Today was Day One of our two day Coral Reef Restoration adventure. The day started with a lecture on the corals and the procedures the class will be doing on our two dives of the day. The two dives we did were at coral nurseries, the first at Buddy’s and the other at Klein Bonaire. We went in little groups that had an instructor to lead and direct us. At the nurseries, we helped cleaning the coral trees (which is a man-made structure that suspends the coral, allowing them to grow). For the cleaning, we had scrub brushes to clean the “branches” and the “trunk” of the tree and a little green scrub pad to clean the string the corals were hanging from. It’s good to clean the trees because it rids them of algae, which is a main competitor to corals. The instructor had pruned some of the corals, in which we- the class- had to string them. We made little loops of clear string through a metal piece and then placed the piece of coral through the loop. We had to be very gentle with the coral and hold it with two fingers; otherwise it could harm the coral. When the coral was in the loop, the string was tightened and the metal piece was clamped shut with pliers. Once all the corals were strung, we placed them on the tree. One person held the corals and strung them through an empty hole on a branch and another person placed another metal piece on the top and tightened with a plier. This was done to allow the coral to suspend on the tree. That’s what it takes to maintain a coral nursery.

The nurseries were placed at relatively shallow water (about 20 feet), which meant that the current made the activities a bit of a challenge. However, once buoyancy was maintained, the tasks weren’t that difficult. At Buddy’s, there were a few four-eyed butterfly-fishes swimming around the trees. At Klein Bonaire, there was a sea horse hanging out on one of the empty trees. Some of the other groups saw a few other fishes and one person saw an interesting unknown creature.

For me, the hardest task was the tying the coral. The current made it a bit of a challenge to try to pick up the supplies and not knock into the trees. After a short period, I was able to maintain a position- for the most part- and was able to tie several corals. The easiest task for me was placing the strung corals on the tree. I was able to stay relatively buoyant at this point.

It was a fun and interesting adventure and it’s a good feeling to know that I helped the coral reefs in some way.