Date: September 21st	TI: 0900	TO: 0945	Max Depth: 28m
Divers: Sylvia, Eibes, Paul, Rebecca

At the beginning of the dive, we examined a deeper section of the fringing reef at about 15-25m, which drastically differed from the shallow reef. The deep reef has about 10% live coral coverage dominated by Acropora species, 20% sand coverage, 30% rubble, and 40% dead coral. In the shallower region, less than 10m, there was about 25% live coral coverage, about 25% dead coral, and about 50% rock. There is a high diversity of coral. Algae has overgrown many of the dead corals. On our dive we saw no signs of bleaching or coral diseases. Various soft corals were seen on the deeper section of the reef.

Halimeda algae grew abundantly on the reef slope in the deeper regions and coralline algae grew in the shallower areas. A strange red fleshy algae grew on some live corals in the shallower region.

 There were small reef fish in the area, such as triggerfish, dartfish, damselfish, hawkfish, parrotfish, Moorish idols, and butterflyfish. We did not see any big commercial fish in the area. It was also very positive to see various species of Sea Cucumbers were also seen on this dive.

Date: September 21st	TI: 1100	TO: 1145	Max Depth: 15m
Divers: Kitty, Carol, Paul, Starrlight, Eddie

Date: September 21st	TI: 1440	TO: 1530	Max Depth: 21m
Divers: Kitty, Starrlight, Grant, Sylvia, Rebecca

Date: September 22nd	TI: 0820	TO: 0910	Max Depth: 25m
Divers: Eibes, Sylvia, Paul, Rebecca

We dove three separate times at Curtis Point. Each time we dove a slightly different section of the reef, and each section varied dramatically. 

On our first dive, we stayed in the shallower part of the reef where there was a strong current pulling us along. The most common coral genera on this dive was Porites. We saw lots of signs of edge damage and some overgrowth of live coral by filamentous algae. There were no signs of bleaching or coral disease on this dive. We did see many new colonies. There were no large commercial fish species on the reef, but many small reef fish. We saw a small lobster peeking out of a hole next to a large moray eel. We counted 15 small to medium sized clams on this dive.

Our second dive started in deeper water, and we worked our way to the shallower reef. Most areas appeared to have about 10-20% of live coral coverage, however the coverage was less on the top of the bommies. Sponges overgrew many corals. Also, we saw many corals with filamentous algae and edge damage. Algae covered about 25% of the reef. There were three sea cucumbers and not many commercial fish species.

On our third dive, we descended just south of the point and moved to the north. At first, we saw only sporadic coral bommies with large expanses of sand in between. As we swam further north, we began to see larger and larger coral patches extending deeper and deeper. We decided to follow the coral tracts deeper and were rewarded with beautiful, healthy and diverse corals, many soft corals swaying to and fro, and plenty of large and rare commercial fish species. Trevally swam past us, large groupers and snappers lurked in the distance. This place looked drastically different from any other part of the Eretoka reef system. It appeared much healthier and full of life than any other area. It was a shame that we just discovered the area and we needed to surface soon.

Date: September 22nd	TI: 1020	TO: 1110	Max Depth: 22m
Divers: Kitty, Grant, Carol, Eddie, Starrlight

The wind and swell just picked up as we dove this spot. Once under the surface, everything seemed much more calm and collected. We started in a deeper wall area with about 40% coral coverage. On the shallower regions of the reef, the coral coverage reduced to 15-20%. Many leather corals grew on the wall section of the reef making up to 30% of the coverage in some areas. There were also some sea fans and tree corals on the wall. In the shallowest section of the reef, mostly macroalgae and filamentous algae covered up to 60% of the reef. At one point during the dive, we saw a series of large bommies beginning at 20m and going up to 8m. In between the bommies were coral rubble. There was an intense surge in this area that might be responsible for all the rubble accumulating in these areas.

 

Date: September 25th	TI: 1230	TO: 1320	Max Depth: 20m
Divers: Carol, Sylvia, Grant

This dive site was a fringing reef. The bottom was composed mainly of coral patches and sand. This particular site had a good diversity of coral in particular Acropora and Porites. Unfortunately we found most of the reef to be in a poor state as the island had sold the rights of their reef to people who had removed most of the coral. This area also had a plentiful supply of the small reef fish in particular many species of Damselfish and Angelfish.

 

Date: September 25th	TI: 1010	TO: 1055	Max Depth: 14m
Divers: Kitty, Rebecca, Paul

This dive site was a fringing reef. The bottom composition was a mixture of patch coral, rubble and sand. There was a good diversity of corals mainly consisting of Acropora, Porites, Diploastrea and Pavona. 40% of the coral coverage was live and 30% had algae cover. The coral was also observed to be suffering from a high amount of sedimentation.

This area consisted of many typical reef fish; some of the more significant fish included a Lionfish, Giant Moray Eel and a school of Black Snapper. There were also a varied number of invertebrates present including Corallimorphs, Anemones, Starfish, Feather Stars and Crabs. Towards the end of the dive we saw this octopus moving from underneath a ledge.