Benthic Survey and Beach Table

Heather displaying good reef etiquette by not kicking the reef with her fins or touching the reef with her body

Today we unloaded our gear at the beach near Queen’s Beach and set up our beach table.  We had 25 visitors today!  It’s exciting to be able to educate people right on the beach!

Heather and I also conducted a benthic survey on the Diamond Head side of the MLCD.  The random point that we surveyed was over the channel, where the water is about 8 to 10 feet deep.  It was a nice change to be able to dive down to the bottom, instead of fighting with the current over shallower reef.  We must’ve made a new survey record because completed our survey in only 30 minutes!  Amazingly, even though we were over a mostly sandy area, there were quite a few corals.

The Endemic Hawaiian Razor or Knifefish (Cymolutes lecluse), Male, and a head of endemic Finger Coral (Porites compressa)