The morning started out at Doc and Mr. Von’s cabin where delicious eggs mixed with sausage was served to us. Afterwards we went straight to the Sea Dragon to begin our journey. Both of our dives today were dedicated to working on our project. Our project is determining if a greater diversity in coral, specifically elkhorn, staghorn, and brain, will lead to a greater density of wrasse, parrotfish, and fairy baselets in the area. In our first dive at ginger hole we conducted two experiments. One was our control, which had no coral, and another in an area with only staghorn. In our control experiment no fish were present, but a pair of reef squid and a pair of stingray were very close by. In the next experiment, the one with only staghorn, a Carribean reef shark appeared out of nowhere. The shark is known for coming really close to divers because it’s quite common at Ginger hole for divers to feed them lionfish, an invasive species in the BVI. Being an invasive species means that you are not in your natural habitat, you reproduce rapidly, and have very few predators. Also during this experiment we saw 3 groupers. Both of these predators could have been part of the reason there wasn’t a lot of wrasse, parrotfish, and fairy baselets in the area. Our next dive occurred at Ginger backside where we did our next 2 experiments. One occurred in a site with only staghorn and brain coral and the other experiment took place in a site with brain, staghorn, and elkhorn coral. The first experiment went really well but the second one was effected when a 4 foot Barracuda went in our area and scared a lot of the fish away. After this dive, we met up with the inferior boat, the Sea Monkey, to have PB&J sandwiches for lunch. We all then went to salt island, named for its popular saltwater ponds. These ponds are an important source for crabs and birds. Back in the 18th century this island was very popular since colonists made large profits from selling the salt which was essential for the preservation of meat since there was no refrigeration. After salt island we went back to our cabin to work on our project and write our blogs. We will soon head out to dinner for pulled pork sandwiches. Overall, today was a fantastic day and I am looking forward to turtle tacking tomorrow!!!
