Orpheus Island: coral reef geomorphology

May 19-24th
Wednesday afternoon I turned on my cell phone to find a voicemail from the dive instructor I had during my advanced open water course, inviting me to go diving that night with them at the strand--for just 10 bucks I'd have the air, weights and mask I'd need to dive. Because it was such last minute I questioned it and decided I wouldn't go as I had to be up early the next morning for a class field trip. However, the guy caught me on facebook and again asked me to come, finally convincing me that it would be okay. So I went--against my normal instinct. I thought this was ok because I'm trying to be more flexible with my life and try to seize more opportunities--kind of like Yes Man (the movie) but in a lot more controlled fashion. I also thought since they were diving on the strand that perhaps I would be able to find my mask.
It took me nearly an hour and a half to get to the Strand (mind you I was lugging around my luggage looking like a complete idiot tourist). Finally I made it to the farthest end of the strand to find a whole group of divers geared up and ready to go. I quickly suited up--however it was now about 7PM and as its winter here--it was basically pitch black. I didn't have a dive light, and they hadn't brought me one. I was a bit nervous as back home I dive with 2 lights and if the primary light goes out I know to call the dive off. Here I wasn't even beginning with one. (Don't be nervous Dad I am still alive and nothing bad happened.) It was an interesting dive--I think it was a lot of the people's first night dive -so everyone was basically on top of each other--I was too because obviously I am not going to dive by myself in the dark but I was the only one with this excuse. Despite this it was a pretty awesome dive. I saw two sea turtles, two sting rays and tons of foot long fish! Surprisingly the visibility was a lot better than it had been when I did my rescue diver course the weekend before in the same area. That reminds me--no luck in finding my mask. The netted enclosures we had been in for the rescue course were removed from the Strand for the winter so it will be impossible to locate my mask now unless it were to wash ashore. Anyway, after the dive I quickly broke down my gear and headed back to the bus. It took me from 8PM-10PM to get back to campus, but overall I think I am glad I went.
When I got back I had to pack for my trip the next morning (leaving at 4AM), but all my Aussie friends were confused about where I had gone since I wasn't at dinner and hadn't said where I was going. So I had a chat with each of them, finally making it to bed at 11:30, only to wake up and then pack at 2:30AM. Needless to say it was a long day. Once we got to Taylor's Beach, where we'd be taking the boat to the island we had to wait because only 14/the 36 of us could be transported at a time. This was fine because Morgan and Scott brought their computers so we watched an X-Men movie and watched the sun rise, not bad for 6AM. By 9AM we were headed across to the island and by 930 we were settling in to island life. Thursday we relaxed a bit, had a good walk around the island while our instructor explained different geological structures and the history of the reef growth on the island. In the afternoon we snorkeled. I actually wasn't too keen on this snorkel session because I had already snorkeled several times on my previous trip to Orpheus in this spot, so it felt old and boring. The water clarity was also poor and the borrowed mask I had kept fogging and filling with water. I point blank told the girl that I was partnered with that I was bored and wanted to get out. It was very funny to me because I've never really been so point blank with people, but its been slowly becoming a part of me. Its just easier to say things point blank than chasing around in circles trying to get what you want. Oh well, it worked and I got to leave the water.
Thursday night was pretty fun. We had a yummy BBQ dinner with lots of tofu dogs or meat if thats what you prefer and then Scott took out some uno cards. This turned into a massive game of spoons--I think we had about 15 people playing at one point. It was so much fun and it passed the night away.
Friday morning we were up by 730. In the morning several people presented different research topics--called tutorials--most of us had done them in our practical sessions, however these topics were not overlapping in the different practical times so our teacher wanted everyone to hear them. Topics were things like cold water reefs, turbidity's effects on coral, reef management, carbon dating, stable isotopes etc. These were quite interesting and I learned a good deal, hopefully I will remember it. By 11AM we were out on the reef beginning our field work for the weekend. This was surveying the topography of the reef in Pioneer Bay where Orpheus field station is located and we would compare it to a reef on Iris Point on the other side of the island (a high energy reef). We pretty much did this all day. There was time in the afternoon for another snorkel but after Thursdays disappointment my group decided to just get going on our project report. This turned out to be not a bad idea as in the long run we were probably the least stressed about it out of everyone.
Saturday we had to get up around 7 to race the tide. We were headed to the other side of the island today to do more topographical surveying. We loaded up 5 boats and headed for Cattle Bay, our first stop. Here we got off and went ashore to see the succession going on of previous reefs to what they are today. It was odd because our teacher brought us into the middle of the island where there was like a peat pool--but that had actually been where a reef was a long time ago before some big cyclonic episode. After Cattle Bay we had a bit of a crisis--each boat was suppose to be able to hold 8 of us and each boat was suppose to be equipped with a radio, unfortunately this really wasn't the case so we had a few problems. We were supposed to be able to go snorkeling on the exposed side of the island but we would have to take turns--5 people at a time with one observer and only 2 boats the two with radios could go. It turned out to be fine as everyone else just snorkeled from the beach and we all ended up being in the same place, but it sure was annoying to think about. After a lovely snorkel, in which I regained my appreciation for snorkeling we went in to shore to have lunch. By the way, I got some great photos with my new camera and it didn't flood yayyy. Soon after it was pretty much low tide so we could start our survey. This took forever as we had to walk nearly a mile down the beach (ouch on the feet!) to get to where we could survey. By the second transect we were raising the tide coming back in. On the walk back to the boats the tide was coming up fast and eels were popping out left and right. Pretty cool! I loved this side of the island--it was so expansive and beautiful--you could also see all the surrounding islands. The reef on this side was a lot different (I think thats why we were to compare them), there was barely any live coral and all the dead coral was covered in this aqua colored algae. There were also tons of urchins and brittle stars--something I had not seen on the other transect that day or in Pioneer Bay the day before. Anyway that was that, we were all whipped out by that night. But unfortunately we had to stay up and write our final report. My group was up until 2 AM, though many groups never went to sleep as we had to be up the next morning at 5AM to pack up and get off the island. Surprisingly I was not tired until about 5PM that day. 8 of us took a different boat back--they called it the long boat--it was definitely faster and more exhilarating than the research vessel we came over on--and I didn't get sea sick! When we got to the other side we had to wait for the boats to return with the rest of our classmates so Scott, Morgan and I cuddled up and watched another movie. We were back on campus by 11AM. It really was a great trip--and I can say with certainty I would rather be a coral geologist than a fish expert!