Today was day one of our Bonaire Coral Restoration Project and it started with a morning dive at Windsock Beach. I did not get to dive. Unfortunately, I have a sinus infection which lead me to snorkel. Luckily, I still got to explore the reef and all the different organisms living in it. In the afternoon, we met in a room by the dive shop to go through a presentation by the Coral Restoration Foundation. They showed us how to tie the corals using the microfilament and then crimping it tight with some pliers to keep the coral in place. Then we paired up with our dive partners to place the coral onto the tree made of PVC and fiberglass.

After the presentation, we got geared up and went with our dive partner to our assigned instructor. The instructor took us to our assigned nursery and showed us how to place the staghorn coral onto the tree. Then we cleaned the algae off the trees using tools that were provided. They had green sponges to clean the microfilament that were holding the coral in place. The brushes were used to scrub the algae off the tree the coral were on. Then, the instructor guided us to the place where the corals were transplanted for reproduction. He showed us the snails, and blood worms which were the predators to the coral that had to be removed.

After the dives, there was a local who was filleting some lionfish on the dock that he had caught. He was feeding the remains to some giant tarpon that were swimming around the dock. In the evening, we had hit the town for dinner and to explore. Later on, we worked on our homework that that was assigned by the Coral Restoration Foundation to give us some prior knowledge for tomorrow morning’s class.

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