BIOT MPA Survey Expedition 2015 - Day 3 - Ile Vache Marine & du Coin
Today’s adventure took us first to Ile Vache Marine, a tiny islet in the south of Peros Banhos. A beautiful snorkel took us to shore, as we dropped in water of deep blue backed a beautiful reef alive with colourful fish. After Danger and Sea Cow Islands the arrival here was a pleasure, a gentle landing on the sand. The trudge around the sandy perimeter of the island revealed bucket loads of turtle tracks. This is certainly a turtle nesting haven.
On the way round the island we also came across the remains of the pilot rat eradication project. There were rat baiting stations everywhere and…no sign of rats. A good omen although it will still be a year and a half before the island can be confirmed as rat free. Baiting stations were not the only touch of man on this island though - as with all of the islands out here the high water line was littered with trash from far off civilization. Plastic bottles, foam flip flops, shoes and light bulbs scattered across the top of the beaches - maybe it is time we stopped using the oceans as a trash pit.
We also saw from the coastline the patch of sky where the pilot vegetation restoration program has been going. The north half of this island has an old coconut plantation stand. The pilot plot is an area where these palms have been felled and natural hardwoods have been seeded. In this area the fast growing coconuts have already sprouted – they will need management to top them so that the much slower growing hardwoods can compete.
After doing our transects with the Trekker we swim back out to the boat for our ride back to the research vessel. It is a bumpy ride back as the wind has picked up in our faces with the waves pounding the bow.
As a start to the afternoon we take Nadine ashore to visit the cemetery on Ile du Coin which is a short dinghy ride from the research vessel. It is an emotional moment for her but nevertheless a satisfying experience.
Shortly after this introduction we moved further down the island to start a trekker transect. This will marry up with a seaview survey transect that the Catlin Team did in the water lagoonside of the island. They had a beautiful view of the stunning coral gardens there and also saw a huge manta ray toward the end of their run. It’ll be great in a few months time to see this all up on Google Earth.
One of the pleasures of walking the shores of these atoll islands is to watch the many blacktip reef shark juveniles cruising along in the shallows. On one of the Oceanside beaches a crab with startlingly red eyes churned the sand on the shore with his claws. Mostly the going was very rock though making for slow going around the biggest island we have trekked so far! Nadine joined us for this walk and absolutely loved it.
Great day but tired!