Since 2001, REEF has been counting sea turtles on surveys per a partnership with Seaturtle.org. It’s always fun to see these reptilian friends underwater. Sometimes close up and sometimes in the distance, they can be easy to identify or pose a real challenge. Hopefully, these tips will help if you see one close up munching on sponges or as a shadowy shape off in the distance on your safety stop. The most commonly seen sea turtles reported are:
REEF is excited to announce not one, but two recent Golden Hamlet Club members: Karen Bogart and Sue Manning.
Karen has done surveys in TWA, SOP, and CIP. She is an expert in TWA and amateur in the others. “Although I am going to try to get a higher level in CIP since we are going to the Red Sea and Maldives next year.” Nothing is stopping her as she wants to then achieve Ultra Golden Hamlet status. Karen lives in Roatan and loves to share REEF with other divers.
Congratulations to REEF surveyor Callie Mack, who recently joined the Golden Hamlet Club! This notable group of highly dedicated volunteers have submitted 1,000 or more REEF surveys in contribution to the Volunteer Fish Survey Project.
Logging 1,000 REEF surveys is no small feat. REEF member Lynn Fulks of San Diego County just completed her 1,000th survey dive at Atlantis Resort in Puerto Galera, Philippines, diving with the Water Planet Images group she joins every year. Lynn's journey to REEF and her Golden Status started in 2006, when she was inspired by Golden Hamlet Linda Ridley in Bonaire. Living aboard their sailing catamaran Blue Marine, Linda taught Lynn and her husband Todd the REEF ID courses and pushed Lynn all the way to Level 5 in the TWA region.
We’re excited to introduce a new addition to the REEF store: Latex Rubber Tubing for Survey Pencil Attachment. Designed as a colorful, practical way to secure a pencil to a survey slate, each 17-inch piece of tubing comes with three beads for attachment, and is recommended for use with a golf pencil or thin mechanical pencil. It is available in a range of colors and priced at $2.99. A photo tutorial on how to set up your plate, pencil and tubing is located on the purchase page.
Ever struggled with trying to decide which habitat to mark on your survey? You are not alone. It can sometimes be a tricky decision. Did you know that with all survey regions combined there are a total of 29 habitat options? Don’t worry, you don’t need to know all of them, but, if you happen to survey in a certain region, you may not know about other habitat types.