Hi Nick,
Wow, not quite sure where to start. When I added this thread, I hadn't even finalised the trip!
I did finally find a project, and went away with a team called Blue Ventures. Their camp is relatively new, and we turned out to be only their third group of paying volunteers (even though they had had people based there for about a year setting everything up). This made it all quite exciting as the data that we were collecting was actually new stuff, not just repetitions and confirmations of previous surveys.
Being the rainy season in Madagascar, we did have a few weather issues both getting to the camp and getting back. Madagascar is not exactly the easiest of places to cross on land. Whilst the Southwestern area of the country is usually a relative desert, this year the cyclones decided to pop down that way for a change! Two affected us, however, thankfully for us, and the village in which we were based, neither cyclone came within 150 miles (which was close enough however!)
So, when we first reached the camp, the sea was still a little churned up. The swim test was fun! And the visibility on the first dive was not unlike the UK!
Once the water settled down a little, we were able to appreciate some of the true beauty of this area. Having dived predominantly in the Red Sea, I had been used to diving very much in the company of lots of other divers, so what a rare change it was to go out in a group of 5 or 6 at the most. There were no other tourists in the area, only the local villagers who thought we were completely bonkers to even think of going underwater! They were all part of the Vezo tribe, who live on the beaches along the coast, and fish for their food. Being completely dependent upon the sea for their staple diet, they are most vulnerable to the future depletion of the fish stock, they are also most aware of the dangers of the sea itself. We were there to help them understand that they need to exert moderation and care with their fishing, as well as find out about the actual life that is present in the area with a view to creating a marine protected area in the locale.
For the initial couple of weeks we were in study mode, still doing our dives in the morning, and a lot of snorkelling, whilst we packed in as much information about the local fish species and coral formations that we could. I was also doing my rescue course along with a couple of others, so it was a really busy few weeks for us.
The water was heaving with life. The viz wasn't quite as clear as the Red Sea, but the fish here were bigger and the water is WARM at a lovely 30ºC. Due to the use of fishing nets, some of the local coral had been damaged (hence one reason for our presence there), and El Nino in 98 had caused some extensive coral bleaching, resulting in patches of dead coral in the local shallower reefs,which was a real shame. However, we could already see signs of recovery with patches of baby coral dotted all over the reef. And the place was still heaving with fish which was really good to see. All sorts of life were spotted, turtles, sharks, manta rays, dolphins along with heaps of the more regular snappers, surgeons, groupers, scorpion fish, moorish idols, banner fish, huge angel fish
the list goes on. We were making new species additions every week, which made it all the more exciting. The coral surveys were great too, because you got to see the small, really pretty stuff that you would often miss, like nudibranchs etc.
Out on the farther, deeper reefs, there was no damage at all, and we had the rare opportunity to dive some completely untouched, virgin reefs.
For my most memorable discovery dive, we decided to investigate one of several GPS points of deep sea mounts that we had been given. Here we discovered my favourite site Bass 6, a heaving plateau of coral and fish at around 26M, where we found ourselves encircled by an enourmous shoal of surgeons and snappers creating a solid wall around us. We were followed by a couple of incredibly grumpy, incredibly large groupers, obviously curious at our presence, unafraid however disinclined to actually attack us. (for which I was glad, as it was at this point that I noticed that they had rather large, sharp teeth!) The coral was spectacular consisting of vast tables and layers of encrusting coral together with mounds of massive brain coral formations, really quite glorious. Sadly that dive was all too brief, with no shallow reef where we could multilevel off, and living in a pretty remote area, we were wary of getting too close to our no deco limits. However a couple of manta rays did pass by to entertain us on our safety stop, so it wasn't too harsh!
The bulk of our survey diving, was done within the barrier reef, on our local site. Here was the planned marine protected area, so we needed to gather as much information as possible, so that the site can be monitored to check that it is actually making a difference. It contains a hugely diverse range of life and is the perfect area for young fish to grow and develop. Even here we would see great lumps in the distance that would initially look like rock or huge coral formations, only to find on closer inspection that they were infact, heaps of fish, clumped together in a great pile.
I must admit, this kind of nailed my whole love of diving. Having never dived regularly for more than a week at a time, I had no idea whether or not I would find 6 weeks of it a little excessive. It was also hard work, with very early starts (often a 5.30am kit up) and lots of lugging of kit down steps and across rocks (none of the luxury of leaving stuff on the boat). However there is nothing quite like getting up while the sky is still sunrise pink, and setting out in a little boat onto a flat ocean to plop in for a pootle with the fish, before breakfast.
Needless to say, 6 weeks turned out to be far too short! I got quite used to living in a little hut on the beach, not seeing a car for weeks, being able to jump in the sea at any moment, diving in glorious warm water every day, hot sunshine in January
I could go on.
Within a couple of days of my return, I had booked my Divemaster course, and am now hoping to spend a lot more time out on a boat in the future.
Well, I guess I had better stop here, otherwise we are going to end up with a bit of a book!
