06/24/2008, 15 32'S:168 08'W, Pentacost
25/6 Pouring with rain today and that means no surveying as the visibility is too bad and light poor. We did some fish ID training and caught up with some paperwork. Some of the crew went fishing as we are in need of protein!
24/6 We departed Asanvari at 06:00 and headed south to Pentecost, land of the original bungie jumpers! First stop was an unidentified village that Chris wanted to check out for an anchorage, if our destination Laone was untenable however it was not very secure so we headed straight to Leone. Katie, who speaks Bislam well introduced us to the local Chief, who was interested in what we were doing and promised to send us some helpers. We headed to the beach just after lunch and were encouraged that 10 locals had turned up and were very enthusiastic about the idea of the ReefCheck surveys. We paddled or swam to the outer reef at a small tabu area where we set up a short transect and did some ReefCheck training. This was a very nice shallow reef, with lots of invertebrates, including a few lobster. After the training we sailed to Latong where the anchorage is a lot safer. As we entered the pass I spotted a Dugong. We went ashore to meet the locals, who were very welcoming and inte rested in our work. We had a walk and got back to the dinghy as the fireflies came out. It reminded me of Greece many years ago!
23/6 Today we sailed to Ambae Island to pick up Katie Thompson from Vanuatu Fisheries. We left early and got back at sunset.
22/6 This morning we lugged our tanks across the Island to the West side and had a very interesting SCUBA dive. We started a ReefCheck survey but could not complete it as the currents picked up too much. There was very good fish life here and lots of live hard corals with very little damage. We encountered many good size Grouper, Snapper and Parrot Fish. This area is only fished when the trade winds abate. In the afternoon we gave a talk to the village about what we had found. We look forward to returning to Maewo next year to carry our more detailed surveys and see how the tabu areas are developing.
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06/21/2008, 15 22'S:168 07'W, Maewo
20/06. This morning Mel and James did the fish survey in the propsed tabu area then we all went to a new area that was declared tabu just a few days ago where we did the substrate and Inverts. This area seemed to have a lot of juvenile fish in it as well as a good sized Moray Eel, our first sighting this trip. There were also some nice Nudibranchs.
21/06. First job was to get the final fish survey done on the west shore of the village. After that was done we visited the West (windward) side of the village with Nixon, the chief's son and had an exciting snorkel. The coral was in very good condition and there were lots of fish, from small damsels amongst the coral heads to some larger Grouper, Snapper and Parrot fish, plus a couple of glimpses of black and white tip sharks. This part of the reef does not suffer much from over fishing as it's exposed and not
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we think a lot to you working hard in diving but it's good.
Good luck for the rest ...
06/18/2008, 17 36'S:168 14'W, Port Havannah, Efate to Asnavari, Maewo
17&18/06 Our last night Port Havannah was perfect, a near full moon with the drums from Lelapa coming over the absolutely still waters of the bay, a beautiful ending to an amazing stay. We made a lazy start to the passage to Asanvari, leaving at 10am Tuesday, in near perfect sailing conditions of 10 to 15 knots and gentle seas. A good sized Wahoo caught on lure as we went out the pass set the mood and our spirits were high. The trip was an easy downwind sail and we arrived in Asanvari Wednesday at noon. Asanvari is an incredible beautiful island anchorage including a lovely waterfall that runs into the bay. We went ashore to introduce ourselves to Chief Nelson and his son Nixon, both of who welcomed us warmly and showed great interest in Oceanswatch. After a very interesting village tour by Nixon we did a preliminary survey of the bay and headed back to the boat for a much-needed early night.
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06/16/2008, 17 36'S:168 14'W, Port Havannah
Provisional itinerary for Magic Roundabout in Vanuatu.
Our intention is to undertake at least 2 ReefCheck Surveys in any proposed or existing Tabu (Marine Reserve) areas as well as outside those areas. All data will be shared with ReefCheck International, Vanuatu Fisheries and the local community where we are working. On board will be a scientist, divemaster and skipper all of whom will be ReefCheck trained. For the majority of our time we will have ReefCheck Vanuatu and Vanuatu Fisheries representative Katie on board. Itinerary subject to weather and other circumstances beyond our control.
June 16 Havannah 17 Sail to Maewo 18 Maewo 19 Maewo 20 Maewo 21 Maewo 22 Maewo 23 Meet Katie in Ambae, sail to Pentecost 24 Pentecost 25 Pentecost 26 Pentecost 27 Pentecost 28 Sail to Santo 29 Aore. Crew change 30 Aore July 1 Sail to Banam Bay 2 Banam Bay 3 Banam Bay 4 Banam Bay 5 Banam Bay 6 Banam Bay 7 Sail to Maskelynes 8 Maskelynes 9 Maskelynes 10 Maskelynes 11 Sail to Port Villa 12 Port Villa for crew changes 13 Port Villa provisioning 14 Sail to Nguna-Pele 15 Nguna-Pele SCUBA training for local ReefCheck divers and ReefCheck training for new crew. 16 Nguna-Pele 17 Nguna-Pele 18 Nguna-Pele 19 Nguna-Pele 20 Nguna-Pele 21 Sail to Epi 22 Epi 23 Epi 24 Epi 25 Epi 26 Sail to Santo 27 Santo. Provision and clear 28 Sail to PNG
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06/15/2008
Here is a picture of latest OceansWatch member Clare helping Dad on our last survey at Mangaliliu. In the background is Felix, who helped us do the surveying. Felix is wearing a wetsuit donated by Dive! Tutukaka, New Zealand.
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06/15/2008, Port Havannah
14/6 Today we did 2 full ReefCheck surveys. One was in the tabu area in front of Lelepa village and another at a traditional fishing grounds opposite on Efate. The results of these surveys as well as one done yesterday at another tabu area will be presented to the village on Sunday after Church. Today we were joined by new OceansWatch member Nelia Swayze from the yacht Caledonia. Nelia joined just a week ago and met the crew from Magic Roundabout in Port Villa. Nelia has a lot of diving experience and spent the last few days learning about ReefCheck and the Indicator species so was a great help to us. Also assisting was Felix from Mangaliliu village and local Vanuatu Fisheries representative Katie. With a team of 6 we had the surveys completed quite quickly.
15/6 After Church, where we were asked to line up outside and shake hands with the entire congregation and we were invited to the Chief's house for lunch. On the way we were presented with traditional Island shirts and a mother hubbard for Melinda. The Chief was very happy to have had OceansWatch visit and hopes that this trip will be followed up on an annual basis. After lunch we took 6 members of the village out for a sail, which was much appreciated. On our return to our anchorage in Port Havannah we discovered that both the ships Inverters were no longer working so it's a boat maintenance day tomorrow.
Photo of transect laying at Mangaliliu
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06/14/2008, 17 36'S:168 14'W, Port Havannah
14/6 Today we did 2 full ReefCheck surveys. One was in the tabu area in front of Lelepa village and another at a traditional fishing grounds opposite on Efate. The results of these surveys as well as one done yesterday at another tabu area will be presented to the village on Sunday after Church. Today we were joined by new OceansWatch member Nelia Swayze from the yacht Caledonia. Nelia joined just a week ago and met the crew from Magic Roundabout in Port Villa. Nelia has a lot of diving experience and spent the last few days learning about ReefCheck and the Indicator species so was a great help to us. Also assisting was Felix from Mangaliliu village and local Vanuatu Fisheries representative Katie. With a team of 6 we had the surveys completed quite quickly.
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