Today, we hit the longtail for some coral transplanting.
We arrived at the nursery and chose the most viable candidates for transplanting to our new permanent structure. In the last week, there has been a significant colour change in the corals. I think due to the temperature and weather conditions, they are starting to struggle.
Moving them to the new structure, may cause some stress, but its slightly lower in the water and has a little bit of cover to maybe help reduce the overall stress in the long run.
In a 70 minute dive, we managed to transplant 20 corals between 3 of us. A slow process, but we need to be very careful not to damage the bases of the corals that have settled and grown over the last 6 months.
Over the last few days we have been extremely busy… Here is a summary…. Our day off a few days ago started with nice refreshing swim at the Regal pool and then breakfast at Cafe Del Sol. Si had UK work to do, so dropped me in Sairee and then went home. I went for a massage which was bliss. After taking a slow walk home and nearly passing out from the heat 😀 I passed out on the sofa whilst Si carried on working. Later on, we showered and went out for food and came back for a lazy night in front of the tv. Si’s been teaching a MRM (Marine Resource Management) course since the 13th which I’ve been helping out on. It’s been going really well and Si’s doing a brilliant job. Most mornings have been doing academics, whether in a classroom, when they’ve been free or cafés. The only thing with the cafés, is the noise but it’s a more relaxed atmosphere and we can have breakfast whilst teaching which has been nice. On the MRM we cover a lot of material, the course can be taught in one day, which we both think is ridiculous as there’s so much to take in, but breaking it up into a 4-6 day course is much more beneficial for the student/s. There’s an array of subjects to cover, from Ecology & Biology of coral reefs, Reef Management issues (divers perspective), and Promoting Sustainable diving practices. So as you can see, an awful lot to cover so in order to break it up, we’ve been diving and improve fish & invertebrate, various surveys along with a visit to ‘Bio Rock’, the electrified artificial reef, where we transplanted broken and soon to be dead corals.
Today, we’ve just finished the last unit on this course in Cafe Del Sol and are on the afternoon boat to go to ‘Twins’ & Japanese Gardens’ for quadrants surveys
Finally, I managed to get hold of the Open Water Course video from last month. Notice the freaky headwear… especially my dive mask with ear defenders which I was trying out.
