Jardines de la Reina, or the Queen’s Gardens, is the biggest Marine Nature Park in the Caribbean. It was named by Christopher Columbus for Queen Isabel of Spain and is located about 50 miles south of the mainland of Cuba; 80 miles north of Cayman Brace, in the middle of a 150 mile long mangrove and coral island system. This system forms what some people say is the third largest barrier reef in the world. Jardines de la Reina covers about 2,200 sq kilometers of ocean habitat, which means there is no commercial fishing in this area and the number of inhabitants is zero.
One of the most amazing things about this park is that it sees no more than 400 divers a year! This is a marine wilderness with blue lagoons, coral walls covered with brightly huge sponges and colorful corals spanning from the depths to shallow reefs filled with both schooling and solitary fish and wrecks. Elkhorn coral is a rarity in the Caribbean, but can be seen in abundance throughout the Marine Nature Park. Lots of healthy corals, fish, sponges, sharks and sea fans could be see at "Five Seas" dive site - Kip's new favorite dive spot!
Caribbean Reef Sharks circling the dive site. There were about 15 sharks in the immediate location cruising over one of the many reefs.
A revered Silky Shark swims by.
This image is of the entrance to Octopus Cave, an area where large groupers, schooling fish, and sharks - of course - congregate.
Dr. David Guggenheim, a well know scientist and activist for these waters descends for a dive. Click here to learn about his work in Cuba.
In the nearby mangroves there are a number of interesting inhabitants. Including the Spoon Bill, which perches on the top bows of the nearby mangroves.
An Osprey coming in for a landing. Osprey collect small pieces of wood from the mangrove forest to build their nests.
The Peninsula de Zapata is a remote, sparsely populated area of Cuba with a varied landscape. This image is of the road leading into the reserve. Much of the region is a large low lying swampy area not suitable for human habitation called the Cienaga de Zapata; but, it is a great habitat for wildlife. It's one of the largest reserves in Cuba and an important area for migrating birds. We saw egrets, flamingos, herons, spoonbills and dozens of smaller bird species. This image is of one of the many smaller bird species at the reserve. The Cienega de Zapata, or the Zapata Swamp as it is affectionately known, is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, home to approximately 150 different species of birds, including rare baldicoots, waterhens, parrots, and heron.
Flamingos gathering at sunset.
Crocodiles can also be found in the swamp. One part of the peninsula is a designated park, the Gran Parque Natural de Montemar, where visitors often go to view wildlife.
And of course you can never miss an amazing sunset!
The National Oceanographic Committee (CON) from Cuba and Asociación Latinoamericana de Ciencias del Mar (ALICMAR), have jointly organized the Eighth Congress of Marine Sciences and XIII Congreso Latinoamericano de Ciencias del Mar, called ColacMar Cuba 2009. Members of The Deep Search Foundation Exploration team will be attending portions of this conference at the Conventions Palace in Havana.
ColacMarCuba'2009 bring together scientists and other professionals related to science, technology and services coastal and marine educators, sociologists, economists, businessmen and policymakers, among others. Invitations have been extended to several well known people in the field, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, and other relevant national and international groups in order to give greater clarity to the event.
This is the front entrance to the University of Havana. Several Cuban scientist from the University are attending the Colco Mar Cuba 2009 conference. One of the major discussions this week, has been the incredible health of Cuban reefs as compared to other reefs in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.
The following photograph is of a Spanish Fort which once guarded the entrance to Cuba. The city of Havana was built in-part, because of this port. While the Spanish-American War was instrumental in Cuba's break from Spain, the independence movement actually began following the American Civil War. Cuba declared independence on October10, 1868, beginning the period of the Ten Year War. It was with the help of U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt, in 1902, that Cuba became a Republic on May 20th. 57 years later, Fidel Castro took power in January 1959.
Havana is filled with beautiful and historic buildings many dating back to colonial times. This photograph documents one of Cuba's famous Spanish Churches. It's in a courtyard called the Cathedral, which is part of the Historic district of Havana.
Dr. Sylvia Earle’s second Deep Search Foundation expedition will take us to the coral reefs of Cuba. Join us from October 30th – November 5th as we explore what remains of a priceless ecological resource; largely unspoilt coral reefs that support a wide array of rare plant and animal species.
The expedition aims to document Cuba’s marine life and the biodiversity that thrives on Cuba’s coral reefs in order to aid future conservation efforts. Cuba is located at the convergence of the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea; it provides a vital refuge for fish, amphibians, birds, and other creatures that have been forced to flee nearby local habitats. For example, Cuba is the exclusive sanctuary for the Cuban crocodile which once thrived in an area that extended from the Cayman Islands to the Bahamas.
Cuba’s marine environment is of vital importance to U.S. conservation efforts. For example, snappers and groupers spawn in Cuban waters and their floating larvae, or eggs, are carried by ocean currents to United States waters where the larvae support commercial and recreational fisheries. Additionally, each spring east coast warblers assemble just east of Havana before they fly across the Straits of Florida to the U.S. mainland. In the fall the warblers stop-over in Cuba as they migrate south to warmer climates. Highly-prized game fish such as mahi, wahoo, tunas, billfishes, and several threatened species of shark grow and feed in Cuban waters before traveling north to U.S. waters. Cuba and the United States’ shared waters are also home to populations of sea turtles and manatees.
We hope that our documentation efforts will help to protect Cuba’s rare natural resources from the ravishes of unregulated development. Cuban and American scientists anticipate that an influx of tourist to the island following the departure of President Raul Castro, Fidel Castro’s brother, will devastate the surrounding marine habitat as developers from the United States move in. Meetings to establish policy for the protection of Cuba’s rich resources are underway, but experts are unsure as to the best method for protecting the near pristine environment off Cuba’s shores.
Cuba’s geographic and political isolation does not make it immune from global issues such as the rise in ocean temperatures and acidification levels. Like other coral reefs in the region, Cuba’s reefs experienced a mysterious die-off of sea urchins which left the coral reefs overgrown with algae. Further, Cuban scientists recently documented the invasion of Pacific red lionfish from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. These non-native fish are venomous, eat nearly anything, and have few potential predators; their impact on native fishes and marine ecosystems is potentially devastating
Please join Dr. Sylvia Earle and the Deep Search team online. We will post ongoing updates that explain the pressing conservation issues unique to Cuba and document our progress toward developing new content for Google Ocean's “Explore the Ocean” layer.
Day Four of our Deep Search Whale Shark expedition (our final day on the water) brought us into contact with a treasure trove of the Yucatan's ocean denizens, including Manta Rays, Cow-nose Rays, Spotted Eagle Rays, dolphins, schools of jacks, and our now-familiar friends, the Whale Sharks. Before the end of our day, we also had a rare chance to check in on an entirely different habitat:a mangrove forest.
Today's primary mission was to observe and document the tagging of the Manta Rays by Dr. Graham's team and Marissa Nuttall, Research Specialist at Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. Sea conditions could not have been better: no wind whatsoever (for the first time in the expedition) and flat calm seas. We began in the green, nutrient-rich waters of the nearshore observation site (about 15 miles from Holbox), where one could swim through patches of water so full of life that all the activity actually warms the water. This rich soup of plankton (drifters) and nekton (swimmers) is exactly why the rays are here in such abundance. We observed a dozen of these majestic cousins to the shark, whose "wings" span 3-5 meters or more. Dr. Graham’s team successfully tagged several animals with acoustic tags that will allow them to follow the rays throughout the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. This information is crucial to understanding the migratory habits of the rays--and the consequent need to provide them with safe areas to feed, mate and bear young.
Around mid-day, the near-perfect conditions convinced us we should make one last run to the Agua Azúl (“blue water”) another 35 nautical miles offshore. Joining us onboard today were Tim Kelly, head of National Geographic’s film unit, and his spouse Susan. Since they had yet to see the spectacle of sharks to the horizon, they were game to make the trip. We arrived around 1 pm, just as most of the tourist boats were heading back to Isla Mujeres, and found an aggregation of around 30-40 sharks who were following a long, narrow band of plankton. Tim dropped into the water immediately and was rewarded with a ‘traffic jam’ of three or four sharks coming together with Tim floating right in the middle. Imagine trying to direct traffic in an intersection that’s underwater and bounded by nothing but deep blue ocean—with four bus-sized sharks jockeying around you—and you can perhaps get a sense of what Tim saw…
Later, Kip and Shari took off towards a lone female who was feeding vertically. Whale Sharks appear to do this when they find a particularly rich swarm of tiny eggs and other plankton. The shark stops swimming altogether and gently settles into a vertical posture in the middle of the swarm, rhythmically pumping water through its gills and enjoying the feast while supplies last. When the smorgasbord’s over, the shark settles back into a horizontal posture and heads off to find another. As Deep Search team member Shari observed, “It must take a lot of energy for a two-ton semi-vegetarian to gather enough energy from food you can hardly see!”
After a long day in the hot sun, we reluctantly agreed it was time to bid our friendly giants goodbye. Capitán Carmelo hit the throttles and we flew across the water past the great lighthouse on Isla Contoy, then skimmed along a 20-mile beach fringed by palms and frequented by nesting turtles, stopping in for a quick side trip to a placid lagoon tucked away in the mangroves. There, the team couldn’t resist one more swim, this time a close-up look at the wildly productive nursery to be found among the mangrove’s tap roots. Hundreds of curious snappers, snooks, groupers and goatfish greeted us as timid lobsters probed with their feelers from holes in the sandy bottom. Egrets and pelicans could be seen resting and nesting in the top branches, while terns wheeled and dived into shoals of glass minnows. We could clearly see why mangroves are crucial to the health of coral reefs, as they truly are the nursery for many species of fish and invertebrates that eventually migrate to the reefs offshore. They’re also crucial to the health of humans—giving us protection from storm surges, acting as windbreaks and performing a critical role as carbon sink and oxygen generator. While the Deep Search/NGS contingent explored, our intrepid crew actually grilled panini aboard the boat! ¡Qué vida rica!
In the evening, knowing that tomorrow we must return to our day-to-day lives, we toasted the Whale Sharks and promised to do our all to help our Mexican friends protect their diverse natural environment. Later, after perhaps too many margaritas, your humble blog-writer composed the following poem, dubbing it “In Thanks to Elasmobranchs.”
In Holbox we met many friends from afar Aboard boats on the sea (and in one or two bars), Going out every day, and for hours on end, To swim with the Whale Sharks, our awesome new friends.
In our láncha we voyaged to Agua Azúl To discover a place that’s incredibly cool: A spot in the sea where the plankton’s so thick You’re convinced it’s just some kind of cosmical trick.
But the sharks question not, for to them it’s all good, As they cruise ‘round so slowly, eating tons of great food, In the hundreds they come for this sumptuous feast (Well, it’s sumptuous if you’re a Whale Shark, at least!).
Whether tourist or scientist, all who come here Know our task, while not simple, is perfectly clear; It’s to save this great place in this beautiful nation For the many unborn of the next generations…
Those aren’t humans, however, to whom I refer, Whose protection’s essential, but not yet secure— No, the ones who most need here a permanent park Are the marvelous, wondrous and great Whale Sharks!
Today was all about the science of the Whale Sharks. We accompanied Dr. Rachel Graham and her husband/scientific partner Dan Castellanos back to the Agua Azul (“blue water”) 8-10 nautical miles off the Yucatan Peninsula. Dr. Graham’s fascinating research is sponsored by Wildlife Conservation Society and its Ocean Giants program. She’s been working with Whale Sharks since 1998, and for the past nine years has been tagging the giants with cigar-sized, acoustic transmitters. These send a signal which is then received by listening stations located throughout the Western Caribbean Sea. As the sharks pass the receivers, their location is relayed via satellite to the researchers, giving them a near-real-time data on the sharks’ locations. Dr. Graham and her team then plot each shark’s track on Google Earth using a tool called STAT, which was developed by Michael Coyne at www.seaturtle.org .
This information is of particular importance to researchers because the sharks spend much of their time in the open sea and are therefore vulnerable to being hit by large ships (called “ship strikes”) and propeller wounds by small boats. Even here, in the Agua Azul, they are not protected. There are numerous marine protected areas in which the Whale Sharks are under the protection of CONANP, Mexico’s Natural Commission of Protected Natural Areas, however, this incredible location is not yet protected, in spite of the fact that it’s in an active shipping lane. A key priority for many in Mexico’s growing conservation community is to extend the Whale Shark Biosphere Reserve to include this important place for the Whale Sharks. We are completely in favor of this goal and will be assisting in every way we can.
We found the Whale Sharks! Not ten, not 20, not 50…more than 150! After hearing rumors yesterday of several hundred sharks out in the Agua Azúl (“blue water”), we decided to make the long ride out to the deep water well north of the Yucatán Peninsula. That meant departing at 6:30 am to make the three-hour trek of almost 60 miles. Though nowhere near as rough as yesterday’s ride, we did some bouncing around the boat before our deckhand Abrám shouted from the flying bridge that there were “muchos tiburones ballenas” ahead.
Our crew today included our Deep Search threesome (Kip, Shari, and John), plus photographer Brian Skerry and his assistant Hela Shamash. Between Kip and Brian, we had some serious photo/video horsepower on board. Both are accomplished professionals who shoot for National Geographic. At the moment, Brian is here on assignment for the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP) for several weeks, the first of 24 top photographers to arrive for the Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition (RAVE) that began yesterday.
Within minutes of the first sighting, Capitán Willy had deftly placed the boat directly in the midst of a dozen or more sharks and we scrambled for masks, fins, cameras, etc. In contrast to yesterday’s conditions (see previous post), the water was a deep azure blue—and though full of nutrients, dramatically clearer than our challenging green dives yesterday. Brian leapt into the water and within seconds started giving voice to a string of superlatives that all were to repeat for the rest of the day, among them “incredible, awesome, fantastic, magnificent, surreal, mind-blowing!”
Here, in the Agua Azúl, the Whale Sharks are much more relaxed than yesterday. And there are so, so many… At times, we found ourselves surrounded by the gentle giants—literally a dozen or more of them! In this clearer water, we could see the sharks in much better detail: the dappled pattern of spots and light stripes on their grey skin, the remora clinging to their fins and tails, the schools of pilot fish swimming beneath each shark, and their gaping mouths—incessantly pumping the plankton in and through their gill rakers.
As one of our team said, “I keep expecting to find my kids bouncing on my chest, only to discover this was all a dream!”
Founded in 2008, Deep Search is dedicated to exploring and protecting Earth's ocean, the cornerstone of our planet’s life support system. More than 70% of Earth is covered by ocean, and 94% of our habitable space is in the seas. Yet, we have explored less than 5% of the ocean and protected only a fraction of 1%. These figures pale even further when one considers the deep sea.
Jardines de la Reina, or the Queen’s Gardens, is the biggest Marine Nature Park in the Caribbean. It was named by Christopher Columbus for Queen Isabel of Spain and is located about 50 miles south of the mainland of Cuba; 80 miles north of Cayman Brace, in the middle of a 150 mile long mangrove and coral island system. This system forms what some people say is the third largest barrier reef in the world. Jardines de la Reina covers about 2,200 sq kilometers of ocean habitat, which means there is no commercial fishing in this area and the number of inhabitants is zero.
Elkhorn coral is a rarity in the Caribbean, but can be seen in abundance throughout the Marine Nature Park. Lots of healthy corals, fish, sponges, sharks and sea fans could be see at "Five Seas" dive site - Kip's new favorite dive spot!
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