Masbat Bay Conservation Project - November 2011

20th of November
The next Masbat Bay Conservation Project begun and it’s running pretty well. We, this is the three of us, Martin, Charlie and me, Astrid, are preparing and the underwater surveys at the moment, which is a challenging, but a really interesting job. The weather conditions determine our dives, so that we have to plan them carefully. So, fingers crossed, that the egyptian winter won’t be too hard this year.
Until now we didn’t record that many fish species, which possibly implies that the fish is getting less and less. BUT we have also some really good news: during one dive a Napoleon (Cheilinus undulatus) passed by … just one word: AMAZING!!! Furthermore we saw the Jayakar’s seahorse (Hippocampus jayakari), which is rare, and as well a juvenile trevally (we guess it was a golden trevally, but it had black dots at the end of the tailfin) hiding under a diver, who didn’t recognized it at all, but we saw it J

24th of November

The third week of our project started … we can’t believe it has been already that late. We had many really nice dives within the last days.
We recorded mostly sea grass as a substrate, but there will come more dives sites including coral reefs and other substrates, to which we are really looking forward to. The fishes are less than expected, which is very sad. But time after time we are agreeably surprised about some stirring events. Often we observed big golden trevallies (Gnathanodon speciosus), as well as tunas (Gymnosarda unicolor) hunting other fish. Further we saw a big group (30 individuals) of foldlip mullets (Oedalechilus labiousus).
Nearly in every dive octopuses (Octopodidae) appear, hiding in the inside of car tires or other hiding places. Once one octopus got bitten by a Dascyllus trimaculatus, which was a bit funny to observe J Further a big unicornfish (Naso unicornis) passed by; a good moment, because we don’t see them that often. We also observed several moses soles (Pardarchirus marmoratus) and goby shrimps (Alpheidae), cleaning their home. Again and again we see the upside- down jellyfish (Cassiopea andromeda) lying in the sea grass beds.
We began to start our dives very early in the morning, like between 7 and 8 o’clock. The reason is, that many people use the entry points at the beach, to go for a swim and to go diving. As many people are in the water and swirl up the sediment, it makes it hard for us to make a good survey.
The weather is getting better at the moment, but it’s still very windy, which makes us missing good german hot chocolate or hot wine punch J It’s impossible to go diving with less than 5mm neoprene. Night dives are rare at this time of the year, but we can’t wait for our fluorescence night dive !!!

Dahab Reef Monitoring 2011 - the last week in Dahab

We finished the last week of the Dahab Reef Monitoring program and most of us are back in Germany. We still had a few survey sites left, for example in Gabr-el-Bint, which means that we did our second boat trip. For many people Gabr-el-Bint is one of the most beautiful dive sites around Dahab because there you have a sandy lagoon, an amazing reef and a steep  wall. Also there aren’t so many divers. One day of week 6 we spent in the protected area of Nabq, which has many different habitats. Chris told us about the mangrove, the wadi and the sand dune and we also discovered the mangrove by snorkeling. The highlight of this week was the fluorescence-nightdive. Equipped with a light filter for our mask and a blue-light torch we dived   Bannerfish Bay with Abby. It was an amazing experience!

The last days were also a little bit stressful because we had to finish the analysis of our data but we managed it. On the last official evening we presented our results and we obtained our Eco-Diver certificate. To celebrate our last days together we went to the Tree Bar where we had a really nice evening. After this we had to say goodbye to Diana, Clarissa, Joschka, Nele and Luisa. It was a strange feeling after living and working together for such a long time.
I think everybody agree with me when I say that the time in Dahab was full of great and unforgettable moments.
Maybe we will be back again in Dahab. We hope so!

Dahab Reef Monitoring 2011 - Week 4 & 5

Although there were still 2 weeks to go it felt like the project would be over very soon. Because some of us had more dives than the others it was a little complicated to plan the surveys. But besides the surveys there was plenty of work to do outside the water anyways. On Saturday the 17th of September we joined the International Clean Up Day to clean the beaches of Dahab from all the rubbish. Dive Centers and locals were informed about the upcoming event a week before and so we hoped to see a lot of them helping us. Motivated and equipped with trash bags and gloves, we splitted into two groups and started to clean the beach at Lighthouse and also at Mashraba Bay. We were very happy to see that some of the locals decided to grab gloves and join us, although there could have been a lot more. Nevertheless we managed to collect a lot of trash. Maybe the locals will understand soon how important it is to keep the beaches and the water clean, also for their own good. There was especially one survey in week 5 everyone was looking forward to – Blue Hole. Of course, you can`t compare a survey with a fun dive, but nevertheless it was a great experience to dive along the wall with nothing but blue underneath your feet. On this week’s day off some of us decided to climb the famous Mount Sinai to watch the sunrise. After a 2 hour drive we finally arrived at the mountain at about 01:30 in the night. From there it was just a 2 ½ hour walk to the top of the mountain. If you can ignore the masses of tourists walking in a row and if you don`t mind feeling like a camel being pushed up the hill by your guide, it is a really great experience to watch the sunrise up there. On our way down we also visited the St. Catherine’s which is built on the exact same place where the “burning bush” has been.
The tasks for the next week will be to finish the surveys and do all the office work that needs to be done. But we are also looking forward to our second boat trip to Gabr-el-Bint and a trip to the Nabq protectorate to see the mangroves and the Arak dunes.

Coral Reef Adventure - 15.-29.9.2011 - from participant Johanna Fischer

We have two exciting weeks of marine biology behind us. During the first dives we were really amazed by the fish diversity and their beautiful colours. Before and after the dives we discussed with Christian topics such as fish ID, coral ID, seagrass meadows, and invertebrates, as well as fish behaviour. Thus, after a few days we were able to determine many fish and coral species. During our observational dives we examined the blue streak cleaner wrasse and clownfish (“Nemos”) at the local reef a bit closer and we did some observations on their strong territorial behaviour towards us uninvited guests and toward other fish species. Encounters with green sea turtles, small rays, e.g. blue spotted sting ray, octopus and brightly coloured jellyfish were some highlights.

Another highlight was the fluorescence night dive: equipped with blue light torches and filters on the mask we made our way to admire fluorescent organisms. And we could actually see the green fluorescent protein in the star gazers, sepia or sand roses. After this course one thing for me is for sure: life in all its beauty had its origin in the sea!

Field trip of Uni Bonn to RSEC Fieldstation in Dahab (1.-15.9.2011)

INTERNATIONAL CLEAN-UP DAY 2011 REPORT:

On the 17.09.2011 was the International Clean-Up day. Armed with trash bags and gloves we went out to clean Dahab’s beaches. Beforehand some of us went to the diving-centers here in Dahab to inform them about the sense of such an event and to invite them to join us because a clean beach should be in everyone’s interest who lives here. Because of the positive resonance of the people we thought that some of them will join us. Sadly, nobody except of the RSEC members met. Nevertheless we started the Clean-up with splitting the team in two groups. Nina went with the one group to Mashraba and Abby with the other one to Lighthouse. What we found there was alarming. A grain of sand was followed by a cigarette butt and also plastic bottles, cans and other unpleasant surprises. Luckily some people joined us after they had seen us working. Some tourists watched us when we were cleaning, but they were not too interested in helping……. After 1, 5 hours of collecting trash we ended our work because of the nightfall. At the end we carried a remarkable pile of rubbish. With the help of more people it could have been more.

Text: Volunteers

Photos: Simon Lehner

Dahab Reef Monitoring 2011: Report for week 3
Surveys
We spent the third week carrying out surveys in Ricks Reef, Lighthouse, Moray Garden and Abu Helal collecting satisfying results and enjoying the diversity of underwater life. Especially in Abu Helal the view was breathtaking and we saw an incredible amount of farmer fish.

Office work
During the surveys we took overview pictures documenting the transect lines. These pictures needed to be corrected and sharpened due to the colour change under water and assembled in their right order.  Working on them using Adobe Photoshop took us a lot of time, especially the saving process.

Clean up dive & planned beach clean up
We spent two days collecting rubbish underwater in order to protect animals and especially corals from damage. These dives were not only useful for marine life but it was also an amazing experience as we encountered a huge turtle having its lunch in the bay. It did not care about our group approaching so Kathi was able to take awesome photos. Finally, it floated gently to the surface. We left the water carrying huge trash bags. But not only marine life needs to be protected from pollution, cleaning the beaches of Dahab is equally important. Due to this necessity we started planning a beach cleanup event for the 17th of September joining the worldwide beach cleanup day, inviting tourists and locals to participate.

Free time activities
On our day off our group was divided in two: The majority went for a dive to the Islands and was overwhelmed by the size of porites corals. The minority enjoyed a wonderful trip to the Coloured Canyon getting to know the desert side of Egypt. Not only our day off was used for group activities: On Tuesday the whole team went  to the Tree Bar for a farewell party since our Greek team member Sophia is going to leave on Monday L
All in all we had a lovely and successful week with loads of sunshine.

Dahab Reef Monitoring 2011 - Week 1 & 2

Once we arrived at the airport we got a transfer to our apartment in Dahab where our project supervisor Nina was waiting for us. We went with her directly to the dive center where the RSEC institute is located. On our way to the center we got some first impressions of the city of Dahab. On the next day we had our first project dive in which Nina and Abby checked on our diving experience. The following days we had to work on our diving skills which included buoyancy practice and accurate movement under water. Our goal was to be in a head down position the whole time and to keep buoyancy while writing on underwater slates. We realized how hard it is to keep an eye on the reef shape and our own position in the water as well as watching your depth and checking on you air, whilst all the time still having to search for indicator species and being aware of where your buddy is. 
The first days we had to learn a lot about the important indicator species. We had to recognize fish, invertebrates, substrates and coral damages correctly under water and collect the relevant data. Additionally we had to practice a lot of underwater signs to be able to communicate to our buddies. Although this was a lot of work the sun, the ocean and the diving made us have a wonderful time and gave us a little bit of holiday feeling. Besides that it was a lot of fun to increase your diving skills and it was very interesting to learn about the ecology of coral reefs. 
Above all we had the beautiful coral reefs by which we are surrounded every day while we are doing our work.
Although there is lots of preparation we have always enough time to do something else. We can do other dives, go snorkelling or even have trips by camels and quads in the desert. It is possible to see the mangroves, the National Parks and go on other sight seeing trips such as seeing Moses Mountain. It just needs a bit of coordination with our nice leader of the project. After 10 days intensive species training the real survey work starts. 
During the calibration dive the leader evaluates the skills and expertise of the volunteers to make sure that we already can to do a real survey, because all the data need to be correct. But the calibration dive shows that we are not quite ready. We need some more practice and routine to accomplish real surveys. At Rick's Reef we did a survey to practice our skills and nearly got a survey with evaluable data. 
At the following day we had a nice boat trip to Gabr el Bint, one of the best diving spots, to make our first survey. It was a survey in 10 meters depth and with a strong current. That is why all of us had problems to finish the survey, but we managed the situation and are proud to get our first data sets to enter into the computer.

Coral Project Dahab 14.7.-11.8.2011 – Bulletin 2

The good thing about the wind in Egypt is the fact, that it´s easier to stand the heat. You can breathe normally again, sleep the whole night and you´re not sweating like hell when you´re in the sun.
The bad thing about the Wind in Dahab is the fact that we are not able to work properly.
When we, motivated as we are, trying to get into the water in the morning, the waves are just trying to keep us, with all their force out.
At a normal survey dive, you try to have a good buoyancy to come as close as possible to the corals. Due to the weather conditions we have now, we are happy when we don´t get seasick on 5m and find the corals where we stopped for writing at 13m. However, now we just try to do what´s possible, that means doing the survey at 15m. Today we also started with an UW cleanup  in the bay, cause that’s maybe the best thing we can do at the moment. Nina is checking the “Windguru” every day, but her face also gets unhappy every day, as it says wind for the rest of the week. So we all just hope that Egyptian weather forecasts as bad as European ones, so we can start with the surveys again. So just at the moment we a polishing every fish in the bay until we are able to see our self in his scales-

Your´s, some cleaning volunteers from the border of the red sea ;)

Coral Project Dahab 14.7.-11.8.2011 – Bulletin 1

Hi everybody at home. I hope you enjoy your time sitting in front of your PC, starring at the cloudy, cold weather outside. Actually we have about 40 degrees and sunshine every day, which is also hard to handle when you´re used to middle European weather conditions. It´s now two weeks, since we started the Coral Project 2011. We are a mixed group of six Volunteers from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Greece. We used the first days in Dahab practice our buoyancy, so we can dive the “scientist style”. That means you´re hanging around, most of the time head down, on a strap that’s 20m long and is placed on a coral reef, trying to get data, while not destroying every coral around you. That worked quite well after three days, so we went on to get information about the corals (Coral Bleaching, diseases and Coral ID). Well, we didn´t do that the whole day as we also went diving to practice under water what seemed quite difficult theoretically. However, under water it´s a lot easier to find out which disease the coral has. So, after we did a test to see if we are ready for a real survey, we started collecting the data.
It´s quite interesting to learn about how a coral reef works, which animals are depending on it and which impact mankind has on this ecosystem.

So that’s it for now, we´ll try to update you now more often about what we are doing here.
Best wishes from Dahab ;)

Markus Dengg

The Bristletooth and our 4 bachelor students from Tübingen

Hi, we are Sabrina, Anouk, Ana and Agnes and are aged 20 – 23 years. We are studying biology in the third year at the University of Tuebingen. We are now in Dahab to collect data for our respective Bachelor theses. Its topics result from a two-week field trip to the Red Sea at El Quseir. There we conducted a small project about the behaviour of the Striped Bristletooth Surgeonfish (Ctenochaetus striatus), in which we found that this species uses specific sand spots as ‘public toilets’. Being a detrivore it eats sediment off corals and hence this behaviour of the Striped Bristletooth is an important factor for sediment transport. So to speak this species cleans the reef from sediment and accumulates it on specific spots.

Sabrina:

The aim of my bachelor thesis is to examine a possible intention of this specific behaviour for the Striped Bristletooth. It could be a parasite avoiding strategy, as they use ‘toilets’ away from their feeding grounds. Therefore I search for endoparasites in the faeces. Furthermore I examine the transport of organisms of the meso- and microfauna by the Striped Bristletooth from their feeding grounds to the ‘toilets’, what implicates an input of organic material.

Anouk:

I am going to analyse whether this ‘hygienic’ behaviour could possibly provide advantages in interspecific interactions. For this purpose I am observing the behaviour of the Arabian Surgeonfish (Acanthurus sohal) towards other surgeonfish species, which intrude into its rigorously defended territory. I expect less aggression against the Striped Bristletooth since it is no foraging competitor for the herbivorous Arabian Surgeonfish but rather helps enhancing algae growth by removing sediment. Therefore I additionally quantify the effect of the Striped Bristletooth on the amount of sediment and algae growth by means of exclusion experiments.

Ana:

I am going to compare habitat features of the spots that are used as ’toilets‘ in order to find some patch characteristics that are preferred for their  ‘toilets’. Moreover I am going to combine this with a substrate analysis of the different areas where the toilets are located, as there are also ‘toilets’ over substrates other than sand. As we discovered here in Dahab this often occurs when no sand is available nearby.

Agnes:

In my bachelor thesis I examine the effects that the behaviour of the Striped Bristletooth has on meiofauna living in the sediment. Since the utilisation of sand spots as toilets can be seen as an input of organic material, I expect a higher density and possibly a different composition of organisms living in the sediment at these spots in comparison to spots that are not used as ‘toilets’. I also compare the grain size of the sand between ‘toilets’ and other sand spots, because it is an important environmental factor for the fauna in the sediment.

March, 4th, 2011 - UW- and Beach Clean Up

Today, the RSEC-Team, accompanied by some Sinai Divers Backpackers customers, has completed an underwater clean-up in the area of Masbat Bay (Bannerfish and Mashraba).
The complex ecosystem is suffering from different anthropogenic causes – corals are not the only victims, fleshy algae are covering whole seagrass areas, some indicator fish is not found in Masbat Bay anymore and major animals such as sharks and turtles have become extraordinary rare.
Not only the illegal fishing and old sewage systems are destroying the ecosystem, garbage – thrown away into the sea by locals and by tourists – is damaging the area as well.
The lack of consciousness about their own unique ecosystem is one of the major problems in the local society – old fishing nets, carpets, cigarette butts and all kinds of plastic bags are thrown away into the sea.
The results are quite obvious – the toxins are eaten by fish and remain in the food web, nets are a definite death to most fish that crosses them, and the covering plastic bags cover the light-dependent corals to death.

For the clean-up dive, we divided in buddy pairs and got large-volume bags for collecting, scissors were taken as well to cut nets around corals. The dive was about 50 minutes, while we made our way from Bannerfish Bay to Mashraba, we have collected lots of plastic bottles, cans, cigarette packages and endless butts, even big carpets and pillows were there, but too big to carry them.
In the end, every participant could bring an whole lot of garbage back to the diving center, much more than we would realize on a fun dive, finally it was a good feeling to be able to do something for such a place, that definitely should keep it’s fascination for the future

Today’s afternoon was Friday’s big clean-up in Dahab, a big event that will take place, in different areas of Dahab, every Friday.
Volunteers for the clean-up had to meet at Assalah at 01.30 pm to help clean Dahab of all the garbage covering the streets. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the meeting place, that there were so many people joining the clean-up, both Egyptians and foreigners.

Then another major question came to every RSEC members’ mind: what about the organization? But it appears that, though we were numerous, this event was quite well organized. People formed groups, and helped by some organizers, dispersed themselves to collect trash as efficiently as possible. People had come with gloves and some of them with plastic bags. But plastic bags were also provided for those who had none. Some people had shovels and rakes, which proved to be very much useful. There was also a loader and several camions to collect plastics bags already full. And even water, and biscuits were distributed to the participants.

Nevertheless, it was hard work with the sun heating hard, the wind blowing and throwing dust in your eyes and there were much to be done. In every corner, Dahab itself seemed to have turned into a dechetery. Somehow, one Egyptian sentence, before the beginning of the event, was not so far from reality « Instead of cleaning Dahab you should clean yourself », though I think it meant more, that we should stop taking Dahab for a bin and stop throwing everything away in the street rather than cleaning Dahab once a while.

As we had finish the clean-up and were going back to the station, I was actually surprised to see that many people were cleaning the streets and sweeping in front of their shops or restaurants… and, though much work would have been needed, the streets did look much better after the clean-up than before. As we can say, unity makes strength, so if everybody do its share of one work, everything is possible.

All in all, though it was hard work, I reckon this clean-up had to be done and I will join Friday next cleaning with pleasure and invite everybody living in Dahab to join as well.

Masbat Bay Conservation - November 2010

Two weeks ago we started with the Masbat Bay Conservation Project. We arrived here by taxi in the new RSEC-headquarters-camp! Everything is nearly brand new. In the court we relax in the evening and we feel very cozy. During the first days ...we had some presentations about the method and aims of this project. And of course we had to learn all the fish indicators and different kinds of substrate. During several dives we had the possibility to practice a lot and even if we had some problems with our transect-line we managed some test-transects. Few days ago we had to demonstrate our ability to distinguish the different fish species and kinds of substrate. We are quite sure that we all passed the tests and hope that we can start with our surveys soon.
During the last dives we had a closer look at the algae and seagrass in the Bay. We took some photographs of different kinds of algae and seagrass so that we were able to determine them later in the office. The most common seagrass here in Masbat Bay is Halophila stipulacea and in-between we found some Thalassodendron ciliatum and Halophila decipiens.
Yesterday we started with the fish and substrate surveys. After some primarily problems we now manage to do three transects in one dive. And with some extra time and a closer look in every corner we also found some ghost pipehorses, double-ended pipefishes and two very good camouflaged little dragonfishes. (The devil is in detail!)
The Masbat Bay includes a large number of different habitats such as coral reefs, seagrass areas and sand/rubble areas. These areas are very important habitats for manifold life forms. Seagrass stabilize the sediments so that the local erosion in the bay is relatively stable and also leads to a rich infaunal community. The large seagrass areas establish a habitat which is completely different in ecological conditions compared to sandy soils. In the seagrass you can find a lot of biomass resulting from the habitat and hiding-places for many juvenile fishes. Special and not so common fishes are living in the Masbat Bay seagrass areas like the Jayakar’s seahorse, Hairy pygmy pipehorse, Robust ghost pipefish and the Tailspot goby. Furthermore seagrass meadows are among the most productive ecosystems of the oceans. The aim of monitoring the seagrass is to find possible (seasonal) changes in seagrass abundance and species composition.
Similar to the seagrass survey we analyze the long term and seasonal changes of the algae accretion. An increase in algae abundance may be an indicator of eutrophication caused by nutrient input or an indirect indicator for absence of herbivorous fish, which might be affected by overfishing in the local area.
Other threats are altering of coastline like building in the tidal zone, diving and snorkeling tourism. Therefore a long term study is necessary to assess the changes in habitats and marine life.

Week 7 bulletin - The End

Monday 13.09.2010
After the nice trip to Ras Mohammed and Ras Umm Sid, we had to do another Survey. The way led us to the south, where in the morning the 5 m transect in Umm Sid was done. The wind was very strong for the last days and therefore it was a very hard work we did on the 5 m. This was the reason why we decided to cancel the 5m survey in Southern Oasis and to go to the Caves and cut out fishing lines instead. At this dive site you have to jump into the water from the steep edge, which makes the exit more difficult. Under water it became clear that the clean up was necessary; a coral block on 20 m  was full of fishing lines. After a while of cutting fishing lines we discovered the beautiful caves. On the ceilings were a lot of sponges and black corals growing.

Tuesday 14.09.2010
This time Christian wanted to do the 10 m transect in Abu Helal...but as it was usual the last days the wind was too strong and the waves were too high. When there is a high wave action the entry and exit is almost life threatening for the divers and for the corals growing there for sure. After a short consultation, we decided to go to Blue hole instead. On the saddle of the Blue hole Christian found some corals, which were eaten by the Crown-of-Thorns-Starfish and he signalled us to look for the starfish, but we didn’t find it.
In the evening we had our big Good-Bye-Party, where we had some presentations on our data we collected during the project, we got our certificates and had our following party.

Wednesday 15.09.2010
This was the last day for most of us and we had to be in the Office at around 11 am. We went all together to the Yalla for having breakfast. The data were checked and the things were packed and in the evening was the big good-bye.

Thursday 16.09.2010
Official end of the Dahab Reef Monitoring & Reef Conservation Project
While most of the volunteers were leaving a small group went with Nina, Lydia and Steffi with the boat to Gabr el Bint.

Bye Bye and Auf Wiedersehen, see us next year.

Text: Christina Hörterer

Week 6 bulletin – last days of the DRM 2010 (by Sahil Puri)
Sunday 5.9.2010
On this particular day it was time for the “Thistlegorm”. The Thistlegorm was an English warship which was sunk in 1941 by a German Bomber near the entrance of the Gulf of Suez. The famous Jacque Cousteau has rediscovered this ship for the modern sport divers and so we can now enjoy it down on 30m. Down there one can admire lots of interesting stuff such as army rubber boots, motor bikes and air defence canons including old bombs. Two dives were planned for this wrack. We were supervised by some beautiful red soldier fish looking at us with their huge eyes through the light beam of our diving lamps. The third dive was reserved for the Shark-& Yolanda Reef located at the Ras Mohamed National park. The wrack of the sunken Yolanda was dashed down to 600m depth in the meanwhile. It carried cargo items such as toilets which were distributed all over the bottom ground of the Reef flat. Beside these objects we could admire 3 huge Napoleons, 2 Stonefish, 2 Crocodile fish with their amazing camouflage techniques, 9 Moray eels and two blue spot sting rays chilling in the sandy ground. As we returned to our base camp at night we could say Hi to a just freshly landed Diploma student from Germany. His aim of his stay will be to learn more about the ecology of so called Vermetides (Vermetidae or Wormshells).

Monday 6.9.2010
Today we visited the famous coloured- and white canyons with a tour guide who helped us with one of our beach-clean-ups. They are located in northern Dahab next to a city named Nuweiba. With us on the tour was a lovely Iranian guy holding a Swedish passport with which one could enjoy a lovely round of Back Gammon in the evening to finish off the day with a chilled out activity. Two of our Swiss volunteers had to stay back with ear problems, colds, etc. for several days and had therefore no chance to dive. Instead they were enjoying some nice Antibiotic drops.

Tuesday 7.9.2010
Today we had a survey at the dive spot Islands North on 15m depth. Again there was a strong current and so we had to calculate enough air for diving all the way back from the survey sight against the current. During the survey we were visited by a giant turtle and could watch it from short distance while it was feeding on several algae species. Additionally there was new stuff to learn about. Some people imagined to have seen a black band disease (coral disease) but it rather turned out that this was a normal warzone between two hard coral species (incrusting and porites columnar) which were involved in a chemical war to win territory. Back on land the last ID-tests were carried out for some freshly arrived volunteers. Congratulations go out to Steffi and Nicole. At night there was a fluorescence dive at Banner fish Bay including Stone fish and fire worm.

Wednesday 8.9.2010
This day was more or less carried out in the “dry” office. Office day, yeah! With cleaning utensils and improvised cleaning instruments we gave back the glory and shining look to our yard. After the floor soaked up all the water, we were able to start working on the transect images in Photoshop. Parallel to this great procedure the second group was on the way to the Nabq national park to admire the mangroves and the halophytic plants there. Meanwhile Christian (the Boss) got a phone call from Australia about our rescue operation of the small Turtle Nessaja. The call came from a well-known activist who used to live in Dahab for years. He had analysed our pictures and found out that something was wrong. With his hint and with counting the head-plates again, we found out that the small turtle was not a “Hawksbill”, but a “Loggerhead”. Loggerhead turtles are pretty rare here in this region.

Thursday 9.9.2010
Clean Up day...and action! The same procedure as every Thursday. We hang up the “Clean Up”-Sign at our terrace and the Clean Up-Box was prepared. At the last beach Clean up an employee of the “Lazy Camel“ restaurant had promised us two Pick Up’s, but as everyone knows, a good plan is no plan, so the Jeeps were not available. “No problem, next time” we thought. The last time the Seven Heaven Dive Center had promised us free dives, while they were cheering at us and thanking for our work. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get our free dives, because we had a lot to do during our Reef Conservation Project. The first thing we did on this day was the under-water-clean-up at Bannerfish Bay. In the afternoon before the beach-clean-up we had another mission. At Bannerfish Bay was a beautiful bubble coral, which had broken into pieces a few weeks ago. Several pieces were lying in the sand. We went under water to fix it and tried to recreate the habitat it had been offering to so many fish and other animals. In a group of five helpers we tried to put it piece by piece together again like a puzzle. The mission was successful. Afterwards we made our beach clean up before we went to have dinner, while the Ramadan came slowly to an end.

Friday 10.9.2010
A survey in Abu Helal was planned. The dive site was to all of us (nearly all of us) completely new. Abu Helal is in the north of Dahab, right before the Canyon dive site. The wave action was very high at this morning. The forecast of “windguru” failed – again. The author of this article wasn’t lucky at all. His O-ring of the regulator got broken and the spare stuff was defect as well, so the dive was cancelled for him. BUT, what a surprise, there was enough work on the beach. Equipped with a rubbish bag and a rubber glove the prevented diver went along the beach, while the others were in the cool water. At least he was accompanied by a desiccated blue spotted stingray and a spotted Eel.

Saturday 11.9.2010
Day off

Sunday 12.9.2010
After a day of relaxing we went on the desperately desired Trip to Ras Mohamed. Three dives, two at Shark- and Yolanda Reef and one at Ras Ghozlani, were planned. But after the first dive there were some complications with one of the tanks and a little mass panic broke out. Because of this we had to go back to Sharm el Sheikh to exchange all tanks. Therefore we had to cancel one dive and went to Ras Umm Sid. Here we recognized that some snorkelers were standing on the reef table right in front of the hotels. After a short discussion that they should not be standing on the corals, we were able to start our last dive. Ras Mohammed was a very nice place for diving except for all the noises made by the ships’ motors.

Report - Beach Clean-up, Dahab, 02-09-2010

Due to a lot of additional volunteers, a good organisation and our new RSEC T-shirts, the last clean-up was a huge success. Not only tourists from the street helped us but also the manager from the Ali Baba restaurant who supported us with around 100 rubbish bags and 150 flyers in advance for advertisement. We met in front of Sinai Divers Backpackers at 4.30 p.m.  Full with rubbish bags, gloves, trolleys and a lot of energy we started the clean-up, covering the coastline from Lighthouse up to Eel Garden. We divided into 3 groups in order to cover all the area. After collecting all the rubbish everything was put on the trolleys and brought to the garbage dump next to the bridge. We had at least 10 helpers, locals, tourists and the manager from Felucca helped himself. His comment was: “Action speaks louder than voice!” Only due to their help it was possible to fill 20 rubbish bags in about one hour. A free working journalist documented our clean-up by taking a lot of pictures. This clean-up received much more attention than the last one, a lot of people on the street talked to us about future activities of the RSEC

Report: Hendrik Frey

Pictures: Christian Alter

Codename: Nessaja

Size: 11cm x 9cm x 5cm
Weight: About 250 g
Age: Approx. 1 month (Educated guess)
Origin: Unknown, found with Bedouin kids, rescued by M. (Codename: Mama Bear)
Species: Caretta caretta - Loggerhead Seaturtle

Mission objectives: Release target at 7:30 in Masbat Bay, secure the area and ensure the targets safety while it swims into open water. Max. Duration of the Op: 30 minutes

Operational Report:

2 weeks ago Mama Bear encountered a group of Bedouin kids playing with a small turtle (Codename Nessaja) Despite all difficulties M. was able to rescue Nessaja from the kids and managed to hide it. Nessaja soon recovered from its injuries; unfortunately it took M. 14 days until she finally was able to inform the RSEC Command Center. Major Chris instructed the well-trained V- Squadron to gather intel and prepare for the risky operation called “Release Nessaja”. After hours of planning and discussing the intelligence team was abled to gather sufficient information to develop an action plan. A small group of volunteers under the leadership of major chris should take nessaja at dawn to masbat bay and guard it while it tries to reach the open water. Thanks to the outstanding performance of the whole V- Squad and the proper planning by the RSEC Command, the operation was successful and Nessaja was able to reach the safety of the Red Sea. The destiny of Nessaja has made one thing totally clear: Every being has its place- for the turtles it’s the sea- so DON’T REMOVE THEM FROM THEIR HOME!!!

Report: Hendrik Frey

Photos: Christian Alter

Dahab - Week 5
Week five in Dahab containes a lot of different mottos: Thrill in Tiran, Romance in the desert by night, fun in the waves in front of Ras Abu Galum and of course the surveys. Some brave participants made out to watch out in the deep of Tiran for hammerhead sharks, which stay there between may and September. Previously the others had a lot of fun to tell them legends about the meetings between divers and sharks. So they narrated of aggressive sharks or they imagined how to behave, if you are circuit by a swarm. That this is not really realistic was clear for everybody but it was fun anyway. But some of us were really lucky, they saw sharks, but most of them were far away. Anyway all the members enjoyed the dive in the deep, blue water, because it felt like flying and some did a very nice water dance like Susi-I remember :-)))
A spirit completely different was while we did our desert excursion. The mystic atmosphere during the Bedouin dinner leads to a rare, devotional calmness. We all liked the flickering light of the campfire, the starry night, the sweet flavor of the Bedouin tee and the tasty food and dreamed of life in the desert. Some of us climbed a small mountain next to the camp. With the coming down Martin w as very creative, he used his flip flops to surf down the mountain. The search for the mars brought us in the desert again. So in this night we should see the mars next to the moon. The intense stare to the beautiful sky - we could not see the mars - made us so tired, that after one hour more or less half of the group felt in a sleep.

Our third boat-trip brought us - finally - to Ras Abu Galum, famous for its unique coral reef and steep face. Before we could enjoy this, we had to pass the two hour trip with the boat, which went through big wave crests. So the trip, especially in the front of the boat was more like a wet rollercoaster. So the entry in the water was delicate, because the boat was swinging, that two of us - ready to dive - nearly flew of the ship. But the beautiful underwater world compensated the strains.    

   
We did the surveys at known and not known dive sites like Um Sid, Moray Garden, the canyon and Southern Oasis. In nearly every trip was a small highlight: attacks of small cleaner wrasses, who did not only clean mouth and ears, the bit the anguished divers also in the legs, a huge one meter big grouper, who did not like the moving around a so he did a big bite in the transect line, or an octopus, who cowered under a coral and thought that we did not see it.

Hope a lot more of those experiences will wait for us!!!  

Text: Nina Liebrecht
Photos: Christian Alter & Volunteers

Week 4 bulletin - Profit and Loss at RSEC

The Austrian Team’s score is 2:1 – after the substrate-dreamteam Verena and Gerald has been replaced by Newbie Stefanie, who however has to pass lots of exams in order to obtain a similar status. Germany is happily superior in numbers now, thanks to Nicole. Rubina, the Drupella-Whisperer, leaving way too early, has turned the Swiss into a sad minority.

Last but not least, Dr. Moshira Hassan, our beloved German/Egyptian marine biologist.. Wait, stop, until now, we can’t find the words to describe her departure. She spontaneously took over the supervision of the volunteer-family because Daddy Christian left for Reef Check work in Safaga. Putting heart and soul into our trainings and surveys, and of course because of her amazing knowledge of the marine flora and fauna, our underwater performance improved a lot. Questions have been discussed as well as coral feeding snails despite their perfect camouflage and feeding scars of the Crown of Thorns been spied.

Also on land Moshiras and our interest in the wonders of nature knows no bounderies. That’s why some of us took the chance to go to Nabq with Moshira, learning about the deserts flora and enjoying a unique snorkelling trip in the mangroves of the Nationalpark.

All in all, we will miss Moshira’s enthusiasm, but we totally got infected with it. As well as the many beduines who helped us with cleaning up the beaches around the divesite Blue Hole and laughed with us while drinking tea. 

Despite of goodbye tears it still was a beautiful week!!

Text: Sofia van Moorsel / Edith Heinrich

Week 3 bulletin. Happy faces!! The surveys are running pretty well in the meantime – after the daily group assignment and the essential buddy check we are rushing into the water, well knowing where the bottles are stored and what to do under water. The data is collected within one dive and absolutely useable. But that's not the only reason for high spirits. The end of lectures and open questions provides the opportunity to use the spare time for activities off the timetable. Nightdiving at the so called Lighthouse is only one of the possibilities. Even if the spot is one of the most crowded one's around Dahab, it shows unseen beauty by night. Spanish dancer, colourchanging octopus, hundreds of red eyes leading you to crabs and shrimps hiding in the corals, featherstars and moving sea urchins are the faunal highlights of the week.

The Ghazala VI - not a gazelle of course, otherwise we're back in the world of animals – the Sinai Divers Backpackers boat took us to one of the best spots the Sinai offers. Gabr El Bint has the most amazing live coral coverage we have seen and examined so far even though it´s not an insider´s tip at all. Apart from that we enjoyed the boat trip in total. Taking a nap or reading on the sundeck, jumping off the boat, snorkeling and, my compliments to the cook, a wonderful lunch.

For the ones interested in culture and hiking there was another major event this week. About 3000 steps led them up to 2200m, to the top of the Mount Sinai to watch the sun rise. Covered in warm clothes and tired after a sleepless night, even the most exhausted ones knew why they hiked up the mountain. Visiting St. Katherine's Monastery and other famous holy sites made them even forget about paying 5 Egyptian Pound per pee.

More about hours of cutting and editing pictures, data input and analysis, report writing and so on, probably next time.. - the mood is just to good at the moment!!

Text: Edith Heinrich

Pictures: Nina Milton & Volunteers 

Week 1 bulletin (30.-7.8.2010) from the Coral Reef Monitoring Camp in Dahab, Egypt.
Allah Akbar…every day we can hear the calls for the prayers from several Mosques behind our Camp office terrace. It still seems to be a great mystery for us volunteers why the ancient people of Egypt worshiped the sun. Even though we do have some cooling winds, the average temperature of 40°C is exhausting. One day we actually measured 49°C in the shadow. But, thank god, this is not the normal temperature here. Sometimes at night it gets even warmer than during the day when there is a sudden wind breakdown. In those moments we would really love to have air condition in our rooms. Already after the first two days we also had some people with stomach problems, which were probably caused by salad and ice cubes inside the soft drinks. And now a few words about the dives and our actual work.    
Everybody completed the first training dives successfully. As preparation for the actual work each one of us had to learn all the fish, invertebrate, coral and substrate ID’s on the roof of the Sinai Divers Station in our cozy class room. The actual goal is that we are able to differentiate indicator organisms from all the other beautiful creatures on the reef, within the upcoming week. This is a rather challenging task, considering the great biodiversity in the Red Sea. However, while walking past all the restaurants in the evening, sadly, one can see a lot of the indicator fishes and invertebrates lying on ice, which we can hardly find anymore in their natural habitat beneath the ocean surface. To be able to discuss the different species underwater, we had to learn and memorize our own sign language with specific hand signals for all the organisms. We even had to learn some special Latin and biologically relevant words. As already mentioned it is quite difficult to use all the acquired knowledge with all the fascinating beauty of the underwater fauna.  
Since all of the 17 volunteers received their own RSEC uniforms (t-shirts) all of us have been moving like an organized fish swarm between the restaurants and shops as a united “coral reef army”. Every now and then we dive into local supermarkets to save some money. However, as usually here in Dahab, we can observe extreme daily fluctuations of prices (obviously it depends weather you are a tourist or not). Now each of us only has to pass the final exams about ID’s and then we can get started with the surveys. Everyone is looking forward to start the actual work, because we all have a common dream and goal: saving this wonderful and valuable ecosystem.

Text: Sahil Puri

Photos: Christian Alter