7.1 Earthquake 39 miles off Roatan

[RTBDiver]

Lemme see... 4 months on Roatan (post #77), and then "many other places 6 months a year". The other two months are what? In suspended animation[/IMG]

Oops , Typo, Meant to say 8, I guess that was pretty confusing for some. I really never figured so many were that interested in my life or i may have actually proofread, I am humbled to think others are so concerned.

 

[Doc]

.... and the sand tends to bury the hard coral.

Many things factor in to the resultant effects on a reef by natural phenomenon.

After Hurricane Mitch ('98) in Roatan, an Island which is comparatively devoid of sand when compared to Cozumel, no similar sand got washed down to "bury the reef".

We got a lot of sedimentation from stream outflow siltation.

Each place is different, but I am hearing what you were, Robin. Seems like the bulk of damage... what there is... is relatively deep, beyond 75fsw. I was surprised at the numerous reports of upturned barrel sponges. The can be righted by divers- or they will live and reproduce without our aid- somehow they have managed this for a few years longer than we've been around to help them along!

There have been reports on other message boards of increased species counts for opportunistic feeders that are now swarming all over the upturned material.

It's evolving... we're just getting older.

 

[diver 85]

Only lives on Roatan about 4 months a year.... or .....

Lives on Roatan for only about 4 months a year?

Suffice to say, when you're on Roatan- then you're living!



Oh, but you should.

It makes for a much more amusing and expansive world.

Doc Radawski = RTBmeDiver (full time since 1970, can't afford to leave except for New Orleans Jazz Festival, easily 6,504+ dives off of Roatan)
Will Wellboaurn = BayIslandDiver (Resident that goes "home" for tea and biscuits, also snowboarding, a minor PADI god)
Doc Adelman = RoatanMan (Left the Island, but visits about 4 weeks a year nowadays- between other dive trips, 1480+ dives off of Roatan, with 250 or so being night dives)
Captain Randy = Capt10 (Peg Legged Sea Captain, about 303 dives off of Roatan and approx a gazillion on Flower Gardens, collects brand new Size 8 Left New Balance shoes)
Ann = Parrotheaddiver (Known habitue and photographer lurking about the Southern Shores of Roatan, 256+ dives there)
(You may roughly compute TBT at a factor of 1.21 hrs per logged dive, except for Radawski who has gills, so figure 1.65x for him. He smells like a fish, anyway.)

All of the above... and many more... love the diving off of Roatan.

Hey----don't forget me & my son....I have almost 500 dives there & my son left after 3.5 years on the island with 3400 there--yes he made 3 dives a day X 350 days a year X 3.5 years(actually the math turns out to 3650+ dives---but who's counting......)...

 

[Jon Nellis]

The sponge damage we saw was really dependent on the size of the sponge's base. There were barrel sponges in the shallow flats that broke off and got rolled around by the surge and were disintegrating rather fast. Others that fell of the walls had relatively small bases too.

The lettuce leaf coral seems to be suffering the most damage of all the corals and there is sediment on pretty much everything on the walls. The further down the wall you go, the thicker it gets.

We would swim along and turn over what we could, but some pieces were to large or too broken up to upright.




.

 

[Doc]

Here's something that the local experts are considering (quickly) in regards to reattaching sponges:

http://people.uncw.edu/pawlikj/2009RestEcolMcMurray.pdf

<- click to enlarge

ABSTRACT

Sponges are dominant components of coral reef ecosystems, often
exceeding reef-building corals in abundance. Large sponges, often more
than 1 m in diameter, may be hundreds to thousands of years old. When
damaged or dislodged, large sponges usually die because they are
unable to reattach to the reef substratum. Because suitable methods
for reattaching dislodged sponges are lacking, they are typically
excluded from coral reef restoration efforts. Here we present a novel
technique for the reattachment of large sponges that was tested using
the Caribbean Giant barrel sponge, Xestospongia muta. Transplants of
X. muta were conducted at 15- and 30-m depth off Key Largo, Florida.
Despite the active hurricane season of 2005, 90% of deep and 35% of
shallow transplants survived, with nearly 80% reattaching to the
substratum and growing after 2.3&#8211;3 years. This technique may be
generally adapted for securing large sponges in coral reef restoration
efforts.

 

[DeepBlueResort]

Hi

12.43 am another earthquake it is initially listed as a 5.1 no significant shaking

 

[DeepBlueResort]

More info

It has now been slightly downgraded to a 5.0

 

[tridacna]

It's evolving... we're just getting older.

Bay Islands might be doing many things but the one thing that it's not doing is "EVOLVING". Biologically, evolution refers to changes over thousands or millions of years. Structurally, it refers to gradual change - an earthquake is evidence of neither. Sorry to nitpick but it's really the wrong word to describe the aftereffect of an earthquake.

Better word might just be "changing".

 

[LynnB]

Was that another one today?

 

[jwc3]

I have been exchanging email with a scuba instructor friend on Roatan. He says the original earthquake was pretty strong, but he has slept through most of the mild aftershocks. He reports that there was some reef damage, but nothing to worry too much about. He also says that the visibility right now is outstanding. I'll be there in about a week to enjoy it firsthand.