Kristen here –

Sorry everyone but Aaron is currently injured and would like to sit out this blog post due to the throbbing pain in his forearm induced by scraping against a starfish known as the crown of thorns. Not be confused with the crown of Christ or the flowering plant with red tiny flowers, this starfish has an amazing self-defense system that renders it practically impenetrable to nearly all predators. The only animal that can slice through a crown of thorns is an urchin that cuts through the starfish like a table saw as it eats on the tender flesh inside the body.

Don’t be deceived by its bright and beautiful colors either! Like most things in nature, the bright colors stand as a warning to other organisms to leave it alone or suffer the consequences. Here in Koh Toa, the starfishes are a purple gray color with an almost iridescent orange on the spines.  When in the water, it looks as though you should be able to run your hand over the protrusions much like you would a mohawk. Because the starfish uses water to pump its body up, it flows with the current and even seems to sway with the waters. But as Aaron can attest, the thorns are sharp and contain a potent poison that induces numbness, pain, nausea and dizziness.

As a part of the Ocean’s Day celebration, our team performed a beach clean up in the local Chalok Harbor and then proceeded to the boat in order to dive and collect trash/rubbish there. We divided into two person teams and set out together to gather foreign objects along the sea floor and trapped in the coral. And if you happened upon a Crown of Thorns starfish, remove it. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Removing these starfish seems kind of mean, but they are the rival of rabbits in the breeding department. There are tons of them and they spawn like crazy. Additionally, due to climate change, the populations have boomed and due to the increased numbers, the corals have been silent victims as these starfish roam the reefs destroying everything in their path.

Today, in less than an hour, roughly 10 starfish were collected and outside their natural habitat, meaning that they are wandering in order to consume more food because there are too many animals in that one area. This poses a serious threat to the corals and other wildlife that live there because it’s the equivalent of letting …. You know I’m trying to think of something that compares and I can’t because there isn’t one.  No other ecosystem that I’m aware of is created by tiny little animals that create a living, breathing infrastructure. And no other animal creeps in to eat as much as they can before moving on – like the aliens from Independence Day. Consuming what they can and then moving on. So because we (humans) made it possible for these creatures to be so deleterious to the ecosystem, it’s our obligation to deal with them and protect the reefs by disposing of them, usually under a mangrove tree.

My partner, a very sweet and lovely Scottish young lady, were quite successful in collecting trash. We found a cracked diving mask, a blue jacket, tons of fishing line and netting, a license plate, a baseball cap,  and other small bits of plastic that we brought back to be properly disposed of. We had a blast cruising around. It was refreshing to see new coral growing from the wasteland of the 2008 bleaching event. New beautiful and vibrant corals were starting to take hold, spread out as if someone just strewn them in the water without a care in the world, fish darting from one hiding place to the next.

It was during this same dive that Kevin and Aaron brought up about 7 crown of thorns and while passing them up onto the boat, the bag swung down and cracked Aaron on the arm. He’s fine, more annoyed than anything it seems. But it’s not a pain he’ll quickly forget. If anything, he can compare his future injuries with it and say “nah, this is nothing, not like that one time I got stung” and the pain won’t seem that bad anymore.

On a side note, there is a walking stick chilling above our room door. Pretty neat!

Kristen here:

Today, the team went out to do a second muck dive since the first was an unsuccessful Waldo search. Which we found out is “where’s Charlie” in french. Aaron joined them on the dive today and I stayed behind in order to assist with some structure building for some of the artificial reefs they are going to be putting down. Plus today gives me some on land time to drink as much water as humanly possible and  hydrate before getting back in the water. I hate not diving, but I’d rather miss one day than the whole week because I got sick.  So artificial reefs….

The structures that are being built here range in size and shape. Most of the time, whatever idea you have will work as long as it’s not overly complicated. The structures must be large and sturdy in order to support the coral growth and not collapse under the weight of the organisms.  Plus they try to include a couple of holes for the fish to hide in, creating a fish hotel of sorts.

Kristen here:

Today we went out to repair the mooring lines on one of the bays and then continued on to remove more crown of thorns from the next bay over.

Mooring lines are increasingly important in the protection of the coral reef ecosystems. By providing a safe and reliable place for boats to attach, it decreases the amount of damage to the reefs by decreasing the need to drop anchors. However, boat captains either through arrogance or ignorance sometimes attach to lines that are used as a ‘no go’ zones, distinguished by the use of small yellow floats on the line. These zones are laid out along shallow reefs as a warning to all that there are shallow reefs which can be damaged by traffic. The rope, which is only an inch thick and attached to small coral head are easily destroyed when a large boat moors to the line. The mass of the boat in the currents and waves breaks the ropes and they float away or sink to the bottom to get tangled up.

The amazing part of this work is the incredible amount of team work that must go into these ventures. To create one line today took a team of about 15 and roughly two and a half hours of work. This time would have been cut a little shorter if there was more experience  amongst the team, but as volunteers, we can’t develop the experience quickly. This is why the team leaders usually step in and the rest of us generally take orders and accomplish tasks as they are delegated. Aaron snorkeled and free dove today in order to assist with the laying of the “no go” markers, all the while ducking as boats cruised in and out of the area dropping off tourist who would snorkel. These boats tried to cross the rope many times, each time to be yelled at and move back, like sulking children. One yacht in particular in stereotypical snob fashion cruised through our team in order to get near the reefs so that they would not have to swim further than 15 meters in order to enjoy their snorkeling. However, from the looks of the gentleman, it would have been better for him to have gone a mile off the shore and swam in for the exercise, but I would be scared of the damage he would cause as his body lumbering across the sea floor like a hippo.

While this line was being laid out, a few other divers and I descended to find the attachment points for the line above. After finding it, we quickly surmised that it was in disrepair. Another attachment point was located and used instead. While the rest of the team worked with the better point, I stayed behind and removed the poorer rope so that it would not strangle the coral head there or continue to abrade the surfaces of the rocks. Little blue and yellow fish gathered around me watching the rope unfurl and then darted away when the rope suddenly popped to the surface with the makeshift lift bag I had used to keep one end of the rope pointing up while I worked the knot undone.

Once this was all completed, we all clambered back aboard and traveled to the neighboring bay,  and jumped back into the water for a crown of thorns removal. All together, we gathered 20 and disposed of them beneath a mangrove when we returned. Visibility on this dive wasn’t amazing but we managed to stay together, usually so closely that we were bumping in to each other. The complexity of the reef structure on this dive in particular has been fascinating. Most of what we have seen has been fairly flat, laid out on a plain. Here the corals grew over large boulders that were exposed from thousands of years of degradation and erosion caused by the waves battering against the sides of the cliffs. Diving here required us to ‘climb’ over the surfaces, fall down the other sides of the boulders, and hug the walls of the cliffs in the search for the predatory starfish. I think it has  been my favorite dive by far.

For those of you who read this blog mainly for information about the ongoing efforts here, this post may very well be one that you could skip. I have been asked the question “Why do you dive?” many times over the course of the last six months and I have spent that time contemplating what a true answer should be, for myself and possibly others in the occupation/sport. My diving experience is limited, in fact, I am extremely new in the audience of most divers I  have met but I feel there is enough in my logbook upon which to base a conclusion. As fair warning, the following answer could appear whimsical, unrealistic, and borderline philosophical to some, but at the end of each day it still remains my answer. My attempts begin with the basic answer of “Why not?” but for those of you who know anything about me, I analyze just about everything, attempting to break down a question or problem into its constituent pieces to understand the steps necessary to construct a viable solution. A search for the logical and scientific have become the pillars of my daily muses over the past years and I suspect that will not change in the future.  Needless to say the breadth of “Why not?” will not suffice for someone of my construction, although,for those whom it does, the clarity of those two words captures the heart of the sport.

Not too long ago, I ventured out to a site called Buford Sink in the western part of Florida. It was called an adventure dive by those who posted their experiences with the site and I can safely say, adventure it was. We entered a state park where we drove roughly 2 miles to the opening of a small brush covered path. From what we had heard, the dive was located at the end of a mile hike, the last quarter of it being swamplands with all of the pleasant species one would associate with such an area…snakes, gators, mosquitos (teradactals) being the most prominent. At the end of the first section, the grapevine proved not to disappoint. I learned that huffing through this terrain with a full dive load out is quite tedious to say the least. The end of this hike led you to a small muddy terrace overlooking a small serene pond. Aside from its aquamarine ambiance, it appeared as if it held no special dive secret or quality that would set it part from those we had dove before but I was soon to be proven wrong.

After donning our equipment, we slipped into the sink where we drifted to the center section containing two downed trees that sat  crossed over top of one another. A quick peek below the surface revealed relatively no life aside from a catfish here and there but yet there was an innate vitality that seemed to be emanating from sizeable opening that swallowed the sun’s midday rays in its depths.  As we descended into the black, lighting off our torches, a calm like no other flooded over me. Now this is an ironic account given the still ,cold black of the cavern below which in its majority is lifeless. On that particular descent, that day, in that sink, I knew why I dive. I felt more alive that day than any other. The rhythmic sound of a regulator diaphragm adjusting to exhalations and sending streams of carbon dioxide to the surface, the dancing of ambient light against the sandstone cuts in the wall of the cavern, and the feeling of the silt mixture on the floor of the cavern through my hand as I placed my guideline, all of these, bring forth a feeling of peaceful obscurity and insignificance that bend your knee in reverence.

Crossing over into the area of ocean diving yields a similar energy that comes from quite the opposite conditions. You are quite literally lowered down into the hustle and bustle of a new society. In contrast to our wars waged in religious and political pretense, economic interests, and money, these societies fight to grow, survive, and exist in a manner instinctual in nature without the poisonous motivation of power. You see it all around you, your immersed in it, the simplicity and complexity, for once, not a contradiction. These are the moments when you breathe in the life you were born to contain.

For myself, diving brings stillness to the chaos above the waterline and gives me the extraordinary when life becomes too ordinary. That is why I dive and shall continue to until I am unable.

I am pleased to say that the resulting conditions from today’s substrate survey were not as dismal as we expected. It was truly a fantastic site. Some dives just have life everywhere and today fell into that category. The May 31st Videos link will demonstrate exactly what I mean by this. Truly spectacular! As an added bonus I got to crawl into some of the weathered limestone caves formed by the continuous wave impacts on shore as well. The dive took place on the opposite side of the island and it was refreshing to feel a cooler persuasion to the water around us. Bodes well for the coral that calls it home.

After the dive we immediately cleaned up the gear and travelled to Sairee where we met a few others we have met while on the island. They will be leaving tomorrow, which given the friendships that come with this type of common goal and love of diving gave way to drinks and dinner while watching the infamous fire throwers on he beach while enjoying good music and food. Given our festivities, I bid you adu’ earlier this evening in an effort to get some sleep for tomorrow’s schedule. I look forward to speaking more on today’s events as well as those in the coming day soon!

Please take a look at the videos for today. It is most definitely the best collection yet!

So let me start by saying that walking along the ocean floor is an incredible experience. Frankly, I never thought it would be so exhilarating. Today was the first day since we have been here that we were able to work on artificial reef habitats. The conditions these last weeks have been very detrimental to coral in this area. Bleaching has been occurring in a high percentage of the coral we have seen. Because of this introduction of new coral structures only provides additional stressors to the environment.  Today, there was a recorded temperature increase of 0.4 degrees C, turning the outlook for this magnificent marine life into a much brighter picture.

Our task is during the dive was to gather large baskets full of rocks and stubble from the barren areas around the artificial structures and pack them around the steel framework. This “packing” allows more space to be available for coral implantation and colonization.

As far as the diving aspect, it was one of the weirder dives I have done. The dive plan was to descend to the ocean floor at around 50 ft. where we would mark off a collection area for rocks and rubble. Then we would rig a guide line back to the steel reef structure to guide our path back with full baskets. The kicker during this little moon landing was the process behind moving the baskets loaded down with rocks. Given the buoyancy change when going from a full basket to an empty one, a great deal of the air supply would be used making necessary adjustments if one were to attempt to swim deliver the loads, so to mitigate this and conserve air we removed our fins upon completion of the collection, clipped them to our gear, and used the weight of the basket to quite literally walk along the guideline to the structure where we packed the rocks. After emptying the basket, it had to be a quick donning of the fins to return and repeat the process. I found it quite hilarious to near the end of the packing with a relatively empty basket where I would start to shoot straight up. Definitely a lesson in peak buoyancy control. Haha!

You will notice that, there is quite a large addition to the available photos. I was finally able to upload all of the images I have taken so far as well as some videos. I hope you guys enjoy them. you will undoubtedly see some movie making improvements as time progresses. Given the tasks we have to perform while on the dives, it can become quite tricky to balance with taking good video. There are a few videos that are quite literally the camera hanging off of my gear directed toward the ocean floor. I did do this on purpose because it gives an idea of what we are surveying during the dives but unfortunately for those of you who get a little woozy at shaky video, you may have to take slow.

Tomorrow we will be doing a substrate survey which is largely consists of analyzing precise half meter increments of the ocean floor to determine what the current state of the reef  is in terms of health. Although we are blessed enough to be seeing incremental temperature increases, it takes weeks sometimes months for coral to recover from an episode of bleaching like this one so we are probably gonna be seeing some pretty dismal health. I will definitely be posting more about the results and let you guys know how it went.

What a title huh? Well it fits today and later on I’ll explain why but first I wanna give you a little idea of what life is like at night around here. After all it is when I prefer to sit down and write these little accounts of  the day.

So we’ll say it’s around 6:45pm here, and the sun is just starting to tuck itself away behind Taatoh Rock as you look out into the bay. Slowly one by one spotlights begin to pop up on fishing boats like fireflies. Every so often you’ll catch a green glow in the distance coming from inline fishing lights refracting through shallower depths where local fisherman are readying their equipment for a night of catching squid and cuddlefish. The technique capitalizes on the nocturnal nature of the animals as well as their attraction to illuminated objects. From what I have heard, this “jigging” is composed of moving the submerged lights around slowly, which ultimately allures these animals in so they can be caught in large nets. Along the beach tiny fires begin to burn just below the straw overhangs of a large majority of the beach watering holes while the beach is walked by couples and singles alike. Dogs are daring themselves to jump in and out of the water, or just running around from person to person wanting some love. Kristen and I normally plant ourselves in two bean bags at the end of the coffee-house platform in order to watch the sunset. She works on her dissertation and I, well I just sit back and take it all in. Thankful that I have a woman beside me that can balance the relaxing care free atmosphere with her ambition. Right behind us, people begin to place themselves at the tables or meet up with others. From what I have seen, the end results are a night of drinking at the local bars followed by what most likely will be a muay thai fight or the night wanes with their original seat either on the internet or from the looks on their faces thinking over and over, “now this is life and why have I not realized it before now”.  Not long ago I finished Aurelius’s Meditations for the second time and this particular thought brings a quote to mind.

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”    – Marcus Aurelius

It just fits what I can imagine is the conclusion of the day for most who visit this place. It certainly has proved to be mine.

Today’s lecture was quite a lesson in scientific nomenclature and taxonomy. We ventured into the world of sea slugs. The vast array of species and behaviors is overwhelming. To say I had no idea is no justice done. I have spent the last four years of my life trying to contemplate scale in both the micro and macro physics arenas and what I have been taught in just the last few days has stirred the same incredulity as I had the first time I realized what the math yielded for the mass of a neutron star. It stirs a very distinct form of reverence that can only be matched by something sharing that unique domain. I suppose some would say the above is a drastically romanticized description, the purpose, to endorse a certain political agenda or encourage a “hippy” way of thinking. I disagree. It is, in fact, nature.

nature – the phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations.

You’ll notice I emphasized two words. I think the rest speaks for itself.

I would love to share all of the incredible behaviors and species with you but unfortunately I do not yet know even a small fraction of them which is what brought me here to begin with. The particular species of slug and marine life we were searching for today are generally found in what is called the muck. These dives take place at increased depth compared to coral reef dives. I would say somewhere around 60-70 feet from what we saw today. Think of the coral reef sites as large cities whereas muck dives are performed in more rural areas. Much of the scenery is nothing but a flat expanse of sand with the occasional bit of life. Most of this life being what we sought to observe. Unfortunately, this particular dive proved to be quite the mess, literally. The past two days, Koh Tao has experienced bouts of storms consisting of heavy wind and rain. This type of weather results in heavy chop on the water and a circulation that destroys visibility, especially in areas laden by material of a sandy consistency.

We began this dive with the initial plan of effectively taking six divers and forming a flying V over the muck bottom at around 50 – 70 ft, slowly working our way to shallower waters. When we reached the bottom, it became quite apparent that this was gonna be a problem. The goal was to keep the diver next to you in sight at ll times in  order to stay with the group. Well, at around five minutes into the dive, the V became a “i” with around three divers forming the main body of the letter and three being on top of one another for the point of the letter, haha. Needless to say the visibility was horrible. I would say it was no more than 2 to 3 feet. Shortly after this pile up I turned around to catch a glimpse of my dive buddy, Kristen. She was gone.

Now normally, when leading a dive, proper procedure dictates that at any time a diver is lost on their own, an immediate ascent is required with the proper surface marker (due to boat traffic) and safety stop if depth was substantial. This being said, it is not what took place on this dive. Upon the realization that she was gone, I immediately took a reciprocal compass heading and began a forty degree sweep and was joined by a fellow french diver. The rest of the group pressed on, probably due to failed communication during the confusion. I knew Kris would handle the situation as she always does, clear thinking and little to no panic. Although not a horrifying situation, at sixty feet in the ocean with little to no sight of the bottom and nothing but a glow of light coming through the murk, disorientation can approach as a likely predator and get the best of you if you let it. Ocean diving is amazing but the lack of boundaries and reference points can turn a relaxed calm dive into a bad situation quickly if you’re not careful. Needless to say, Kris is fine, she surfaced after a few moments of trying to find the group and was picked up by our dive boat, and my french friend and I surfaced after a good ten minute search. Sadly we did not find her. Bested yet again at the infamous Waldo search.

At the conclusion of the dive, we found that she was not the only Waldo in the bunch. Several others had in fact become detached from their group. The poor conditions just happened to get the better of the group today but well certainly be back again next week!

New pictures of the path we take to the input point, the ride to and from the dive shop, and the dive shop itself in the days photo link!  We will have the weekend off to explore so I will make every effort to keep you updated on the excursions. The diving will resume again on Monday.

The little restaurant where I sit and write is quite a nice little place. I suppose a full description of the area would be helpful to really set the scene so you can get a small idea of why I think so. There is quite literally one main road that circumvents the island with roads that branch down to the little bays scattered about. We are located on the southernmost portion just south of Maa Haad. It’s a small, tucked away corner right around the bend from shark bay where we start pretty much every dive we do. As you come down the road from Maa Haad, it’s about half a mile from the main dock that you round a bend and see New Heaven Dive School and Resort. It’s quite the little section of paradise with the dive school attached to a bungalow area with straw roofing where the restaurant lies. If you peek out above the straw roof you see four little rooms with sliding glass doors, the beginning of the resort portion. Unfortunately we were not so lucky as to get one of these, haha. Where we make birth is immediately across the road and up what I have started calling “The stairway to heaven”. It seemed to fit the situation. Really have never tried to imagine what it would be like stepping into the daily affairs of Swiss Family Robinson, but I have a good idea of where I would go with it now. All kidding aside, if you look up from the main road next to the dive center, you can see a small opening between the trees where you see bungalow after bungalow after…well you get the point. It is precisely 159 stairs we have to climb each time we ascend to camp 1 at Mt. Koh Tao. I will say that buns of steel will no longer be a wish upon departure. Not to mention the mile swim we have to perform getting to our descent point from the boat everyday. Anyhow, I hope this gives a partial picture to the area.

As for sleeping, well now, that is quite a story all its own. In the tale of our nightly dreamscapes you will find howling winds, short but intense downpours, and in the early morning hours the desperate screams of what appears to be some sort of tree bound creature. More on the identification when it is attained. I surmise that if anyone ever wanted to commit the perfect murder, they could quite literally scare their target to death by placing this animal within a fifteen foot radius whilst they sleep. All in all it is a relaxing and rejuvenating rest for the most part. It does get a little toasty at times in the absence of air con but we have adjusted to open doors and windows to facilitate a breeze through the room ( or in later hours gale force winds).

The schedule we keep is fairly relaxed and routine. We awake around 6 or 7, shower to cool off and wake up, and make our way down to the little restaurant where we meet up with some of the other team members. At around nine we gather to receive a lecture in subject pertaining to the days dive, eg. Invertebrates, fish, coral ecology, and so on. Normally these lectures take roughly an hour and then we break for a bite to eat. The truck normally arrives to pick us up with our gear an hour or so later and from there we travel to shark bay where a small motorboat is taken to the main dive boat. Usually the dive takes about an hour and a half to two hours depending on the depth we stay at. I would say the average is around 30 feet. This generally means I can stay under for around an hour and a half. If you literally have fish in your gene pool like Kris, about 2 hours. We then come back much in the same fashion as we came out but this time we get to climb roughly 250 stairs to get from waters edge to the little dirt road where the truck awaits us.

These truck rides to and from the site are an experience all their own. Did you know… that you can fit approximately 22 people with all of their dive gear and conservation equipment into, scratch that…onto a crew cab toyota tacoma ? … Nope I didn’t either but I assure you it is possible.

Moving on to today’s dive. The task was to do a fish survey. This entails the deployment of a measuring line over a 100 meter stretch and swimming along it identifying whatever species we can as well as how many there are. Very interesting to say the least. Imagine the setting of Gulliver’s travels except your are one of the lilipoocheans lounging around in your home underwater when a giant head suddenly appears in your window. Naturally you would frantically scatter and eventually retreat to the closet. That is precisely the setting for which this particular survey takes place. We make our away along the line and peak in to the holes and crevices on the reef looking for various species. Some of these include:

Parrotfish, Surgeon fish, Butterfly fish, Snapper, Triggerfish, Grouper, Amore Eels, Aninomes, and many others…

The challenge being remembering the classifications and what each fish actually is, thus the need for our 9am classes.

I have posted some videos and pictures taken on today’s dive in the dropbox link at the end and I do plan on developing the process a lot further. Today was most certainly a trial run but you’ll get the drift (pun intended). Among these, there is one of Kristen, my one and only, checking out a piece of coral that really turned out well. The videos are primarily following the deployment of the line and some of my survey attempts. You do have to look closely at some. In one of the photographs there are long black spines protruding from a crevice. This is a type of urchin that at the center of its spines has a bright orange spot that looks identical to an eye. It is quite fascinating to behold, but in a shocking revelation I received the other day is quite literally the butthole. So yes, I spent a good bit of time today swimming around looking at buttholes.

Well, until tomorrow, I hope this reads well and gives slightly more insight into the schedule we keep as well as this particular day’s events. Enjoy the photos and vids!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8wnbat26fr9iomk/AAAJl5Al9zTjCb5-tDrUiygAa?dl=0

Beautiful yet grey overcast this morning in Koh Tao. Descending the multitude of stairs leading up to our bungalow opens up a view of the bay that New Heaven resides on. In the earlier hours of the day, the tide has receded completely exposing various forms of marine life temporarily stranded until later in the day. Local fisherman take advantage of this by scavenging for the trade. Very simple scene in itself, comprised of various people wading through the eddy pools with the local dogs running around close by. I have never seen so many random dogs. I have never seen so many mixes of breeds. An island of mutts to say the least. This makes sense given the harsher living conditions. They would have to have the resiliency and health associated with mixes to stand up to the everyday life and lack of veterinary care. 

Today’s plan is a little up in the air since Spencer has contracted some sort of sickness (stomach bug). This is quite common here given the bacteria in the main water supply. Simple hygienic tasks are done using bottled water or some other purified source. I suspect he contracted the ailment after trying to jump start a water pump used for cleansing the water in a tank built to cultivate coral for transport onto new artificial reef structures. These are frequently placed to facilitate new coral growth in sections decimated by mass bleaching events.

On that note, I think I have wrapped my head around the concept of coral bleaching and why it has become more prevalent in the last ten to twenty years. Coral has an interesting process of life in that it has a clear layer of skin approximately 2-3 mm thick and under this layer there are tiny organisms called zooxanthellae. These organisms absorb incoming radiation/light to produce the energy necessary for coral to feed. The process is identical to the photosynthetic processes used by plants. This also creates a vast array of colors which make the surface of the various species of coral vibrant in color. When bleaching occurs, the zooxanthellae absorb to much energy from higher temperatures and increased radiation which results in the release of ozone gases. These by products are toxic to coral so they effectively eradicate the organisms to preserve life, the result being nothing but a clear line of sight down to the white skeletal structure of the coral. During this unfortunate event, coral feeds on it’s retained fats and oils to survive and its digestive processes only operate at around 10-15% efficiency. Of course it can only maintain this state so long before death so the length of time associated with higher temperatures plays a critical role in the amount of damage the reefs sustain. 

Because of this process, reef restoration has halted for the time being. It is useless to place more coral in the path of destruction while the conditions are still present so we have turned our attention to the removal of one of the most detrimental species to the heart of coral reefs, the crown of thorns star fish. During bleaching events, this COT stands to do the most damage by feeding on the coral in its weakened state. In light of this, our job today is to use long pairs of tongs to remove as many COT as possible. There disposal is most commonly done at the bases of trees to allow for the absorption of nutrients from the decomposition. It promises to be a challenging task due to the poisonous nature of its spines so cautioned must definitely be exercised, haha. 

To wrap up this entry, I think it important to recognize the dynamic equilibrium ecological systems such as these depend on. this being said, the resilience demonstrated is remarkable in the face of natural obstacles but as I mentioned yesterday, it is far from being able to stand up to the impact of human beings. Although this induced imbalance is not always direct it can still be traced back to our macro impact on our surrounding environment and atmosphere in the use of fossil fuels and other processes that introduce large mounts of ozone gases. In a random flight that can only be attributed to my education I noticed while looking at a graph of significant bleaching events a strange resemblance to something I spent quite a lot of time analyzing in the past years, the solar cycle. This could be nothing but a small influence, but it seems as if the major bleaching episodes seen in the last fifteen years or so are concurrent with some of the higher points of solar activity. During these times, higher neutron release occurs from energetic releases (most commonly solar flares/coronal mass ejections)  on the suns surface. Given a 70% coverage of the earth’s surface by oceans it is reasonable to assume that the increased rate of high energy neutrons during these periods would result in a large majority piercing the atmospheric layers to impact the shallower depths of our oceans. Impacts from these higher energy particles would impact Hydrogen and H2O molecules imparting large amounts of energy. Since energy is nothing but temperature wrapped up in a convenient little packet, could it be that it is responsible for increments increases in the temperature. the shallower depths pave the way for the effects we see on coral reefs given their strict depth restrictions. They require just the right depth to absorb enough energy through light. If too shallow, too much energy is absorbed resulting in bleaching. If too deep, energy is too little, making it impossible for coral to feed. I read an astounding statistic today. Coral reefs comprise 0.01% of our oceans but support circa 25% of all marine life. Incredible.