Fun on the Forereef

Things on the backreef have been in full swing the past week, and now the focus is on the forereef! For the first run, I was once again directing while free diving... which was an adventure in itself. 

Placing algae segments on high points of
bommies on the forereef

It was absolutely beautiful both days that we were on the forereef, and we took full advantage of the sunshine on the boat between deploying and collecting algae! The parrotfish, actually most of the fish, on the forereef are HUGE and super active! 

This morning, I was able to dive, and I think it was successful! We are looking at how/if feeding rates change near and away from structure. Unfortunately, there isn't much "structure" since the cyclone hit Moorea last year, but we have made it work! As of this afternoon, the weather has turned for the worst, with high winds and high seas. Here, they call it a "maramu" when the winds from the south get really bad, making it almost impossible to get back into the bay with a boat once you've left it! The wind is pretty incredible to experience, but hopefully it passes, so we can continue our work!

Around the World, and Beyond

Lunch stop half way "around the world"

Where do I even begin? Saturday, we went "around the world". Well, we just went around the whole island by boat, and collected algae from each of six LTER sites that have been monitored for the past five years. It was a gorgeous day, and was awesome to see different parts of the island from the water! We took turns collecting from the back reef, the reef crest, and the fringing reef at each site. For lunch, we stopped at a shallow back reef, where the water was so insanely clear! It was a long day, but was so nice to explore other reefs on the island.

This view never gets old...

I am still waiting for the corals to spawn... the new moon is tomorrow, so it's looking like they will not spawn this month, but we will see!
As far as herbivory goes, my assays have been going really well! The wind has finally calmed down this week, and has made it much easier to go out and do things by myself. The past few transects have been in a part of the reef, where apparently all of the exciting creatures like to hang out! Some of the group have suggested that I am the "mega fauna whisperer". I don't know about that, but I do know that I have seen some amazing things!!

Sunday was just the beginning... as I swam to set out a new transect, I could hear an odd grinding sound and saw a cloud of sediments in the pavement between some coral bommies. I thought at first that it was just a bunch of goat fish stirring up the rubble, but was soon completely breathless as I found myself watching a round sting ray as it was feeding!!! That explained the grinding, and it seemed to be not the least bit concerned with my presence, as it continued to dig in the rubble while I watched in awe! Later, I saw two huge sea turtles, which I had yet to see in Moorea, and are rare on the back reef! I also saw huge triton trigger fish, snappers, and hundreds of needlefish. I didn't think things could get any better, but I was so wrong!

School of convict tangs from my camera left out to capture grazing

Yesterday was probably the best day EVER! Again, I encountered the triton triggers and black tips, and thought I had seen all that there was to see on the back reef. As I was finishing collecting my algal setups, I looked up to see two dark shadows coming toward me. They were too large to be reef sharks, and too dark in color to be round sting rays. As they came closer, my eyes focused through the suspended particles, and I froze... not with fear, but in utter amazement! Swooping in right in front of my face were two of the biggest eagle rays I have ever seen!! I didn't even know they could get that big! The largest one had about a four foot wingspan, and a body like a tank! They were so beautiful, and I was blown away by how gracefully they glided through the water. I never would have expected to see eagle rays in the back reef, let alone so close, and so huge!! It was incredible to watch them, and they came so close! I wish I had had my camera, but it is something I will never forget. Today, I ran into another turtle, and must have really spooked it because I swear I had no idea turtles were capable of such speeds! I see at least three black tip reef sharks every day, and they have now become no more threatening (possibly even less threatening) than the reef fish. I can't believe I still have almost two more weeks!

Facing Fears

This week has been exhausting! Who knew swimming to the reef crest and back five times a day carrying three bags of coral rubble could take so much energy!? It's all been worth it though, because we are getting data!! :) Each herbivory assay seems have one obstacle or another.... One morning, I was out on the reef at 7am, starting to put out my algae segments. Thankfully, the wind was minimal, and so I felt relatively comfortable being out there by myself. I almost had everything out, and was planning on setting out a new transect for an afternoon run of the experiment while I waited to collect them again. I was at the reef crest when a surge came and knocked me into a coral bommie. I banged my knee pretty good, but it didn't hurt too bad, and didn't seem to be bleeding much, so I didn't worry. Between the reef crest and boat however, I had very close encounters with four black tips, which I thought was an unusually high number of sightings over such a short period. When I got back to the boat, I realized that my knee was actually bleeding quite a lot. I'm pretty sure none of them would attack, but to avoid attracting any more than I already had, I decided to stay out of the water until it scabbed over before collecting.

The next day, instead of doing a run on the back reef, we decided to check out the layout of the forereef, so that I could decide on how many set-ups I would need, how far apart to put them, and how long to leave them out. Normally, the forereef requires diving, since it is about 30-50 feet deep. However, for some reason we were unsure if I was cleared to dive yet, and so it was decided that two people would dive, and I would snorkel and observe from the surface. Can you say shark bait?? Basically we're talking the open ocean, and me floating/flailing vulnerably at the surface. I was terrified, but told myself that I had better suck it up because I didn't have a choice. If there were any giant barracudas, lemon sharks, or tiger sharks around, I didn't see them. I forced myself not to look around, and only to focus on the divers below. I made sure to stay directly above the diver making the largest bubbles, in the ridiculous hopes that being surrounded by a cluster of bubbles would somehow make me look larger and scarier. Sometimes I could see myself in the large bubbles, and was afraid that in the next bubble, I would not be alone in the reflection. Anyway, it was the longest half hour of my life, but I survived!
The past couple of days have been really windy, making boating (particularly for a beginner) a bit difficult. Yesterday, I tried to go out at 7am again, somehow managed to anchor before getting blown onto shallow coral bommies, and sat for about 20 minutes contemplating whether or not it was a good idea to be out there by myself in such conditions. I went back and forth telling myself to stop being such a baby, but the uncomfortable feeling in my gut eventually overpowered my stubborn will not to give up, and I went back defeated. However, it was not to be an unproductive day, as one of the grad students graciously volunteered to come out with me. We did two full runs! This morning I watched some corals for spawning, but nothing yet. We'll see how it goes over the next few days.

Still the Storms Come

The storm approaching...

I have officially done two full runs of my experiment, and it's been exhausting! The weather all week was perfect and calm, but today, just as I was setting things up, a storm rolled in. It was amazing to watch it approach, and know that I would still be out in the water by the time it hit. It turned out to look a lot scarier than it actually was, but did manage to produce enough of a current to make things challenging for me. I lost several of my set ups throughout the course of the morning, and had an exceptionally difficult time finding the ones that I had set out the reduced visibility in such turbid conditions. We left the dock at seven, and when I came back to the boat at about eleven, I had probably swallowed about a liter of seawater. I decided that although things did not go as well as planned, that the day was not over. I had been having a difficult timing finding the algae that I have been using for the herbivory assays, and as I was almost out, was hoping that today would be different. After spending the afternoon searching, with no luck finding algae (although I have been finding Fungia corals that I'll watch for spawning around the new moon next week), I was getting a bit worried that I'd have to expand my search beyond the north shore. Around four, Anya suggested that we check once more on the fringe reef closest to the station, which is the only place that we had found any before. We thought we had found it all, but it was worth another try. Well, despite all of my frustration from this morning, we found it... a ton if it!! Who knew I could get soo excited over algae!? So, it looks like the experiment will continue after all! ... and hopefully the ocean will calm down for the next few days :).

sooo excited we finally found algae!

Acanthophora spicifera up close

Trial and Error

It's amazing how even the simplest of experiments can be soo complicated! I attached algae segments to weighted clothespins to be placed in five microhabitats within three different zones along a transect extending from the reef crest through the back reef. Monday evening, a grad student from CSUN helped me to deploy a pilot experiment. Everything was going great, the sun was getting ready to set, and I was about to head back to the boat  when I stopped dead in my tracks. I had absolutely no idea that it was possible for an eel to get four feet long, and to be almost the width of my thigh. Well, it is. Eventually, when I am setting things out by myself, I really hope that we do not meet again.

The next morning, we spent 45 minutes snorkeling around what we thought was the transect, and eventually gave up. The set-ups were very inconspicuous, which is great for the experiment, but not so great for us. We started over, this time marking the transect every few meters with flagging tape, and placing the algae in the vicinity of markers. By the evening, when we went back out to collect, we had a much better idea of how to go about setting things up, and successfully located all but one. Our pilot experiments have given us some interesting preliminary data, but finally I think I am ready to put out the first full run tomorrow morning.

searching for target algae
Acanthophora spicifera in
the eerie bay waters

The weather has been absolutely beautiful all week... mild wind, calm seas, and clear skies! I have basically spent the majority of every day in the water, and am now cleared to take out the boats and set things up by myself. Every day (and with each run-in with a black tip reef shark), I get more comfortable doing things on my own, less surprised by the assortment of creatures in the back reef, and my boating skills get better every day.  The CSUN group I am with is awesome! They have been really helpful, lots of fun, and more than happy to tell me all about the research that they are doing. I feel so insanely lucky to be back here, and have already learned so much! Hopefully over the next few days of my project, we start to see some patterns.

Moorea: Round Two

Back again... and I couldn't be more excited! Yesterday, I was reunited with chocolate croissants, baguettes, brie, Rotui mango juice, and two of the sweetest dogs ever! Now, I am ready for what will be a busy, but awesome four weeks of field work!  The goal of my REU project is to quantify fish herbivory on various parts of the reef in the hopes that this data can be used to help relate coral cover and algal cover in those areas. Other than that, I'll be helping out with other experiments that will be running as a part of the Moorea Long-Term Ecological Research Project (M-LTER).

Recapping a Week of Wonders

It's a beautiful day, the water is the calmest it's been all week, and I'm thinking about the incredible past week I've had! I was humbled by the power of the winds that the storms here bring in, and was amazed at how much it can rain in a ten-minute downpour!

The calm after the storm

Another graduate student here from UCSB and I went out on a boat to collect some corals for her project, and the faulty motor left us stranded in the middle of the channel! Of course this was the boat with no pull start, and no paddle. We were just about ready to jump in the water and swim the boat back, when another boat was in sight, and we took full advantage of the universal distress signal! Although they spoke no English whatsoever, Emily spoke enough French to explain the situation. Thankfully, they knew where we had come from, and towed us back. I guess it always works out somehow!

Tiare Tahiti flower

The P. damicornis adults produced lots of larvae, and kept us busy sampling, and setting up cultures for them to settle and metamorphose into juveniles! It's so cool to see them change completely from tiny free swimming larvae to little corals with polyps, and the beginnings of a solid coral skeleton! All in all, it's been a successful trip, and we are coming back with as much as we could sample! 

Acropora coral bed

A few days ago, Maggie and I went to Temae, which is a protected reef, that fringes the biggest beach I have yet to see here! The water was absolutely beautiful, and the reef itself was mind-blowing! I think it could be considered a climax reef ecosystem... huge coral heads with a large diversity throughout, tons of colorful and active fishes, and the most sea urchins (multiple species) I have ever seen in one place! Above the water, beyond the reef, we could see Tahiti in the distance. I was so happy that we had time to go, and without focusing on collecting corals or fish poop, we were able to fully explore and appreciate the complexity and the beauty of the network of reef life!

Temae reef

I couldn't think of a better way to end our trip than our final adventure.... I had heard a lot about a site where sharks and rays have been fed for many years, and so are abundant! Seeing as rays have always particularly amazed me out of all marine life, I was dying to go!! However, it's a pretty long boat ride, and we aren't exactly allowed to take the station boats so far on our own. Luckily, I am not very good at containing enthusiasm, and so one of the station employees offered to take us! I cannot even explain how insanely excited I was! The boat ride there was beautiful; cameras simply cannot do justice to the color of the water here! We arrived at the site, which is close to the the Motus of Moorea (which are small islands off the coast), and before we could even anchor, I could see a fleet of rays stealthily gliding toward the boat! They were HUGE!!!!! and beautiful and amazing and awesome and.... I was SO EXCITED!!!!

They came right up to the boat, eager to check out any treats that we might have brought. We could feel their uniquely rubbery skin, as they thoroughly searched our hands. It was so surreal, that for a moment, I was speechless! We looked beyond the rays, and could see the outlines of several black tips, lingering in hopes of getting free food too! I could not even wait to get in the water! I jumped in, and was immediately greeted by five or six massive gray sting rays, who scanned me for food. We didn't feel it was right to feed them and had not brought anything. It turned out to be better that way, because the rays weren't so aggressive, and we could observe them more as they act and interact with each other and the other marine life around them naturally. It was one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had in the water!

The sharks were large for black tips (3-4 ft), and it was amazing to watch them swim so close to you, and scan you with their white eyes. They really are beautiful, and it was so cool to be there, and to not be afraid. The rays continued to swim around us, hassle each other, and bury themselves in the sand!  can't even explain what a unique and unbelievable experience it was, I could have stayed there for hours, and I will never forget it!

So, we're are pretty much packed, and fly out tonight at 12:30 am. It's been such an incredible trip, and I feel so blessed to have had this opportunity. I have learned so so much, from this place, our research, and from the other people here at the research station! For now, I will enjoy the rest of my last day in this awesome place. Tomorrow, it's back to school, and I look forward to the adventures that lie ahead!

Wrapping Things Up

The spawning craziness is now over for us, and we are wrapping up the project here for our last couple of days. There have

Finally, the corals are gettin' busy!

Well, the past few days have been exhausting, but so very exciting!! The Montipora verrucosa colonies that we have collected have been spawning like crazy around 8:20 pm since Wednesday night! Apparently this is the first time that the spawning of this species has ever been documented here!

Pocillopora damicornis larval traps

 The whole ordeal is definitely a two person job, and can get a bit stressful... As you can see in the short video, individual polyps on the colonies release sperm/egg bundles that float to the surface. We collect them using extremely sophisticated turkey basters, the idea being to sample them before the egg bundles break apart, causing the eggs and sperm to disperse. After sampling egg bundles from each colony that spawns, we mix all of the egg bundles together to allow them to fertilize each other, crossing our fingers that there will be happy, fertilized eggs in the morning! So far, fertilization hasn't been so great, but we have gotten some larvae, which is still a success.

Nets placed over Pocillopora
damicornis colonies to catch
larvae release overnight.

Another species, Pocillopora damicornis has also been spawning for the past few nights, but (thankfully for us), they are brooders, which means that they release fully developed larvae. So, we don't have to do the whole fertilization bit ourselves, and can just leave larval traps and nets out overnight. The larvae are then waiting for us to sample in the morning. It's a busy job, with many hours spent in the lab culturing, sampling, rinsing off fixative, and filtering water. And I am loving every single minute!

If I was a Great White... I'd probably bite you

But of course, the ONE day I decide NOT to bring my camera with me into the water, a shark swims right in front of me! It was really windy this morning, giving the water eerily low visibility. Nevertheless, we were on a mission to collect parrot fish poop (part of Maggie's graduate work that I volunteered to help with since I love to snorkel so much!). A word about collecting poop, in the water, from fish... parrot fish, mind you, who are ten times more aware of your proximity than any other fish on the reef ... let's just say it's slightly frustrating.


Back to my story ... the spot we anchored at was deeper than we usually snorkel in, but there were probably a million parrot fish, so it was perfect! So, I'm following this particularly large and colorful parrot fish, just waiting for him to relieve himself, when I look up just in time to see a black tip reef shark come out from behind a bommie, swim swiftly in front of me, and back into the curtain of suspended sediments. I was speechless, and somehow not nervous the whole time it was swimming by me. It was only when it disappeared that first, I was like "oh my gosh, that was so awesome!!!", and second found it much more difficult to focus on the parrot fish with the shark in mind.


Black tip reef sharks are sleek, relatively small (this one was about four feet), and aren't known to be aggressive. Eventually, I refocused on the parrot fish and was beginning to get both frustrated and cold. Just as I'm considering giving up and heading back to the boat, out of the corner of my eye, I see the black tip swimming at full speed in front of me! The shark was swimming so fast, it wasn't until I had turned a full 360 degrees while watching it that I noticed it was circling.  I was sure that the shark would not attack, but its behavior was enough to send me back to the boat thinking that if it had been a tiger or a great white, I'd have been toast!

Under the Sea

I snorkel like it's my job! Oh wait... it is. :) I can't get enough of the reefs here! There is so much coral, so many fish, and just a ton of life in general! Yesterday I had a boat driving lesson, which went really well, and am becoming quite handy at being a deckhand (well at least I've come a long way from falling out of the boat on day one!) We finally finished all of our adult sampling in the field, and are now awaiting the spawning on the new moon. I'd say only in Moorea, can you come straight from the field, soaking wet, still in your bathing suit and bare feet, and start doing your lab work... I thought wearing slippers in the lab in Hawaii was a bad habit!

It amazes me how impatient drivers are here... seriously, I don't understand how anyone could possibly be in a hurry! Today, we drove around the whole island, which only took about an hour. Along the way, we stopped for pizza and pineapple juice. The fresh juices here are AMAZING! I can now say hello, thank you, sorry, pineapple and a few other random words in French, which have all been very useful! It's been really windy for the past few days, and although it makes it a little rough on the boat, it definitely helps with the heat factor!

 The other people here at the research station are really awesome, and are doing really interesting work. I have also made friends with the two station dogs: Guinness and Chicken, both of whom I may be very tempted to take back to Hawaii with me...

Fighting the current

I have blisters on my toes from kicking so much with my fins! There is swell outside the barrier reefs, so current is insanely strong everywhere we go! We try to swim against it going out, so that when we can't fight it any longer, we turn back and have to dodge the coral heads as we are swept back to the boat. It's exhausting, but there's really no escaping it... The fish make it look so easy.

It's been a busy last couple of days, finishing up collections and working on adult coral colony sampling. We have been to many different sites to collect, and seen things like giant crown-of-thorn starfish, huge leopard print sea cucumbers and an octopus! Most importantly, though, we are finding the corals we came for, and plenty of them! Two of the species we were hoping would spawn on the full moon (as they do in Hawaii), sadly did not. So, we are crossing our fingers that the other two species will act as their Hawaiian relatives and spawn for the new moon in about a week. Until then, we will continue to fight the current and sample from adult colonies in the field!


Between our research agenda and my school work (which so far I have been diligently keeping up with...), I have been finding some time to soak up this wonderful place I am in. Yesterday, I commandeered an abandoned kayak at the station to watch the sun set from the water, and today I went for a walk to the nearest town, taking a few detours along the way to find mangos and starfruit growing off the beaten path.

Visual Sensory Overload

Frankly, I was not prepared to see this place in the daylight. I woke up, walked outside, and just stood there. Is this real???  The Gump station is literally right on the water in Cook's Bay, which is surrounded by these insanely jagged, and strangely beautiful mountains on three sides, and opens up to absolutely perfect waves that peel over the fringe reef. After catching my breath, Maggie and I headed up to a view point of both bays in Moorea called the Belvedere. The drive was an adventure, as Maggie is a beginner at driving standard, and I haven't got much more knowledge aside from one very brief lesson with my oh-so-patient brother (not to mention the gas gage is broken). I was trying to be encouraging, but was so distracted by the trees and mountains and flowers and rocks... I'm afraid poor Maggie did most of the worrying on her own. I just had a good feeling about it, what can I say? It always works out somehow right? Well, it did. We made it, and it was unreal!!!

That afternoon, we embarked on our first of three attempts to collect some of the coral species we are after. The first two endeavors were by boat, and let's just say that it was really obvious how undeveloped my sea legs are because the second we anchored, I stood up, attempted to put on my mask, and fell backwards into the water. Good thing  I was planning on getting in anyway! The water is insanely clear here! Seriously, I thought the water was blue in Hawaii!! The first site was sadly mostly dead, most likely because of a cyclone they were hit by a few years ago. The second site was much more promising, with lots of coral, weird fish, and giant clams with neon feet! However, the current was really strong because of the swell, and there wasn't much of our target coral species. The abundance of cool things to see in the water did not make it any less difficult to focus on our mission either.

The third venture, this time by car, proved highly successful and we collected several happy colonies. I have seen so much in one day, it's difficult to process, but I guess now I will have to cancel out all of the visual stimulation by doing my homework.

Bonjour Moorea!

Well, I finally made it! I have spent many many hours at the airport, but although exhausting, it's been sort of wonderful. Listening to all of the beautiful French around me, wishing I could understand... It's given me time to let it all sink in. The opportunity that I have been given to help continue the coral reef research efforts of Hawaii in French Polynesia, and to feel the excitement of the experience that it will be. I am trying not to expect anything, particularly of myself. I am reminded that expectations are often guaranteed disappointments and soak it in, making the most of it all- even the delays.


Landing was breathtaking! The landscape in Tahiti is so dramatic and beautiful! We were greeted at the airport with flowers, music, and intense humidity! I couldn't stop smiling! The currency here looks and feels like something from a deep sea treasure chest! I managed to catch the last ferry to Moorea with the hopes that I would figure out a ride to the Gump station when we docked. We motored into the sunset, with dolphins jumping in our wake. There weren't any taxis when I got there, and I had no idea how to let my contact know that I had made it... so, I kindly asked a tour van if they could squeeze me in and drop me off at the Gump station (from the map, I gathered it wasn't too far), and thankfully, the driver was more than happy to for 300 CPF (about 3 bucks!).


Needless to say I made it, found Maggie (UH grad student I'll be working with), much to her surprise! The stars here are so bright and beautiful! However, the dark tour of the station left me anxious to see it all in the daylight. We ate amazing crepes for dinner at this adorable crepery off the road, and I slept under a mosquito net for the first time! I woke up to an insanely beautiful morning and I can't even wait for the day to begin!!! And, yes, there are LAND crabs!! This one ventured much too far from his hole...