Morning Magazine Radio Show
The Tuesday, June 25th, SCUBAnauts International started the day with radio interviews! Evan and Sophia spoke with Bill Becker of Morning Magazine WW
US 1 Radio Show about SCUBAnauts and the work we do with MOTE Marine Laboratory and Combat Wounded Veteran Challenge. After the interview, we rejoined at Captain Hook’s Looe Key Reef Adventures. We packed our gear and motored to the location of our scientific dives for the day.
Diving with the Big Wigs
Today, was special. While we dove and recorded observations of diseased corals, not only were we accompanied by Dr. Michael Crosby, the President and CEO of Mote Marine Laboratory, but National Geographic photographers Jen Hayes and David Doubilet captured our work on film! Dr. Crosby is a member of the SCUBAnauts International Board of Directors and Hayes and Doubilet recently worked with Dr. Sylvia Earle, so we were certainly excited to have such impressive divers in our midst!
Skittle-D Takes Hold
During our dive we saw corals that sadly, had been almost entirely wiped out by stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD, and referred to in scientific circles as Skittle-D.). We returned to the boat for our first surface interval of the day and re-submerged on the other side of the reef. As we looked around that second area, the tragic result of the disease was worse. Dr. Crosby pointed out the big coral that was almost entirely dead from the disease as we collected our data. We finished our dive and reboarded our vessel. Our mood traveling to our third dive site was less full of happy chatter than usual, as we mourned the loss of so much ocean life.
River Bed Under Water
After a preliminary survey around the new location, we changed gears and snorkeled for the rest of our surface interval. We took some time to see all the marine life and all the amazing scenery under the water. There were underwater cliffs that were amazing. And there was an entire river bed of sorts under the water. When we were called back to the boat, we made a to have a fun dive instead of a scientific.
A Closer Look
As soon as we got in the water, we went to look for a good place to take a group picture with all the SCUBAnauts. We then broke of with our dive buddies and our dive master to look at all the marine life closer than what our quick snorkel allowed. We looked in crevasses that were hidden from above; there were sharks, goliath groupers, parrot fish, lobsters, octopuses and many more types of marine life. We went in and out of these “river beds” and observed all that was offered.
Science Beyond the Reef
When we got to the boat, we said goodbye to the reef and went back to the lab. After a bit of down time, we went into the classroom and started to do our dive logs. Still there was work on our presentations and data input to complete. From there we returned to our rooms for a long-needed shower and sleep after a day rich with experiences.
