REEF CHECK Safari with Sinai Divers 13.-20. May 2010

Already for the 14th time Sinai Divers’ Ghazala I is running its annual Reef Check safari.This year we had the honor to welcome the Reef Check founder Dr. Gregor Hodgson which joined the whole trip . Also attending was Dr. Moshira Hassan, long-term team scientist and Reef Check coordinator for Egypt.

The divers were introduced into Reef Check, its survey methods and indicator organisms and after some training they were ready to carry out the survey of fish, invertebrates and substrate at selected dive sites in the south Sinai. The data collected is important for evaluating the health of coral reefs. Some of the sites seemed are still in good condition. Cover of live coral was high and recently killed coral low. Additionally, many of the ”food fish” (e.g. Napoleon wrasse, Sweet lips) were frequently encountered. Few groupers with sizes over 30 cm were observed indicating potential overfishing. Despite the fact that fishing is forbidden in some of the areas surveyed (except fishing by Bedouins for their own consumption), several sites had discarded fishing nets and lines, often entangled in hard corals and sea fans. To our regret, we were able to observe several illegal fishing boats in the Ras Mohammed area actively deploying lines.

To relax between the survey dives we had the opportunity to visit the wrecks of Thistlegorm and Dunraven and some of Tiran and Ras Mohammeds’ beautiful dive sites.

Special thanks to Sinai Divers for supporting Reef Check, to the experienced and committed guide Sherif and the helpful staff of Ghazala I, and of course to the volunteers who supported the Reef Check surveys and special thanks to our “Photographer” Stephan Jaeggi for providing us with good shots of the Reef Check dives.

Reef Check Team

didn't you hear anyone saying not to walk on the reef

same problem next resort, is it or is it not allowed to walk on the reef?

maybe this is a good place to feed

good buoyancy is important ...

i'm rather have a swim along this funny looking line

NEW! Reef Check Training and Coral Reef Ecosystem Workshop / Course for Dive Professionals NEW!

Coral reefs are under threat worldwide, including the Red Sea. We, as dive professionals, can help prevent some of these threats by learning more about their functioning as an ecosystem, by doing regular surveys, informing our customers about proper reef etiquette, etc. The workshop will also enable you to provide more information to your customers about fishes and invertebrates common in the area, an introduction to coral reefs and other interesting topics. We offer a Basic Coral Reef Course (4 hours, 25 € per Person) and Advanced Coral Reef Course (8 hours, including Reef Check EcoDiver Training, 50 € per Person).

Additional lectures or more comprehensive courses on demand.

Next course starts on: 24.4.2010 (min. 4  to max. 8 participants, lectures weekly in the evening)

Please feel free to contact us: office.dahab(at)redsea-ec.org

All courses are given by a certified Reef Check Trainers and experienced Marine Biologist (MSc) and can be held in english or in german..

Masbat Bay Conservation Project 2010 - Volunteers wanted, 30.10.-27.11.2010, more infos here

Masbat Bay Conservation - Clean Ups after the storm & wadi flood this year

Coral reefs and seagrass beds are fragile ecosystems. Their delicate balance can easily be destroyed, particularly through anthropogenic influences – including rubbish and all sorts of things that just don’t belong in the water. Plastic is found everywhere – unfortunately it takes a small eternity to disintegrate. The plastic constricts animals’ movements or kills through starvation, exhaustion, or infection from deep wounds caused by the tightening material. The animals may starve to death, because the plastic clogs their intestines thereby preventing them from obtaining vital nutrients. When plastic film and other debris settle on the bottom, it can suffocate immobile plants and animals. In areas with some currents, such as coral reefs, debris can wrap around living coral, smothering the animals and breaking up their coralline structures. The impact on the ecosystem is terrifying, and this is only a one part of what can be found down there. Moreover, who would like to dive through a sea of trash and rubbish?  Imagine coming to your favorite chill-out spot and everything is covered in filthy garbage – well, that’s what it is like in some places of the bay, especially on the sea grass beds close to the main promenade.
As part of the Masbat Bay Conservation Project, we try to organize a clean-up every Friday. This time we collected four rice-bags of garbage ranging from cables, pipes, carpets and innumerable pieces of plastic to cigarette butts, plastic bags, empty cans and even a sunshade umbrella, which we couldn’t take up due to its size - in only forty five minutes! Also, extensive coral damage and breakage was observed. In many places, rubbish got entangled in the corals, reducing the amount of sunlight for their symbiotic algae, causing the death of the coral and other related organisms.
We would like to encourage all dive centers in and around Dahab to support our efforts by organizing their own clean-ups and initiate other measures to keep Masbat Bay as clean as possible – not only for its reputation as a unique dive site, but also to minimize our destructive impact on its sensitive environment!

Trip to Nabq protectorate on 10.3.2010 with Volunteers of

Masbat Bay Conservation Project and guests of Best Of Sinai Expedition

Normally our primary work takes place at Masbat Bay, right in front of beautiful Dahab, but after a week or so we were also eager to explore some of the surrounding area. Organized by Chris and Nina, our daytrip to Nabq, a protected reserve located a mere hour’s drive to the south of Dahab, provided a great opportunity to see some more of the countryside and exceeded every expectation we might have had that day.
After putting together our snorkeling gear, our first stop on the drive through the desert was at a small patch of trees that have been known to harbor venomous snakes and stinging scorpions. Even after turning over every rock in the area, (un)fortunately none of them could be discovered.  However, just before leaving we were rewarded for our patience by the sight of a beautifully colored lizard that stayed put on a rocks and posed professionally for our cameras.
Our next stop were the dunes in which nothing too alive could be found, but due to the recent rain we spotted the tracks of a desert fox on some dried-up sand tiles and admired the plants that are able to grow in such a harsh environment.  Since the prevailing winds come from the north, plants such as Limonium axilare and Nitraria retusa consistently get covered with sand on their northern side and therefore - instead of growing in height - extend their branches just above the ground towards the south. Sand is accumulated on the opposite side and therefore most of the small dunes only exist, because those amazing plants are able to deal with the high salinity and little fresh water supply.
Escaping from high noon heat, the visitor centre proved to be a good retreat and – even though it offered little insight into the protected area which we hadn’t been briefed on already – gave us some interesting information about the desert’s inhabitants. Did you know that there are still hyenas living in Sinai, and that the last leopard spot in the area was more than fifty years ago, effectively making it an extinct species? Well, we certainly didn`t.
At this point it wouldn’t hurt to give you a little overview of where we actually are, geographically speaking. Having stopped in the desert for the lizard, we had moved on towards the coast and into the dunes, with the visitor centre close to the sea and right in front a shipwreck which astonishes with its rusty magnificence and is surrounded by pristine blue water, providing the occasional diver with a not-too-crowded and attractive dive site.  However, getting there would have meant walking over the reef flat, and that of course is not an option, so we drove north to our final stop for the day – an area along the coast that features one of the northernmost stands of mangroves, consisting exclusively of Avicenna marina. Mangroves on the Red Sea grow under extreme conditions of high salinity and low winter temperatures. Some of the mangroves around Nabq have adapted to this harsh environment by becoming completely terrestrial , now forming part of the coastal marsh and dune vegetation, having lost their aerial roots altogether. However, since we had taken our snorkel gear, the land based trees were not of the greatest interest – after all, mangroves form an important and sensitive ecosystem, providing an ideal environment for young fish and invertebrates
To explore those shallow water nurseries we set up our last camp at a beautiful beach hut that provided us with a shady palm leaf roof and a couple of chilled-out hammocks, all looked after by a very forthcoming Bedouin, who also made us some great food for after the snorkel session. And then we went into the water – usually one might think of being in the mangroves as a very muddy affair, but that was far from the truth. Swimming around two mangrove stands proved to be an exciting and entertaining lesson – so much life! After exploring  a forest of upside-down jellyfish in various colors (including a very confused upside-down upside-down individual) , most of them sitting on the ground supplying their zooxanthellae with the much needed sunlight, we quickly found several gobies and their little shrimp fellows, living in a mutually beneficial relationship. The shrimp maintains a burrow in the sand in which both the shrimp and the goby live. The shrimp has poor eyesight compared to the goby, but if it sees or feels the goby suddenly swim into the burrow, it will follow. The goby and shrimp keep in contact with each other, the shrimp using its antennae, and the goby flicking the shrimp with its tail when alarmed. Each party gains from this relationship: the shrimp gets a warning of approaching danger, and the goby gets a safe home and a place to lay its eggs in. And then things just went crazy – batfish, boxfish, hermit crabs, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, juvenile fish of countless species, moray eels… even a Hexbranchus sanguinis, a Spanish Dancer, completely exhausted from just laying a pile off eggs and resting under a massive sea urchin. We must have stayed in the water for over two hours, appreciating all these stunning marine organisms, but all too soon it was time to go. After having some food, we chilled out and admired the blue waters, the desert and the high mountains from our shady palm hut refuge– a magnificent sight that cannot ever be caught on camera and much less put into words.
As already mentioned, this trip exceeded all our expectations and we did not only enjoy the extraordinary nature, but also learned a great deal about it – not from a textbook or a presentation, but through an experience we will remember for a long time. If you ever have the opportunity to visit and explore Nabq, by all means – do it!

by Eike Steinig

Fluorescent reef – glowing corals
Cnidarians can be stimulated to glow in the night. This has already been discovered in 1927 by the British scientist Charles Phillips through one of his daily beach walks. Phillips noticed a peculiar shimmering colour of sea anemones in intertidal pools. Many coral species gleam in bright colours, as they can transform invisible light into visible light as well. The bright colours formation is based on a physical and chemical phenomenon called fluorescence.
During fluorescence, special pigments (proteins) absorb the short wave, energy rich (UV-) radiation and redistribute it nearly simultaneously – however with a higher wavelength which lies in the visible spectra – with a loss of energy. This wavelength shift is called Stokes shift. Based on the wavelength shift it is possible to explain several phenomenons on the reef, e.g. a fish still keeps his red signal colour at 15 m depth. In fact, the amount of red light in these depths is significantly very low, but special pigments emit red light.
Certain zoooxanthellate (algae housing) corals are able to thrive below the euphotic zone through auto-fluorescence. In the Gulf of Aqaba, the zooxanthellate coral Leptoris fragilis has been found living at a depth of 145 m – depth in which no photosynthetically active light can penetrate. Though, specific pigments in the coral tissues catch the remaining UV  light. These UV radiations are shifted / diverted into photosynthetically active radiations which can be used by the zooxanthellae (algae) for photosynthesis.
The RSEC offers in joint collaboration with several dive centers diving with special blue lights (these are not UV-lamps; they do not harm the corals!). Divers experience the reef in glowing fluorescent light during these special dives. There is no good or adequate description for the colours and the general appearance of reef organisms under UV  light. Sea pens and small tube-dwelling anemones are perceived more often through Blue light than through normal white light. “Blooming” corals with open polyps as well as tube worms appear in a beautiful gleam. Many scientists have dealt with the fluorescing properties of corals, anemones and jellyfishes since the first discovery of this phenomenon. It appeared that many cnidarians fluoresce in green, blue, yellow and red colours and this gleaming originates mostly from special protein structures.
As a diver, you have to experience this yourself. Descriptions in words and letters will always be far from what this phenomenon is in reality! Persuade yourself.

Fluorescence Night Diving is offered at following dive centre: Sinai Divers Backpackers, Sinai Divers Hilton, Extra Divers El Quseir, Extra Divers Dahab and INMO Divers Dahab

International Clean up Day 2009“

As every third Saturday in September „The International Clean up Day“ took place on the 19th. Being part of the annually program of Project AWARE there are over and underwater Clean ups all over the world, which are supported by numerous volunteers. Last year over 370.000 people participated cleaning 33.000 miles of shore. They collected 7 million pounds of rubbish.
Project AWARE is a non-profit organisation which conserves underwater environment by education, advocacy and action1. The RSEC Team used this day to organise a Beach Clean up in Dahab. Therefore flyers were designed, distributed to surrounding restaurants and hung up. Also this action was advertised on the internet. To be more effective, other dive centres in Dahab, which also wanted to participate in the International Clean up Day, were asked, where they want to clean the beach.
Two pick-ups for the waste removal have been organised already. As planed the RSEC- Team was ready for take off at 3:30 pm. More and more helpers/volunteers arrived in the station, some of them spontaneously, some because of the flyers.
They got a short introduction in the “waste-topic”.
The presentation included background and sense of the campaign, disadvantage of the impact of waste, degradation of certain constituent parts, etc.
Afterwards all eleven helpers and ten RSEC- Members set out for “Eel Garden”, while talking together about the problem of the waste- impact. Arrived at the place to clean up, half of the group started to clean the area between “Eel Garden” and “Assalah Beach” and the others directly at seaside of Assalah. Within one hour six big bags (100 litres) of mixed rubbish and one full of plastic bottles have been collected, as well as one cardboard box of glass and other sharp things. After this successful action a group picture was taken and the volunteering helpers were invited for the next “Clean up” coming Saturday, 26th of September, 2009.

Text: Helen Springer & Lydia Köhler

Photos: Nina Milton

Fishing net Assalah Beach

On September 20 th  2009, thirteen divers went to Assalah beach. A specific task was on the days agenda. Jessica of DESC volunteer ranger in Dahab, and some volunteers from the Red Sea Environmental Centre went out to free a certain area from several abandoned fishing nets that were covering significant parts of the reef and corals. Moreover, fishing nets can also be a threat to marine life, as fish or turtles can end up in the nets and eventually die. Jessica, who discovered the net a few days ago, realised that it was impossible to cut out the nets snorkelling. Hence, she asked RSEC and some volunteers for help.

Arriving at the dive site, it became obvious that the entrance is not going to be easy. Nevertheless, shallow water and a fairly choppy sea couldn't stop the volunteers from diving. Lacking a proper entrance, the volunteers had to find their own way to get over the reef flat. First and foremost, everybody had to watch out for the corals underneath, as nobody wanted to cause any damage to them. This factor certainly hampered the project, however, after a while everybody got in safe and sound.

The divers discovered a twofold situation. On the one hand, the reef was in a well good condition and a lot of fish accompanied the team during the dive. Due to the fact that not many divers or snorkellers have been to this part of the bay, e.g. the amount of broken corals was significantly less concerning than in Bannerfish Bay or Lighthouse. Schools of barracudas, unicorn fish, snappers and many rudderfish observed the 'operation'. On the other hand, there were more fishing nets found than expected. As already mentioned, these nets can be a serious threat to the marine life. A few days earlier, a turtle's corpse was found at Assalah beach and even though one can not be 100 per cent sure, this incident might well be related to the fishing nets. Turtles can either get stuck in those nets or careless fisherman catch turtles accidental and throw them away afterwards.
After an exhausting dive, lasting for more than 100 minutes, the team decided to come back the next day as so much more nets have to be removed. After all, the two days at Assalah beach were well worth the effort. The amount of fishing nets removed during the two dives was outstanding and everyone involved was satisfied with the outcome.    

        
Regarding the obvious threat those nets pose, it is of substantial relevance to propel the removal. Hence, it would be of much help if any nets found somewhere in the Dahab area, are reported to the RSEC. If reported, the RSEC can take appropriate measures to remove them immediately to prevent them from causing any further damage.  

Text: Sarah Schnurr & Jan Kliem

Photos: Nina Milton

Reef Check Survey at Nemo Reef

The Nemo Reef is a small fringing reef in Masbat Bay, situated at the central shore of Dahab, right in front of the Red Sea Environmental Centre. Due to its favourable position in Dahab and the easy access the bay offers, it is highly frequented by snorkelers. Furthermore, six restaurants are bordering directly to the shore. Consequentually, a high degree of anthropological influence to the reef seems to be inevitable. The aim of our survey at Nemo Reef was to record the biodiversity and the degree of coral damage of this site. This objecitve is predominant in each survey conducted as part of the Dahab Reef Monitoring, which is an extended Reef Check survey where several dive sites of Dahab are surveyed by a Reef Check team.

We recorded four types of data: Fish, Invertebrates and Trash, Coral Damage and Substrate. 
Only organisms which are indicators of overfishing, overharvesting and aquarium collection were considered. Three different transects that were positioned parallel to each other at a depth of approximately one to two meters were surveyed. We did the surveys on three days between the 4th and the 11th of September.

Indicator fish like Butterflyfish, Bluestreak cleaner wrasses, Surgeonfish and „Farmer fish“ were recorded. In addition, we found groupers up to a size of 30 cm.
 Notably, the number of Long spined sea urchins was striking: Both, in the inner and in the middle transect belt over 200 individuals per 20 meter segment were found, in the outer transect at least 100. Also Purple coral snails were overrepresented with numbers of 112 to 224 in the inner transect belt.
A high rate of predation was noticed, especially a notable amount of damage caused by Purple coral snails (Coralliophilia violacea), a small snail, usuallay found on Porites corals. There was also a high percentage of detached coral colonies or colonies with breakage.
Another noteworthy point is the hard coral coverage in the shallow area (inner transect belt), which is quite high. The rest of the substrate consists of algae, rock, rubble and sand.

One of the greatest threats to coral reefs is mass tourism. At the beginning of peak season, corals are exposed to high impact caused by snorkelers and swimmers, standing on the corals of the reeftop. Even in Nemo Reef we can find numerous traces of human impact. Besides human impact, also extraordinary amounts of urchins can devastate their environment, creating what biologists call an urchin barren, devoid of macroalgae and associated fauna (ref. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2007).
Another major issue at Nemo Reef are the restaurants along the beach. Some are fishing occasionally, hence causing damage to the reef. We found numerous fishing lines and fishing nets that covered and killed a lot of corals in the reef. Many of these fishing lines and nets have already been removed  during several underwater clean-up dives by volunteers from the RSEC.

In order to prevent any further damage and to maintain a healthy reef, everybody can contribute without too much personal effort but with great positive effect on the reef. Eating a responsible amount of indigenous fish in the local restaurants is one aspect. Another thing everybody can do is being careful with the movement of fins or feet whilst snorkeling or swimming and nobody should throw rubbish anywhere but in the bins provided.

Concluding, it is to be mentioned that people should be aware of Nemo Reef, of its beauty as well as of its problems. The fact that this beautiful patch is perfectly situated right next to the shore implies advantages as well as threats. Tourists and locals must not take its relatively well condition for granted, nor should anyone put this condition at risk.

Text: Sven Schleifer & Marlen Fröhlich

Photos: Christian Alter

Dahab Reef Monitoring Project 2009

The Dahab Reef Monitoring (“DRM”) project was set up to run over six weeks during the summer, from the start of August until 12th September. It is part of the global Reef Check initiative but has been expanded by RSEC to also record data specific to the region.

RSEC has had around 25 volunteers take part this year. Whilst the majority are German there are also volunteers from England, Spain and Switzerland, plus the staff at RSEC and the dive centre it is associated with (Sinai Divers) include Norwegian and Egyptian nationals, so overall the group has been pretty mixed! Some volunteers have just stayed for just 2 weeks but many are students, teachers or on a career break and so have been able to commit to the full six weeks of reef monitoring.

The DRM began with one week of training, which comprised a series of presentations to teach volunteers about the indicator species in each of the four categories to be surveyed. The four categories are: fish, invertebrates (lobster, shrimp, shells, snails, sea cucumbers etc), substrate (recording what is on the sea bed, e.g. coral, rock, sand) and coral damage. Volunteers were taught how to recognise certain indicators and then taken on training dives with a Reef Check trainer to test their new-found knowledge.

Text: Penny Cygan

Photos: Christian Alter

Clean up Dive und Beach Clean up Dive am 15. August 2009

In the afternoon twelve RSEC members and five voluntary helpers got ready for the next clean up dive:  again the sea bed was to be cleared of a few kilograms rubbish. Many plastic and glass bottles, carpet pieces and other stuff could be ‘retrieved’ this way.  Some things already had some new marine inhabitants – for example a tiny lionfish was hiding in a plastic bottle.  Of course we did not want this creature to be homeless and left the bottle in place. Back at the beach, all rubbish bags were checked again for sea creatures and those were taken back to the sea. After the clean up dive  the whole RSEC team got ready to do another clean up at the beach next to “Lighthouse” in the northern part of the bay.
The aim was to remove the rubbish from the beach next to the entrance for the snorkelers, divers and swimmers. Two years ago in this area a bar closed and the beach there was left to its own devices. Huge amounts of rubbish and dog excrement has accumulated there over time.
Among other things, the clean up should help prevent  glass, paper, cigarettes and plastic getting into the sea and damaging the already overburdened ecosystem. Some of the other helpers also declared themselves to support us in this unpleasant task. At the end of the hour long session, the following rubbish had been collected:  24 kg of glass, 4 kilograms of tin cans, half a kilogram of cigarette butts, and 40 kilograms of mixed waste.

Text: Helen Springer & Marlen Fröhlich

Photos: Jennifer Kowal

CLEAN UP DIVE  + BEACH CLEAN UP

08th August 2009 Masbat Bay, Dahab, Egypt

Thirteen assiduous volunteers from the RSEC team and four other helping hands joined the 85 minute dive in the Masbat Bay without causing further damage, because even the underwater world adapts to human waste, which is thrown away carelessly. For example, a small gray moray eel found a new home in a can of beer. Of course, it’s new home wasn’t destroyed, but left on the spot. Many of the bottles, cans, plastic bags and carpets have now become part of the reef (i.e. they are overgrown or inhabited) so that they cannot be removed without causing further damage.

First of all, the volunteers were trained to not expose the inhabitants of the Masbat Bay to homelessness. This training comprised a presentation by RSEC immediately prior to the dive.
An expert eye was necessary to decide which rubbish was picked up.
To play it safe, huge empty rice bags were affixed underwater for collecting rubbish, and then taken back to the shore. Several teams worked at sorting the rubbish on shore and checking for life in it. Every can or bottle was scrutinised for any inhabitants. In case of emergency an underwater squad was on standby, to return any creatures to the sea if necessary. Sadly and despite great care the volunteers recorded one loss. One tiny little 2-3 cm triggerfish was found dead in a collecting bag and remained undiscovered. The volunteers were visibly concerned.

Not just the general rubbish attracted interest. A small group of helpers armed with pairs of scissors cut corals free from fishing nets, which otherwise result in the death of the whole colony.
Many hands were needed to get off the heavy rubbish bags from the beach.
Work wasn’t done yet. At 6 pm the cleaning of the beach in the southern part of the bay  began.
The volunteers, equipped with new RSEC-T-Shirts, attracted the interest of the curious bedouin kids, who joined the collecting squad.
Even one local sharktooth-trader helped collecting the 2,5 kilo of cigarette butts!
He was very interested in the project and in tourism generally, and had recently started Russian Studies to change his old business to a new tourist branch to avoid trading with endangered sharks and to earn more money.
It was a successful day and all volunteers were proud of contributing for the environment. There was much local interest and the volunteers are hoping to recruit more people for joining the Clean-Up-Day next time.

Text: Jennifer Kowal

Photos: Jennifer Kowal

Today, twelve motivated volunteers began training for the Dahab Reef Monitoring. In a first scuba dive, they identified different families of fish as indicators for the local reef’s health. During the next days, they prove their talents in recognizing further inhabitants of the reef.

REEF CHECK-Safari with Sinai Divers 21.-28. May 2009

On the 21st of May it finally happened, 11 enthusiastic divers and 2 Reef Check-scientists boarded Ghazala 1, the legend of the Red Sea. On board we had all necessary materials for surveying the reefs, our happy guide Sylvia, Peter, a journalist from a German TV Channel and Mark, a professional Underwater Video and Photographer from Sharm el Sheikh. Our principal objective was, like in former years, to survey the health status of the coral reefs around the southern part of the Sinai.
After an introduction by marine biologists Christian Alter and Victoria von Mach about which indicator-species are counted, and the methods of Reef Check, one Reef Check dive was conducted every day. Even though unexpected currents sometimes made our surveys difficult, we were able to successfully collect data at 4 out of 5 planned dive sites. The selected reefs were “Hot Spots” on one hand (dive sites with more than 5 to 10 diving boats a day), and on the other hand about relatively unused dive sites. Recorded species are all relevant to the ecology and health status of coral reefs, for example, Parrot fishes, Napoleons, Butterfly fishes, Sea Urchins, Giant Clams, and Crown-of-Thorns.  The percentage of Hard and Soft coral cover and recently killed corals were also estimated by our Holiday-scientists. Here, we would like to mention a special thank to Melanie and Friedhelm, who joined the Reef Check-Safari for the 5th consecutive year!
 A first glimpse of our data reveals that especially the famous fish for everyday consumption, like Groupers, Parrot fishes and Napoleons, were quite often counted. Also the rich cover of Hard and Soft corals suggests a good condition of the popular dive sites. Even the outbreak of the Crown-of-Thorns at Gordon reef, in the late 90s, seems to be diminishing from year to year.
Of course, the fun dives weren´t missed out on! In a daily company of napoleons, giant morays and often turtles, everyone had the chance to admire the specialty and the natural beauty of the visited reefs. Some of us even had encounters with grey reef sharks. The presence of 2 marine biologists was exploited fully, with repeated lively discussions about reef conservation at the Red Sea and worldwide. Through the fun dives, dive sites were viewed critically by the participants and rated as healthy or damaged. On behalf of Reef Check, we would like to thank Sinai Divers, Sylvia, the whole boat crew and for sure our participants: Friedhelm, Melanie, Dani, Michi, Jesper, Mohamed, Uli, Synthia, Pritesh (Rasheedi), Monika and Peter!

Victoria von Mach, Reef Check Scientist

2 times Reef Check Safaris (liveaboard) in 2010:

Reef Check Safari Northern Route on Ghazala I from 13.-20.5.2010

Reef Check Safari Southern Route on Ghazala Voyager from 11.-18.11.2010