My main job on the mission was not to sample and assess the health of corals (my usual mantra), but to instead measure reef rugosity (a measure of the degree of structure) and characterize the benthic communities. As coral diversity is low (5-10 species are all that can be seen on a typical dive) and coral cover incredibly high (50-70%), my job was pretty easy! The first dive was done at the crack or dawn, and the reef tops out at 65=70 ft (20-21 m), so my pictures are not particularly good (the exception being the blue water shots, which were taken during the safety stop beneath the boat).
