Marine Scientists Comings and Goings
Our time in Cay Sal Bank is going fast – we’ve already reached our halfway point, marked by a short trip back to Freeport today. We’ve covered a lot of ground on the East side of the bank in a …
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A Change of Scene
During the last four days at our first anchorage site near Anguilla Cay, the expedition team covered a large amount of ground, including nine research dives. You can see the various research sites on the map below labeled as red …
Cay Sal Bank: Observations at Anguilla Cay
We completed another full day of research today with two dives in the morning about an hour away from our anchorage, and an afternoon dive nearby just off the point of Anguilla Cay. Our team continued with their surveys of …
A Full Day of Cay Sal Bank Coral Reef Research
We had a very busy and successful first day of Cay Sal Bank coral reef research today, completing 6 separate dives in the vicinity of Anguilla Cay. The groundtruthing team, comprised of Dr. Sam Purkis and Jeremy Kerr, set off …
Practice Dives: The Team Gets Their Fins Wet
Following our overnight transit from Freeport, the M/Y Golden Shadow pulled into the southeastern corner of Cay Sal Bank known as Anguilla Cay. It was already mid-afternoon, so the team divided up into three groups to do some prep and …
A Quick Golden Shadow Rendezvous… And We’re Off!
After months of anticipation, the Cay Sal Bank research team finally met up with their temporary home for the next three weeks: the M/Y Golden Shadow. The Shadow, along with the M/Y Golden Osprey, and their crews sailed yesterday from …
A Journey of a Thousand (Nautical) Miles Begins…
Coral reefs have been called the heart of the ocean. They weave around our blue planet, forming a life-sustaining circulatory system for all varieties of life – from phytoplankton to sea slugs, and from fishes to, ultimately… us. As creators …
The Other Coral Eaters
I’ve spent a lot of time talking about the corals, how they are faring, and what invertebrates are eating them. I’ve only briefly mentioned fish, even though they are the showcase of the Red Sea. From charismatic megafuana like the …
Diagnosing the Crime Scene
The Farasan Banks is a very unique and diverse marine ecosystem with more reef habitat per unit area than anywhere else we’ve surveyed along the Saudi Arabian Red Sea coast. Like other areas, the major framework builders of these structures …
Observing Majestic Whale Sharks
After another spectacular day exploring the Farasan Banks, I was once again enamored by the wonders of the Red Sea and the rich diversity of life that abounds on the reefs and in surrounding waters. We completed two spectacular wall …