Diving Wonders of Freeport, GBI?!
 

Headed over to Grand Bahama Island (GBI) last year to hook up with Kent, Paula and the gang for the Hard Bargain Out Island tour of little seen spots off island to the southeast. Stopped by Freeport/Lucaya on the way out. Hit a reef right off Lucaya Beach that had the most prolific elkhorn (Acropora palmata) growth that I've seen since the die off in the Florida Keys in the early 1980's. This stuff used to cover seemingly endless hard bottom areas around islands throughout the Caribbean. Elkhorn was responsible for a good deal of rock mass protecting these same islands too. Tragically, this is largely no longer the case in large measure from reports. Likely climate change has done in this highly prolific coral in large measure. It was nice to see a healthy stand for the first time in a long time.


http://www.fksa.org/albums/album519/2_P7060367.jpg



http://www.fksa.org/albums/album519/...d_Lucaya_s.jpg
Sorry for the fuzzy images, I brought along a lower quality backup camera for these shots.



http://www.fksa.org/albums/album519/...t_P7060400.jpg
You would see intervening dead, algae covered elkhorn fronds back in the day at times.



http://www.fksa.org/albums/album519/...rn_Patch_s.jpg
This is the largest living stand of elkhorn that I've come across in a very long time. I sure hope there are others. Have folks seen large healthy stands elsewhere?



http://www.fksa.org/albums/album519/...d_P7060380.jpg
French grunts milling through elkhorn, what could be more natural and common place? That is prior to the early 1980's, today it is a more rare but very welcome sight.


Climate change is still underway, where it stops and what happens along the way we can only guess. Another possible benefit is recent restoration of staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) beds off cooler, turbid Ft. Lauderdale and Pompano reefs. There is more live staghorn out there currently than I can recall seeing in the last 40 years off there.


http://www.fksa.org/albums/album519/...0276.sized.jpg


See you from Lucaya