Panay Explorers Reef Dome Project

[Babydamulag]

We will have unmarked ones as well. We will mix it up. Keep in mind....this is one HUGE experiment. We marked a few for posterity sake. I like the unmarked ones too.....
Do not fret.....we'll mix it up. We did come up with an idea for a bigger version <be afraid...very afraid! LOL>

JAG - I will get to you and your family. We have 5 in the molds now. Just hang on a bit.

 

[D_B]

:lol:

don't get anyone stuck inside one!

 

[shugar]

take your time babyd... the group pic was really cool as well... appreciate the effort

Jag

 

[TekDiveGirl]

BabyD -- this is a great project and looks like it's simple yet so much fun!

Awesome job!

 

[Babydamulag]

10 more REEF DOMES came out yesterday....we stepped up production. Today is the test run for the next size and larger holes. All is going great so far. More pictures to follow later.
I am teaching 3 OW students in the middle of this so I am a bit busy.....but having a BLAST!!!!
Water flat, viz is 3 km, slight wind, sunshine and 29 c already.

 

[World Wide Diver]

Dear All

Attached is a photo of what has been achieved by private sponsorship. Photo taken 4 weeks ago at Kamanga MPA (threatened by coal power station).

This stack of reef domes was kindly paid for by Marijo Caronongan from Manila. Note the growth of algae and numbers of fish attracted to the dome. The diver is my wife, Jane (UK).

Wishing you every success in Culasi.

WWD

 

[Gen San Chris]

Hi Baby D,
Just to explain the picture from World Wide Diver, within the Sarangani Bay Domes Project we constructed 4 Superdomes as we call them, this one being the biggest with 65 domes used in the main structure and it was privatly funded!
This one is the home of a big grouper and is constantly surounded by smaller fish, turtles have been seen relaxing in the lea side!
This can give you another idea of how to stack some domes if you have a suitable site!
Keep up the good work and merry christmas!

 

[Babydamulag]

Ah, I understand. I got it. Okay, I'll look at our location again to see if we need to SUPERSIZE the stack first. We had another 10 come out last night.
Funny story - All of the relatives show up for Christmas Eve and heard what we were doing......by lunchtime they were making REEF DOMES!! It was so funny to watch the whole family get involved and the kids playing around the cement and the domes. They understand why it is necessary to make artificial reefs and look forward to seeing the pictures of growth next year.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES. MAY YOUR DIVES BE FUN AND SAFE!

 

[Babydamulag]

The next 10 are coming out today. All of these have bits of washed up broken coral in the top of the cast. They should be interesting looking. We are mixing it up a bit on the recipe as well. We have some that are 3 to 1 mix and 4 to 1 mix with old broken recycled hollow block in each one. I want the texture on the surface to be rougher than the first few casts. We also left wire hanging out to wire on broken corals at depth. This will give us something to connect the coral starters to when we set them in place. More pictures to follow later.

 

[shugar]

Ah, I understand. I got it. Okay, I'll look at our location again to see if we need to SUPERSIZE the stack first. We had another 10 come out last night.
Funny story - All of the relatives show up for Christmas Eve and heard what we were doing......by lunchtime they were making REEF DOMES!! It was so funny to watch the whole family get involved and the kids playing around the cement and the domes. They understand why it is necessary to make artificial reefs and look forward to seeing the pictures of growth next year.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES. MAY YOUR DIVES BE FUN AND SAFE!

hey babyd, at the rate you're going it's not going to take long before it becomes a whole community effort...

a small idea (it might work):

propose to the local school (public or private w/c ever) and do a small interesting lecture on the marine ecosystem and how a reef works to keep the world spinning, how humans destroy the fragile system, how humans CAN help save it and how tourists will come when the fish are there...

then you take the kids out to play with shovels, stone and cement!

you'll probably have to feed them but a few boxes of zesto and some commercialized spaghetti goes a long way in satisfying hungry child workers...

after a couple days of curing each kid gets to write his/ her name in glowing red marine paint on a reef ball he/ she helped build...

you take photos both above water and below and over the span of a few months (by summer actually) you'll have a pretty cool photo gallery!

involving the kids gives them a sense of ownership - the investment could potentially pay off big time when they have to make the choice of destroying or preserving the environment in the future...

Jag