Coral Gardens, TCI

I snorkled the Coral Gardens inshore reef this afternoon. Visibility was mediocre due to the tide and time of day, but it was still fun. in a nutshell, I would suggest this site over Smith's reef since it is easier to access from most hotels on Grace Bay, and seems larger.


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Fish diversity and abundance was as good or better than Smith's Reef, and there was a greater diversity of stony coral species, including some good looking brain, Siderastrea and Montastrea coral colonies of various sizes, although as at Smith's there were Montastreas that appeared to be ill. There were some large Porites porites heads as well, that appear to be recovering from storm damage. This is a web image of a Siderastrea colony.

Macroalgae growth was much more controlled, maybe due to the greater number of parrotfish? This was a nice surprise, since the reef is off of Beaches resort, without a doubt the largest one on the island boasting 15 bars and restaurants! (We liken it to a beached cruise ship :-) )  I could clearly hear the Parrots munching on algae.

I did see at least four lionfish. Finding a submerged stick, I was as able to severely harrass a couple of them. It made me feel better, of nothing else...

Ray Ray and I plan to dive this area again in the morning.

Diving at Smith's Reef, TCI

This morning while the girls were asleep I went snorkeling at Smith's Reef, an inshore reef near Turtle Cove Marina.  (Here are the coordinates if you're interested: +21° 47' 15.73", -72° 13' 20.54")



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The islands were directly hit recently by a hurricane recently, so the coral was not in good shape, but it was still in better shape than the inshore reefs we saw in Anguilla.  The shore is developed with villas and homes, so that cannot help either.  There were a lot of fish to see, including a good number of small groupers, a small moray, and a juvenile blue angelfish, so fish watching was a lot of fun.  I saw no spiny lobsters at all, which was surprising, and no lionfish, which was a pleasant surprise.  I also noticed a large yellow octopus down in a cave, probably the biggest one I've seen while diving. 

The macroalgae had not overgrown the dead coral and rock here as badly as in Anguilla, but there was very little surviving brain coral and no Acropora corals at all. There were some isolated massive star corals (Montastrea sp.) however they seemed not to be growing back well, and a couple were visibly bleaching/receding.  There were surprisingly few parrotfish and Diadema sea urchins, so maybe that's why. Diadema urchins and parrotfish are important species in controlling algae that can otherwise overgrow and smother reef buildiung corals.

There was a great diversity of gorgonians, though few sea fans, and the Porites astreoides (mustard hill coral) seemed to be growing back very well. These colonies were all over the place, and were a vivid yellow color.

Apologies for the lack of photos.  Our underwater camera broke, so these pictures are similar photos linked from other web sites.

Here are a couple of relevant links if you are interested in coral reef recovery and conservation.  Hopefully we can dive at the Coral Gardens before we leave, and post a description of that dive as well.

Coral Restoration Foundation  in the Florida Keys

Write-up of a study of near shore coral habitats from the U of Miami, found by accident in looking for photos to link. :)  Near shore Coral and Epifauna Diversity

Lionfish!

I found a pair of lionfish lurking in an old tire in front of our hotel. It is sad that this invasive species has spread this far, and that the aquarium hobby is ultimately responsible.

Check out lionfishhunter.blogspot.com

Good news, maybe bad news?

The gray finger leather is looking better, here are some photos from yesterday:



























On another subject, the green Montipora capricornis that turned brown when the old light bulb went bad is looking... different. There is a patch of light green, but I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing...














This is a closeup of the weird area:

Yikes

I came home from work to see the gray leather coral looking like this:














Not sure what to make of it- it may be a natural phase but it's the first time since we got it, so I'm going to look into it...















Sorry for the long pause in posts, but I've been a little under the weather. :)