October, 2006

Coral Reef II Research Vessel, Bimini

This was a fish collection expedition sponsored by the New England Aquarium. Nine paying volunteers, 3 staff people from the aquarium, and 3 crew were on the boat for a week collecting specimens for the aquarium. The were 3 to 4 dives per day. Divers went down in teams of 2 to 4 depending on the targeted specimen. On this trip, about 350 specimens were collected and air freighted back to the aquarium. The diving was generally shallow (about 20-30 feet) with strong currents on some of the dives. The boat is owned by the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and rented out to various aquariums for this purpose. It is an 80 foot vessel with about 1/3 of the space devoted to fish tanks. Accommodations are adequate with 2 people sharing a cabin and up to 6 sharing the bathroom facilities. The food was very good.

September 14-23, 2008

Coral Reef II, Bimini

Another collection expedition with the New England Aquarium aboard the Coral Reef II. Left my camera at home because I knew would be too involved with the "hunt" to have time for pictures. Turned out to be a good decision for another reason as well because the visibility was not great. Recent hurricanes that had been near the area caused sediment to be stirred up in the water. The collection was very successful with another catch of about 350 specimens. We had an interesting, but very hot, land visit to the shark research station on Bimini.