Month: July 2015

Motu, Bommi, Patch Reefs and Sandy Beach surveys.

   
On Thursday we left with the start of the sun peaking across the water to do a full day of surveying in the lagoon surrounding the main part of Aitutaki. We left the dock and zipped across the clear turquoise water to see the amazing coral reefs in the lagoon.  As the boat stopped we were greeted by a Giant trevally and crystal visibility.

We found Flametail snappers, Honeycomb groupers and Vanessa spotted a Scribbled pipefish!  With the help of the awesome Dr.Steele we were actually able to learn what all the pretty reef fish are as scientists instead of you typical tourist snorkel. 

As we ventured along the white sandy bottomed lagoon, large piles of corals called Bommi’s, would appear like mountains under the sea. Villages of fish and coral species were mystical to see.

We stopped on Barefoot island, a bit of a tourist spot to get our passports stamped as a special Cook Islands treat!

Once we were on the far Motu, a small island on the outer edge, Dr. Anderson helped us identify awesome invertebrates and some cool worms we haven’t even identified yet! 
The day was magical, we learned so much and are so greatful for the amazing opportunity! 

Motu, Bommi, Patch Reefs and Sandy Beach surveys.

 
On Thursday we left with the start of the sun peaking across the water to do a full day of surveying in the lagoon surrounding the main part of Aitutaki. We left the dock and zipped across the clear turquoise water to see the amazing coral reefs in the lagoon.  As the boat stopped we were greeted by a Giant trevally and crystal visibility.

We found Flametail snappers, Honeycomb groupers and Vanessa spotted a Scribbled pipefish!  With the help of the awesome Dr.Steele we were actually able to learn what all the pretty reef fish are as scientists instead of you typical tourist snorkel. 

As we ventured along the white sandy bottomed lagoon, large piles of corals called Bommi’s, would appear like mountains under the sea. Villages of fish and coral species were mystical to see.

We stopped on Barefoot island, a bit of a tourist spot to get our passports stamped as a special Cook Islands treat!

Once we were on the far Motu, a small island on the outer edge, Dr. Anderson helped us identify awesome invertebrates and some cool worms we haven’t even identified yet! 
The day was magical, we learned so much and are so greatful for the amazing opportunity! 

Day 4: Aitutaki Lagoon & Motu Intro

Today we rented a second boat.  This allowed us to take the entire class as a whole to several sites across the southern extent of Aitutaki Lagoon (across much of the lower third of the map below).  We were able to snorkel an explore a wide array of subtidal communities and get a good sense of the conditions, seascapes, and littoral landscapes that comprise this section of the lagoon.  In addition to exploring everything from just-forming Motus to rat eradication experiments, we ended our day with our first quantitative data collection at Akaimai Motu.  The icing on the cake was our beach clean-up wherein we harvested all the macroscopic trash on the motu’s seaward perimeter (we categorized and weighed all that flotsam and jetsam…more on that later).

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We are again running into internet bandwidth issues, but here are some initial videos I was able to upload before burning out my internet allotment for the time being.  Check back later for additional pics and vids.

Sunset wrasse 

Ciguatera has been an emerging problem within the last four or five years on Rarotonga and a few other nearby islands, such as Aitutaki. Although many people rely on reef fish populations as a food source, the sunset wrasse is untouched as it is not a public interest.  

These fish feed mainly on small invertebrates. Small snails and brittle stars are their favorite prey. Sunset wrasse are characterized as having a pink-striped head with green bands and a blue and green forebody. Their pharyngeal jaw allows them to extend their mouth widely and grind up their dinner, which sometimes could be up to half their size. They usually are present in small groups near seaward reefs and coral patches. They can be seen down to 30 meters. Incredible in many ways and my favorite fish so far!

Sandy Beaches of Aitutaki Motus

We went snorkeling in the lagoon of Aitutaki Island and explored some of the smaller Islands in the lagoon called “motus”. The first was named Motu Ketiu and had multiple species of birds nesting on the Motu. I was able to identify red footed boobies, brown boobies, red tailed tropic birds, white tailed tropic birds, common terns, and I was excited to see my first frigate birds.
The next Motu was a newly formed sand bar that had a few coconut saplings (locally called “huto”). We had lunch and made our first UAV launch from this particular Motu.
We then ventured to a large Motu where the Tasmanian Empire Airways Limited had set up a stopping point in the early 1950s. Here we tested our sandy beach protocol and found that the beaches on these motus are low in diversity unless coring is done in knee deep water, where multiple species of tube worms and crustaceans were found.
Overall, quite a few discoveries were made today that filled the group with anticipation for the future research yet to be done.

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Sunset Snorkel

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Lauren and Aimee enjoy snorkeling off Airport beach in Aitutaki (click photo to enlarge).

This evening, our first on Aitutaki, we had an amazing sunset snorkel at the airport beach. This area is one of my favorites for snorkeling on the island as it has an easy access from a beautiful beach on the northern tip of the island, and has a great diversity of fishes just meters from the sandy beach. I was thrilled to share this favorite spot with our CI students who are taking to the marine environment like (gray) ducks to water.

First day on Aitutaki

We temporarily split our group up today so that the plane could actually get off the ground.  Our first group left the Rarotonga Airport at 9am and the second group flew out at 10:30am.  A mere 40 minutes later we touched down on Aitutaki.  The island looked so amazing from the air with water so blue and clear.  As we emerged from the Aitutaki tarmac we were warmly greeted by our hosts who promptly bedecked us with ei’s (the Cook Islanders’ version of a lei).

We are staying at the Reef Motel.  Such a nice place!  Our hosts made us a great lunch of sandwiches and local fruits.  As our food was digesting, we took a quick tour of the island as either Dr. Anderson or Steel as our guide (depending on which car you where in).  We stopped at a beach near one terminus of the runway (adjacent to the Boat Shed at Popoara Ocean Breeze Villas) that harbored all kinds of coral sub tidally and on the beach itself.  We explored for about an hour and got one additional introduction to plants, reef flats, etc.  Then we piled back into our cars to head to another beach (at the opposite end of the runway) to snorkel…where I saw A LOT of sea cucumbers.  I also saw a good sized moray eel and crown-of-thorns starfish!  Two animals that can cause serious harm if you get too close.  After that we held a formal class welcome to Aitutaki and shared what we were thankful for.  Our brief ceremony really helped make this trip feel a lot more real and relevant to my academic training.  I am very excited to see and experience all the adventures and stories that I am sure are to come in over the next few days.

-Hayden

From Raratonga to Aitutaki

My first couple days in Rarotonga was similar to what I had expected – beautiful people, extraordinary marine life and white sand beaches. Our home was in a missionary boarding house, directly across the from beach. I made a few friends with the local dogs and pigs.

 Above: backyard of the missionary in Rarotonga.
So forth during this trip we have spent a short period of time snorkeling to adjust to our on-hand equipment and observe our candidates for the next week and a half. As we snorkeled we saw many parrot fish, moorish idol, sea cucumbers, ghost crabs, eels and much more.

To top it off we had the chance to experience the 50th Independence Celebration where the community engaged in either the dancing, music or speculation thereof. The costumes of the dancers were intricately made: most woman wore belly shirts and skirts while men were had a bit less coverage, as culturally accepted during dance and musical celebrations. I was amazed by the talent and short period of time they had to practice (approximately a month). Each individual island and village was competing against the other, choosing a dance to perform to the viewers, although it felt more so that each island was in it together sharing the excitement and energy of the celebration.

Aitutaki has been an adventure of it’s own. Most of our equipment didn’t make it on the plane, although we are hoping to receive it tomorrow morning, the 30th. No worries. Luckily, an ok amount of our work can be done without all the materials we brought such as the S-BRASS monitoring. As of this morning, being on Aitutaki has presented us with much more time to explore these lagoons and their aquatic species as well. Cheers to the next 11 days here on the island.

 

Life in the tropics

This morning we ventured from Rarotonga to Aitutaki, arguably the most beautiful island to ever exist in the South Pacific. As we approached the island in the very small (I mean VERY small) plane, the various colors of the lagoon became very apparent. As you passed over, the patch reefs and sandy bottom beaches became so much easier to distinguish. What we had seen in our meetings and pictures on the internet were nothing in comparison to the beauty that we were seeing before our eyes. We had officially arrived in paradise.  
After we unpacked and ate a DELICIOUS lunch (It was devoured by all), we took to the streets and headed down to the beach on the edge of the island. Here, we spent time fiddling around in the lagoon and attempted to locate as many invertebrates and sea cucumbers as humanely possible. Among these, the beach was covered in dried coral pieces, which we naturally tried to recognize and name (and take pictures with).

   
After a nice snorkel among the vast sea cucumbers within the lagoon, we enjoyed some true coconut juice as the sun set on the horizon. While it was a little sour, it is better than anything you can ever buy in a bottle. 


Overall, I’d have to say it wasn’t a bad day in the slightest. 

Welcome to pradise, y’all.