Following on from my adventures in December – and – January, this month marks the start of the end of my time here at Kuda Huraa, with mixed emotions. I’ve become used to the way of life here, and made some wonderful friends that I soon have to say goodbye to… It has been such a privilege to work and live in a rich and biodiverse place with such warm and inviting people.
We have a lovely new intern, Bethany, and it has become my duty to take her under my metaphorical wing, and show her everything both marine-based and island-based! Imparting my wisdom has been a lovely experience, partly due to Bethany’s keenness to learn. We have been on a few crazy dolphin cruises together, one with many dolphins playing and giving us a wonderful show despite the large waves. Showing our coral sites to Bethany, teaching her to monitor coral frames, and demonstrating how to successfully fragment coral colonies has been a treat! I felt like a proud mother hen when watching her seamlessly free dive under the water to the frames and complete her work!
My morning commute by kayak, to photograph and maintain our Reefscapers artificial reefs
The beginning of February has been quieter, and so we’ve been able to focus on the coral work. Some of our frames needed moving from the house reef (which is pretty deep!) to a new location further south. We came up with an ingenious solution to take the kayaks, and attach the frame to the back of the kayak, dangling in the water below, whilst I paddled to the new location. A strange and exhausting experience, but it was very entertaining! Plus, taking the kayak is the more environmentally friendly option: no emissions and no engine sounds, and it’s much more fun!
Cleaning and retransplanting the frames in our coral garden
We also had some children partake in our Junior Marine Saver program this month. We had to be a little bit more creative as we currently have no turtle patients at the Marine Discovery Centre, but I think we rose to the challenge. We had some very keen children who thoroughly enjoyed our little fish identification quiz, and then tried to spot their allocated fish species whilst on our adventure snorkel. Afterwards, the children helped to build a beautiful coral frame, complete with a trident-shaped coral fragment as the piece-de-resistance. Overall, a triumphant morning!
Happy Valentine’s Day! 💜
As the month has progressed, we’ve had more guests arriving on our beautiful island, which means more snorkel trips. And we have been blessed with amazing conditions underwater, with the most astonishing marine life. Time seems to completely stop underwater (which is not great when I’m supposed to be in charge of timekeeping!). Within the first few minutes of a snorkel trip, we saw two nurse sharks, a blacktip reef shark, four moray eels and two hawksbill sea turtles, plus a huge array of stunning fish species… more than I’ll ever be able to identify accurately, but simply swimming amongst them was sublime.
Preparing for launch! Another beautiful day at Kuda Huraa.
As my three months draw to end, I find myself getting more and more forlorn. In just a few days I have to say goodbye to some wonderful people and leave this astonishing place. The work has been intense at times, with a very steep learning curve, but I finally feel competent and GOOD at my job here, and so I’m very sad to be leaving. I will never forget my time here with Reefscapers, and I will be forever grateful to everyone I’ve met and for everything I’ve learned. But I guess the time has come to move on to other adventures, even though it will be a long time before I find myself in somewhere as magnificently beautiful as Kuda Huraa, both in the water and out.
Forever grateful
Laura 💙
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