Grand Canyon West Rim Helicopter Tour May 12, 2022

Thursday May 12th was the day I schedule the helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon West Rim. Since I was now familiar with the area near the Grand Canyon West visitors center, I would have a better understanding of the terrain during the helicopter tour. This tour was the real reason that I brought my GoPro Hero 9 along on the trip. Although I booked the tour with Canyon Tours, the actual company that did the tour was Maverick Helicopters. They picked me up from my hotel and brought us over to their airfield. I think it was in Henderson but I’m not sure now.

Below is footage from the Colorado River, Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. The lighter colored rocks near the water shows how much the water has dropped over the last few decades. I posted this video to my YouTube channel. Since the title of the video was related to a current news topic the video got 34 thousand views in the first month. As of June 25th it’s up to 40 thousand views.

The Colorado River, Hoover Dam and Lake Mead

Below is the footage from when we crossed Lake Mead on the way to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon. Off to the right we can see Temple Bar Marina.

Lake Mead west end

It was exciting to fly up over the ridge and into the canyon lands.

Entering the west rim of the Grand Canyon

The best footage from the trip was when we left the Grand Canyon West visitors center and flew along the canyon on the way back to the Las Vegas area.

Grand Canyon West from the Visitors Center to Lake Mead

Below is the mouth of the Colorado River where it goes into Lake Mead. This is another video that is getting thousands of views per day due to the fact that the water level of Lake Mead is in the news so often.

Mouth of the Colorado River where it goes into Lake Mead

The video footage below is the west end of Lake Mead, which we crossed on the way back to the Las Vegas area and the airfield

Lake Mead west end

Overall it was a wonderful tour and I would definitely book another trip with them if I am ever back in the Las Vegas area.

Foureye Butterflyfish in Cozumel, July 19, 2021

A tropical fish that I enjoy watching is the Foureye Butterflyfish since they are often in pairs. The Florida Museum website tells us, “This is one of the few fish that seems to mate for life.”

The website continues to say,

Male and female foureye butterflies form pairs early in life. These pairs can be long lasting, suggesting that a monogamous relationship may exist between the pair members. If the two fish get separated, one partner will swim upward for a better view in an effort to rejoin the other partner. Courtship between the two is prolonged and energetic. Often the fish will circle each other, head to tail, until one fish breaks and runs, with the other close behind. They will chase each other all about the reef, and chase away any lone foureye that approaches them. Actual spawning takes place at dusk. The female releases from 3000 to 4000 eggs a night. The eggs are small, pelagic, and hatch within a day.

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/discover-fish/species-profiles/chaetodon-capistratus/

Although the fish are beautiful, take a look at how healthy the coral is that they are swimming near! After seeing so many diseased and dead coral in Florida, healthy coral is a welcomed sight. Although coral identification can be a challenge for me, based on the star coral identification page on the scubadiverslife.com website, I think we are seeing Mountainous Star Coral and Lettuce Coral.

Lobed Star Coral at Horseshoe Reef

On July 11th, 2018 I was on a dive to Horseshoe Reef, which is up the coast from Key Largo. We got to see some interesting sea life plus some examples of healthier coral than other places in the marine sanctuary. During the dive it occurred to me that I should slow down a bit and get some video footage of the Lobed Star Coral I was swimming by.

 

One thing to notice is how lots of other species of coral, algae, tunicate, sponges and fish make their home on the coral mound. The Bi-colored Damselfish got a little angry with me when I crossed into its territory. It attacked my camera until I had moved on past. 🙂 Learn more about Lobed Star Coral by visiting the links below.

Resources

NOAA Fisheries Lobed Star Coral

Reefguide.org Lobed Star Coral

 

 

 

A day with the Coral Restoration Foundation

On Friday, July 13th I spent the day as a volunteer for the Coral Restoration Foundation in Key Largo, Florida. I had done this once before back on Earth Day in 2011. I really believe that this organization is making a difference (perhaps small in the grand scheme of things) but at least they are taking direct action to change things.

During the morning the volunteers received the training necessary for the afternoon dives. As I would expect, there was a noticeable improvement in the morning training session since 2011.

Coral Nursery

For the first dive of the afternoon we went to the coral nursery off of Tavernier, Florida. For this particular trip the boat and dive guide service was provided by Rainbow Reef Dive Center.

As volunteers, our job was to clean algae, sponges and fire coral that was growing near the young coral fragments. Back in 2011 I also worked in the nursery. Our job then was to clean PVC pipe stands arranged on the ocean bottom on which the coral fragments were growing.

Since then they have changed most of the nursery to PVC pipe “trees” that are suspended in the water. They hang fragments of live coral from the branches of the trees. They found the fragments grow faster hanging on the trees than placed upright on a PVC pipe base like a plant.

However, using “trees” did not change the need to clean around the young coral so it does not get covered in algae, sponges and fire coral. Cleaning now takes a little more skill since you need to have good buoyancy control in order to hover beside the “tree” while gently scraping the thin “branches” of the “tree” clean of stubborn growth.

While we were cleaning the trees the CRF interns were collecting Elkhorn Coral fragments from another part of the nursery to “re-plant” on Pickles Reef.

“Planting” the Coral

The goal of our second tank dive was to “plant” the coral on Pickles Reef off of Key Largo. The process involves using a masonry hammer to scrape an area on the reef bottom free from algae for the new coral to be placed on. This allows the adhesive putty to bond to the reef base. We arrange the coral fragments in a circular group so they eventually grow together like a cluster of bushes. The underwater adhesive I mentioned is like a soft putty at this point. We have to use enough putty to secure the coral fragment enough to pass the wave test. We wave our hands over to coral to move the water enough and ensure the coral will stay firm in the adhesive putty long enough to harden despite any current and water movements that my occur.

I hope I can build on my experience, volunteer for them again and improve my skills.

Earth Day Coral Restoration Dive

In January of 2011 I adopted some coral as a way to support the Coral Restoration Foundation. When I heard they were having a coral restoration dive on Earth Day (April 22) I quickly signed up. The event was made possible by a partnership between Ecokeys, Rainbow Reef and the Coral Restoration Foundation.

We started out the day at the Rainbow Reef Dive Shop with presentation by Kevin from the Coral Restoration Foundation. I learned more detail about their nursery operation and growing techniques.I also learned about the plight of the long-spined sea urchin and impact their near extinction had on the reef. A mass die-off in 1983 wiped out nearly all long-spined sea urchins in the Caribbean and Florida Keys.

They are experimenting with several different types of growing methods. They have both a “cap and pipe” system and line system.

The PVC pipes and pipe caps can be gently twisted off for manual cleaning with a wire or plastic brush.

They have discovered the line allows the coral clippings and nubs to grow the fastest. After watching Ken work the line I realized it took more diving skill to work on a line system.

I was impressed with the number of fish that had taken up residence in the coral nursery. There was one Triggerfish that got a little aggressive while we were cleaning the coral.

I was happy to see the Coral Restoration Foundation experimenting with growing Brain and Star Coral. It takes a lot longer to grow but its good to know it can be done.

The next dive was at the Wellwood Restoration Site on Molasses Reef. I had been there on Wednesday where I had seen the Black Tip Reef shark.

I was amazed how the juvenile Bluehead Wrasse (the small yellow fish) swarmed around the newly planted coral.

This trip we were just quickly re-planting clippings from other corals in the area. Normally they are placing coral with bases from the nursery onto the reef floor. I noticed several while diving at other sites on Molasses Reef.

They recently started moving the ID tags off to one side since coral several years old have “bushed” out to cover the base tag.

Before my next volunteer opportunity I would like to work on some different clip systems to attach tools to my BC so that I am more efficient.

A Turtle and Reef Shark on Molasses Reef

Wednesday was a fantastic day diving with Rainbow Reef on Molasses Reef. We were lucky enough to have master dive guide Jesus (AKA the fish whisperer) with us for the day. We had so many sighting I barely know where to begin.

Jesus found an small overhang with a Lionfish, Nurse Shark and Stingray underneath. When he captured the Lionfish the Shark took off in one direction and stingray in the other.

Later on during the dive we had a visit from a friendly old turtle. It was not afraid of us at all and swam with us for a while.

During the afternoon dive we visited the Wellwood Coral Restoration site on Molasses Reef. During the dive we saw a few Spotted Eagle Rays and a Reef Shark. In addition to the photo I was able to get a few seconds of video.

Coral Restoration Foundation Adopt-A-Coral Program

Thanks to a Facebook post by the good people at Rainbow Reef Dive Center, I learned about the Coral Restoration Foundation (CRF). I was happy to learn that Rainbow Reef has taken an active partnership role with the Coral Reef Foundation. I like the concept of coral restoration because it is direct action to address the degrading coral reefs in the Florida Keys.

Below are photographs of the coral colony I have sponsored. Visit the CRF Website to adopt your own coral.

I hope to make another trip to Key Largo and participate in one Foundation’s Community Based Programs to learn more about the program and visit the nursery.

Step it Up 2007 at Dartmouth

The Upper Valley joined the national Step It Up movement scheduled to take place nationwide on April 14, 2007. There were events that ranged from skiing in Wyoming to diving on a coral reef in Florida.
A little after one o’clock a group of walkers along with Senator Bernie Sanders crossed the Ledyard Bridge and walked up the hill to the Dartmouth Green. Several groups has set up display tables including VINS, the Sierra Club, Upper Valley Localvores and Advanced Transit. Senator Sanders was the first of several inspiring speakers for the event. The vegetable oil powered Big Green Bus was there along with another car that was also powered by vegetable oil and diesel.

Green Bags from the Co-op

I happen to see some some re-useable shopping bags for sale at the Co-op in Lebanon. I remembered Valerie’s Friday Five about recycling and knew I should buy some. I am guilty of throwing away many shopping bags, both paper and plastic, over my life. I thought it would be a good opportunity to do more reducing and reusing. There was an info sheet with the bags that has some interesting facts.

• Plastic bags can take up to 1000 years to degrade and leave permenant toxins in the soil and water.
• Paper bags create 70% more air and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags.
• Plastic bags kill millions of sea creatures a year.
• The US uses 14 million trees and 12 million barrels of oil per year in the manufacture of shopping bags.
• The US uses approximately 100 billion plastic and 10 billion paper bags each year.
• Less than 5% of bags are recycled nationally.

This seems to be an easy way to reduce my environemntal impact. I discovered they hold more than plastic bags. The Co-op also give you five cents off your bill per bag.

Whales at Stellwagen Bank

These are my two best photos from a whale watch trip to Stellwagen Bank Marine Sanctuary.
The sanctuary is only about 30 miles east of Boston, which makes this a day trip from the Upper Valley. The boat trip lasted about 3 and half hours and leaves from the New England Aquarium.
The bottom structure and upwelling makes Stellwagen Bank rich in phytoplankton, zooplankton and other marine life that whales feed on. They are returning from calving in the Caribbean, where there is little feed for them. So by the time they migrate to the food rich waters of New England they are ravenous.
Visit www.markkarl.com to see all of the photos from the trip. Click on the photos for a larger image.
Anyone else been to the Aquarium or on a whale watching trip?

This is my best fluke shot. The whale was only a few yards from the boat.


There are three whales feeding in this shot.