shades of blue 💙
Hello again! These last three months in Kuda Huraa have flown by in a blur! In my previous blog, I had been here for just one month, and already experienced so much in that short time. The first half of my internship was busy with coral spawning and transplanting, and the last half has been all about the megafauna.
On a particularly special dolphin cruise with my colleagues Bethany and Carlo, I was taking ID photos when I spotted a cute baby leucistic dolphin! Alex had the great idea to name it ‘Snowflake’, because there is an adult leucistic dolphin we call ‘Snow’. I’ve also been extremely lucky to see pilot whales again, and after checking our ID photos, we think it is a second pod passing through the atoll.
Small pod of pilot whales, swimming through North Malé atoll
Juvenile leucistic spinner dolphin ‘Snowflake’
At the beginning of May we had five turtles, and now we have none… which is good news for the turtles but somewhat bittersweet to see them gone. We first said goodbye to Ari when she passed away; it was a very sad day for me and the whole team. On a happier note, we saw a rapid recovery by Noonu! Her wounds started healing quickly, and she started diving immediately when moved to a larger tank. She was then transferred to Landaa for further care. On the same day, we received a green sea turtle called Nautica, who was immediately transferred for specialist veterinary treatment due to the severity of her injuries.
Seakid was released with a satellite tracker (see our interactive map)
Our remaining three turtles were all successfully released! Emma went first on World Turtle Day, and then Burrita on World Sea Turtle Day. Seakid was our latest release, and we attached a satellite tracker to his carapace to see where he goes. It was an interesting process to be involved in, and we’re very happy to get regular updates on his travels (see our interactive map).
Pyramids of rescue corals
Harvesting coral fragments for propagation
In between all the megafauna fun, I spent time with our Reefscapers propagation projects. We are currently monitoring the corals for signs of bleaching across five different locations around Kuda Huraa. I have been organising and analysing the data using ‘R’, a statistics coding language, to create figures we can use to better understand the data trends. It has been great practice for me and it’s very satisfying to see the data we’ve collected in a visual format.
My daily commute with friends!
Reef clean dive – recovering drifting marine debris
On my days off, I was able to complete my PADI Nitrox certification, and started going on some dives to other magical sites. The reefs here are so colourful and diverse, and I even saw my very first mantas on a recent dive!
Great friends make for an unforgettable experience!
My very first mantas … exhilerating!
Overall, it’s been an amazing three months in the Maldives. I learned so much, saw some amazing marine wildlife, and made great friends that I will definitely miss!
Goodbye for now
Hailey 💙
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