Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
The productivity of the photosynthetic coral reefs makes for an in-
credibly rich and complex ecosystem. Tuna, jacks, and gray reef sharks
patrolled the outer reef, and whitetip reef sharks were sleeping the day
away under overhanging table corals, waiting for nightfall, when they
could come out and look for food.
RAIN IN RAROTONGA
My four days in Tahiti passed too quickly, and soon it was time to catch
my flight to Hawaii and home to California. Checking in with the air-
line, I was told that Pan Am had discontinued its service from Tahiti
to Honolulu. They therefore rerouted me from Tahiti to Rarotonga in
the Cook Islands, where four days later a Qantas flight would take me
to Hawaii—at no extra charge. I loved it! Luckily, I was in no partic-
ular hurry to get back to Steinhart. John McCosker probably wouldn't
even notice I was gone, I thought optimistically as I looked forward
to another adventure in a new country.
I arrived in Rarotonga in a pouring rainstorm and learned that a big
weather front had just moved in and rain was expected for the next
three days. That was disappointing news. Pouring rain is not the best
condition in which to see a country; it would, I feared, put a literal
damper on my short time on this beautiful island.
After finding a small hotel just outside of town, I started asking around
about diving possibilities. There was no dive shop on the island, but I
was told that the “boys from the crash crew” at the airport were all
divers. I looked them up and, sure enough, they were more than happy
to take me diving the next day. It seems they went diving every chance
they had, even in the rain. Because of the infrequency of flights to Raro-
tonga, they had plenty of free time.
The next day we met at the airport firehouse and drove to the little
harbor where they kept their boat. We headed out and dropped an-
chor just a short distance from the harbor. I donned the tank and reg-
ulator they loaned me and we went down. Was I ever in for a shock!
I'd expected to see something like the reefs at Tahiti or Canton Island,
but instead found only massive coral heads of several di¤erent types
that were completely dead. There were dead brain corals as big as small
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