Trip to Puerto Rico- Amazing pics!

[esmithiii]

I am in PR on business as I often am only this past weekend my wife used some of my frequent flier miles to come and visit me (instead of my making the trip home for the weekend.) We did some fun beach-type stuff and then rented a small boat and went out to some of the small mangrove islands near the south-western tip of the island. What we found was amazing!

We found ourselves in the middle of huge tidal flats that were teeming with life. We saw countless SPS corals, some LPS, ricordeas, beds of zooanthid polyps that stretched hundreds of feet, urchins, serpent stars, brittle stars and cucumbers that are a foot long! Snails and crabs were everywhere. The coral was lying everywhere, some of it exposed to the air, some of it bleached and dead, most of it was still alive.

The amazing thing was that most of it was in less than 10" of water, and the water temp was in the upper 80's (F)

You can see more pics at: Tidal Flats

Here are some pictures:

[ April 15, 2002: Message edited by: esmithiii ]</p>

 

[SPC]

Very nice pictures Ernie! Did you see any gorgs? If so, what species and what depth.
Steve

 

[esmithiii]

Steve, I know how you are about gorgonians. I saw some at about 2 meters (purple, branching like a cedar tree, couldn't see polyps), but this was from the boat. Unfortunately, we did not have the foresight to rent snorkeling gear. I didn't expect to see anything!

Also, I did not get any pictures of the zooanthids (sea mat) because we had waded in from the boat in deep water and I did not want to risk the digital camera. We saw literally thousands of square feet of zooanthid colonies. They covered everything hard in certain areas and were exposed to the air at low tide.

Ernie

 

[Lynn]

Awesome pics!!

 

[henkelsfamily1]

Thanks for sharing. I am very ready for a vacation.

Walter

 

[FishDaddy]

Great pics, Ernie!
It is so interesting how much abuse corals can take in the ocean while they are so sensitive to conditions in our tanks. I suppose the "great flushing action" of the sea has a lot to do with it.

Glad your wife was able to share the trip with you. That was a special treat.
Dick

 

[Anonymous]

Obviously you avoided Vieques. The reefs there were absolutely amazing before the Navy started bombing and ruining it all. Then, they sunk 112 sarin gas containers, and have resumed bombing, but with "green" munitions. These don't explode but they have an interesting effect on the nearby reefs when they bust open cans of the gas.

Too bad PR is only a territory. I don't think the Navy would have ever gotten away with treating real citizens like that if it was a Florida Key instead of a PR Key.

Dick Cheney is named as receiving party to the lawsuit that is currently in court. This is because he was the one that signed the documents lying about the contents of the containers and disposal methods. Can you say cover up? Unfortunatley, Robert Kennedy is one of the lawyers in party suing with the people of PR. I know how many people feel about him.

 

[Anonymous]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by esmithiii:
<strong>Also, I did not get any pictures of the zooanthids (sea mat) because we had waded in from the boat in deep water and I did not want to risk the digital camera. We saw literally thousands of square feet of zooanthid colonies. They covered everything hard in certain areas and were exposed to the air at low tide.

Ernie</strong><hr></blockquote>

Back on topic, glad to see you had fun out there. I almost went to graduate school there to work on reefs instead of where I'm at now. Zooanthids used to cover the Keys like you are describing in PR. Must have been cool! I've looked long and hard and just don't see them in FLA or even the Bahamas really.

 

[Anonymous]

I go to PR at least once a year to visit my wife's grandfather. He lives on the north-west end of the island and the coral growth is tremendous. One beach,Playa Jobos,is loaded with porites and tons of favia. They are most common in less than two feet of water where the water easily gets above 90F. My tank has sea grass,halimeda,and feather caulerpa from this area.

Then there is Playa Montones,which is a sink hole blocked from the ocean by a huge mountain of rock. This sink hole contains the largest grouping of anemones that I have ever seen. I found about twenty E.crucifer anemones in a four foot radius. It too was filled with favia corals and a forest of porites. The only drawback is that the pool is filled with long spined urchins,so gloves are a must. The gloves also come in handy for accidental encounters with the titanic bristleworms found in PR. I saw one which was about 7-8" long with some nasty spines.

Then there is Heaven. I am not aware of the actual areas name but all the locals call it Heaven. It and the others are located near Isabela,PR. Heaven is a short swim to a huge reef. You are literally inches over the reef when you swim because there is only about a foot to a foot and a half from reef top to the water surface. You find just about anything you could imagine to find in the Carribean. Even manatees frequent the area.

There is also Crashboat. Which is a reef around a sunken ship. You can snorkel it but diving it is better. Some of the reef is about twenty feet deep. You find it all. Condy's,briarium abestinum,gorgonians,and large tube sponges filled with brittle stars.

If you are ever there I would recommend these places to snorkel or dive. I also hear that Vieques and her surrounding islands are some of the best dives in PR.

Good Luck,

 

[Bobzarry]

I snorkled that area last year as my family lives there. One area near the Palgera (south west PR) was truly amazing. I was in no more then 3-4 feet of water and the gorgonians stretched out almost as high. it was a small reef and we swam to it from shore. It could not have been more then 20-30 feet from shore. what first drew me in was we were gonna go fishing with my brother when we steped upon a private dock(with permision of course) I looked down and could see alot of angles swimming around an old tire someone had thrown in. sonatuarly I had to go to the trunk of the car and get the snorkling gear

after investigating a bit I noticed an exposed area of reef rock about 5 feet wide, swimming all around that area was the best part of my trip. so much life its hard to describe. feather dusters that under water seemed as large as dinner plates, fish comming out of nooks and cranies to give you the once over, and huge mats of zooathids.

Thanks for the Post esmithiii, it realy took me back to that place.

Bob

 

[esmithiii]

Anyone know about collection laws in the area or how to find out about them?

Ernie

 

[sharkdude]

Ernie, for collection and retention regulations, start with code of fed regs 622.32 "Prohibited Species" at

http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/cfrhtml_00/Title_50/50cfr622_00.html

I'll look some more to see if I find any local/territorial fish and game restrictions

here's another good link
http://www.caribbeanfmc.com/caribbean_regulations.htm

[ April 16, 2002: Message edited by: sharkdude ]</p>

 

[esmithiii]

Thanks for the info. I could not find a list of prohibited species, though. Any more information would be greatly appreciated.

Ernie

 

[jamesw]

You may want to direct the collection question to Eric Borneman in the Inverts forum. I believe he has been there w/ Andy Bruckner of NOAA and they also looked into this.

Cheers
James