We started our day with two more dives/snorkels from the boat. We put aside our REEF fish survey boards and learned how to survey a section of coral reef and how to collect the health of the reef that we observed. Did you know that only 9.8% of coral reef is still alive in Little Cayman today? This sounds really low, but Little Cayman has some of the healthiest reefs in the Caribbean. Up until 2023, when abnormally high ocean temperatures caused bleaching damage to the reefs, Little Cayman averaged around 20-30% healthy reefs.
After lunch, we headed out for a snorkel in the rain to check out Staghorn and Elkhorn coral, which is no longer alive. Since the 1980s, populations have declined by as much as 80–95%. Major causes include, white band disease, coral bleaching from rising ocean temperatures, hurricane damage,pollution and sedimentation, human activity and coastal development.
Later in the evening we headed out to check out some tide pools and found a lot of great shells, crabs, a baby barracuda, and a baby Viper Moray Eel.
