As I clambered dripping onto the boat after our second dive of the day on the west side of Huon Atoll, I was greeted by a cacophony of dive chatter- a sure sign that something eventful had been seen. To
We’ve been seeing quite a number of reef sharks in New Caledonia, particularly in the northern atolls. There are grey reef sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) on almost every dive, as well as silvertip sharks (Carcharhinus albimarginatus) and whitetip reef sharks (Triaenodon
Returning from their third dive of the day, most of the science team was happy to wash and pack away their gear, before heading for a hot shower and dinner. For two members of our dive team, however, the day’s
We are currently visiting a remote coral reef about 150 kilometers off the northern coast of New Caledonia called Cook Reef, where we’ve seen an unusually high abundance of top predatory fish. The large numbers of predatory fish are likely
As the dive team descended on our first dive in the northern atolls of New Caledonia, Pelotas Reef, it was apparent to all that this would be a challenging dive. The reason – current! Sea Whips The presence of strong
As I plunged into the water for my last dive of the day on the western tip of Cook Reef in New Caledonia I was greeted by the sight of many different types of fishes. Along with my dive buddy
Biodiversity is the diversity of life from genes to ecosystems. Somewhere between these two extremes are habitats. Habitats are, simply speaking, an area where flora and fauna settle, live, feed, reproduce and die. More formally, marine habitats can be defined
My role on the LOF expeditions in the Pacific has been underwater photography. In addition to being on the lookout for interesting or beautiful subjects for the Facebook photo gallery or to illustrate blog postings, my primary duty is to
Today is transit day. The Golden Shadow is moving from Prony Bay, at the southern end of the main island (Grande Terre) of New Caledonia to Cook Reef in the north. It is a day for all the scientists to
With wind and swell building from the south and east, we identified two relatively sheltered sites north of Ile des Pins for the morning surveys. Ominous rain clouds were building in the sky to the east, but we were glad
