Expedition Saba Bank with the Caribbean Explorer - 2015

Expedition Saba Bank with the Caribbean Explorer - 2015

The lettuce slug (Elysia crispata) (photo: Ewan Trégarot) 

We have been looking at benthos community, fish assemblages, reef complexity and water chemistry to characterize ecological and chemical dynamic of coral reef on Saba Bank/Saba.

At home, in Martinique, I work in a Non-Profit Organization (Observatoire du Milieu Marin Martiniquais). I usually do reef monitoring for the French Initiative on Coral Reef program (IFRECOR), either benthic or fish assemblages surveys. The arrival of the red lionfish has kept me busy for the past few years.

Now and then, I do underwater photography with my very small compact camera that can make relatively good pictures.

This expedition was also a real challenge in terms of photography as I was « competing » with people having super high resolution - wide angle or macro lenses on full frame DSLR or very good APS-C cameras. Night dives were most of the time optional but I manage to do all of them, as it’s always full of reef creatures we hardly see during the day.

Nurse shark during the night dive (photo: Ewan Trégarot)

Rays and sharks have contributed a lot to the awesomeness of the dives, especially the little nurse shark that keep following you during night dives. Very cool at first, it became a little annoying when it starts bumping your hand while you try making macro pictures! It’s very much like a pet!

Erik might be one of the most difficult buddy to keep close by, but always a pleasure to dive with him!

GoPro time lapse came up really well with a successful deployment of the tent in Ladder Bay, Saba.

Alkalinity was measured with the famous “SEAS-DIC”, which somehow contributed a lot to making bad jokes. Je ne sais toujours pas pourquoi...

An impressive barracuda (photo: Ewan Trégarot)

Rugosity was, to sum up, my main duty on this expedition, along with some coral recruits recording, tent deployment and water samples.

Oscar asked me to write something for this very special blog, so I’m making it a little special for this very special man!

Thanks everyone for this amazing expedition! The crew was fabulous and the “cuisine” very good!

Ewan Trégarot (if you haven’t figured it out yet)