April 14, 2012
We made it to Bajo Nuevo this afternoon after a final productive day diving Alice Shoal. Though we didn’t find as much coral at Alice as we might have expected, there is positive news to report here, and chief scientist Andy Bruckner solved one last Alice riddle just before we left.
We didn't see many grouper at Alice Shoal but did find one lonely goliath grouper
April 13, 2012
At first, Alice Shoal seems something of a mystery. Many of the problems slamming reefs around the world are minimal here. This area doesn’t seem to be generally overfished, for instance, and there are no communities nearby to flood the place with algae-fueling pollution. Yet there’s not much coral here, the rocky bottom covered mostly by algae. And though less fished than other reefs in the region, on dive after dive we see almost no snappers and groupers, often sentinels of healthy reef systems.
An arrow crab next to giant Caribbean anemone
April 12, 2012
The reef at Alice Shoal was an impressive site today, as much for the human activity as the marine life. Rising up a few meters off the bottom I spotted divers working in pairs around me as far out as I could see. In between them were the welcome sight of countless fish—angels, huge surgeonfish, and loads of exquisite black durgeons.
Redspotted hawkfish at Alice Shoal
The reef here is in the 15 to 20 meter depth range, with most of the seafloor covered in algae and sponges. The contours are mild, with only the occasional rock ledge for fish or lobsters to hide beneath. There are corals here, but they’re sparse.
Each night the team comes together to discuss the day’s work. Tonight, the main topic was how much more plentiful, and in many cases larger, the fish are here compared to the to Pedro Bank, the site of an earlier mission. That’s not surprising, because Pedro Bank, about 130 kilometers northeast of Alice Shoal and much closer to Jamaica’s main island, is far less isolated, opening it to much heavier fishing. Here, we still haven’t seen a fishing boat.
Loading the Calcutta for our first dives at Alice Shoal
April 11, 2012
Last night, when most of expedition team arrived, the crew had the Golden Shadow anchored just off Jamaica’s Port Royal, at the mouth of Kingston Harbor. In the 16th and 17th centuries that was a pirate hotspot, but an earthquake submerged much of the town in 1692. Some historic remnants remain, but there was no time for sightseeing.
Everybody was onboard by sunset and we headed south at about 10 p.m. We couldn’t have asked for better conditions. Skies are clear, seas are flat calm, and forecasts say it should stay like this for at least a few days.
Flat calm seas
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