After a 3.5 hour flight on the Golden Eye, we reached Hao to begin our third research mission in French Polynesia at Gambier. Hao is a large (56 km X 15 km), low-lying coral atoll at the southeastern end of
To state it simply, sharks are interesting. So much so that entire weeks of television are devoted to them. There are a variety of sharks found around the world from the docile wobbegong to the great white shark. The Largest
We have had many interesting dives within the lagoons around the Tuamotu Archipelago, but the Fakarava lagoonal habitats have been the most unique. There are thousands of small patch reefs that extend from the water’s surface to depths as great as
Fish communities in the Tuamotu Archipelago have been much more diverse than in Society Islands, especially on the fore reef. The fish are not only more abundant, but they are larger overall, meaning greater biomass, which is good for reefs
The Global Reef Expedition surveys aim to document what is happening on our coral reefs below water level, but on transit to our dive sites and in between dives, it is hard not to notice the abundant sea birds that
On Wednesday, a group of school children from Fakarava came for a visit to the Golden Shadow. The crew showed them around the ship and Living Oceans Foundation Fellows told the children about the science and coral reef research that
Scientific research is the bread and butter of the Living Oceans Foundation, but public outreach is another key component of our work. During the last two weeks that we have been researching in the Tuamotu Archipelago, we have been joined by a
After two weeks, we’ve completed reef assessments around Rangiroa, Aratika, and Raraka and are now examining Fakarava. Tuamotu reefs are dramatically different from Society Islands. Besides the near absence of crown of thorns seastars (we’ve seen a handful in the
There are risks in every work environment, so working on and around boats brings with it unique safety concerns. We stress safety at the beginning of every mission, and give reminders of various risks throughout the mission. In order to
Several of the scientists on the ship are from the US and were obviously not able to make it home for Thanksgiving. This is a time when many of us would go home to visit family and have a big
