It’s 6:30 am and the marine biology program eats breakfast while watching the sun rise. At 7:30, the whole group climbs aboard our dive boat, the Twin Sister, and we were off to our dive sites, Rainbow Reef and School House. Our drive masters, Curtis and Bernie, briefed us on our first dive site, School House, where our max depth was 60 feet. After descending, we were greeted with many different types of coral such as pillar coral and brain coral. While diving, I saw different types of fish such as the French Grunt and the Mahogany Snapper. Both French Grunt and the Mahogany Snapper are distinguishable because they stay at 0-60ft and and they both have large spines. After surfacing from School House, we rested on the boat and were off to Rainbow Reef. Rainbow reef gets its name from the from the many Rainbow Parrotfish that are seen there. At Rainbow reef, we saw a school of about 50 Blue Tang swim swim from behind a reef and pass another school of about 30 Black Durgon. The Blue tang is distinguishable due to its royal blue color and it is often seen in schools. The Black Durgon is normally seen in schools and has a deep black color with large dorsal and anal fins. At Rainbow Reef we also swam through an arch that housed a lobster, but thankfully no one was pinched. We also saw a French Angelfish feeding on coral. The French Angelfish is distinguishable due to its yellow spots and long fins. After surfacing from Rainbow Reef, we recharged on the boat and left to go back for lunch at the resort where we are fish, sliders, and jerk chicken. We had a much needed 4 hour rest after lunch and had snapper for dinner afterwards. After dinner, our group discussed the pros and cons of Stingray City. We discussed how important Stingray City is to the Grand Cayman economy, however, it can negatively affect the stingray’s health. I can’t wait to see and feed the stingrays and Stingray City tomorrow.
Me coming trough the arch at Rainbow Reef
– JCPmarinebio on Twitter
