Sue had to leave on work commitments so I have been asked to introduce the first Reef Check for this trip. My background in the study of coral reefs? Like most surfers out there, I have observed many, many reefs. Pretty well had a look at every one I have surfed over. All surfers should. Rick Grigg mentions this in his book “Big Surf, Deep Dives, and The Islands”. I have looked at so much reef and not really knowing what I was looking at. Different coloured fish that pop up now and again. Occasionally I’ll check out a fish guidebook and learn that there is more than one kind of Snapper, or Trevally, or that the Wrasses and the Butterfly fish are the most colour-full or that Christmas Tree Worms look nothing like worms as we know, but that the tree is actually feeding tentacles catching plankton.

So on my first trip I meet Ed Lovell who explains basic things like what coral is, coral bleaching, crown of thorns. (See previous Reef Check). There are plenty of informative books on the Indies Trader. All good vessels should have a descent library. I observe Ed measure out 100m of reef and swim back and forth along this line taking notes on the underwater slate. He gives me a brief summary of what he is up to. Great but I swim off after a while of non-participation content to let the marine environment observe me.

The next trip we have Sue Brown who sits the girls down, gives them all a slate and explains how they go about taking their underwater notes, what to look for, etc… Sofia was only allowed to come on this trip because they thought she would be learning about coral reefs. She has to return to Peru and give a school assembly speech on the trip. Sue took her under her wing and explained the reef check system so she can do the next one. I’ll let her explain her experiences of the first one. What I observed on this Reef Check, as a participant was a lot of live clams of the Tridacna species. All small. And about 10% black sponges, coral that looked like it was regrowing. We scared all the fish away. Except those in the nearby fish-trap. Ten large nurse sharks, two blacktips, a school of blue trevally, kingfish, sweetlips, seaperchess grouper, a turtle. All food for thought.