channel. Immediately, I almost ran head into a nurse shark. I was diving down to look at some cool coral and a nurse shark came around the corner about a foot away from me. A little later, we saw a sun spotted eel hiding in the coral.
Then, we went to the aquarium. It was super shallow compared to the channel, but was still really fun. We saw a blue irradescent flounder and a few more nurse sharks free swimming around the reef. Then, we went to a patch reef off Middle Caye. I saw lots of puffer fish and a huge brain coral.
I saw lots of herbivorous fish today! I saw a new parrot fish munching on the coral. I think it was a Red banded parrot fish. Today, was the first day that I could hear the parrot fish’s teeth scraping the algae off the coral. I also saw a huge school of Acanthurus coeruleus (Blue tang surgeonfish).
After lunch, we dissected the lion fish that Scott and Javi caught throughout the week! It was really cool. Mine and Tian Tian’s fish was a large male! After collecting physical measurements of the fish, we made ceviche. It was the best ceviche I have ever had! We took ceviche to one of the other islands and watched the sun set.
