I had the amazing opportunity to work with Carpe Diem and Coral Reef CPR to lead a crown of thorns seastar (COTS) cleanup in summer 2017. Click here for details or here for the field report. If you want me to lead marine biology talks on YOUR next liveaboard trip, please email me. I've seen four whale sharks in my life over 20 years of diving, and two of them were over a 2-week period in the Maldives. For data and coordinates from the 2016 (long-term monitoring) and 2017 (COTS cleanup) trips, click here.
During these trips, we gave a series of informal nightly talks to the guests on a variety of coral reef topics. Here are the PowerPoint presentations for interested individuals (linked to my iCloud account, so please let me know if the links do not work properly).
1. Introduction to coral reefs 2. Coral reefs of the Maldives
3. Crown of thorns seastar ecology 4. Threats to coral reefs
5. 2016 bleaching event 6. Crown of thorns seastar safety
My collaborators in Coral Reef CPR made the majority of these presentations, and I urge you to reach out to them or peruse their website to learn about the excellent reef monitoring, restoration, and cleanup work they are doing in the Indian Ocean.
Airport and topside
Topside (at sea)
Last day
Enjoying these Maldives photos? How about 10,000 more?!