Science and Perspective

From my personal diary.

The Global Reef Expedition- First steps- The Cay Sal Bank

April 26^th 2011- Touchdown!
a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. In this case, a 2 week research cruise begins with a plane ride. Normally this is just a necessary evil and has little to nothing to do with the actual trip. This year however, the domestic departure lounge in the Lynden Pindling International Airport held the Caribbean Coral Travelling exhibit. The exhibit first came to the Bahamas last year, through Blue Project (www.blueproject.com) support and spent time in the Mall at Marathon in New Providence and the airport’s international departure lounge. This year the Living Oceans Foundation and partners are supporting the exhibit’s travel to several more locations in the Bahamas.

The key element of the global reef expedition (in my humble opinion) is the involvement of local scientists on each leg. The first team of Bahamians included Indira Brown (Department of Marine Resources) Alexander Henderson and Lindy Knowles (Bahamas National Trust) and yours truly, Leno Davis (The Nature Conservancy).

Of course on a trip of this magnitude it is all about how much can you squeeze in. this means that every thing has to be ready for that first dive (warning: behind the scenes photos) We spent the better part of the evening while waiting for a few passengers making transect lines and survey equipment.