Location: |
Augulpelu Reef; E side of reef; "D2"
(07 16.41' N, 134 31.44' E). |
Marine Life: |
I collected a female Genicanthus
bellus (a new record for Palau) at 300 feet, and
John caught a small crab on a
sea fan and an Apogon melanoproctus (a species
already described by Jack
Randall). Further up the slope John caught a tiny goby with a big reddish spot on the
side. We also collected a wrasse that was similar to Bodianus
opercularis, but it appeared to be different.
Unfortunately, it escaped from the bucket when I was
trying to get the Genicanthus out to vent its
swimbladder with a hypodermic needle. Pat Colin collected
another benthic ctenophore
similar to the previous one, but reddish in color. |
Remarks: |
We were
originally going to lay a guide line from the surface to
300 feet, but the line got hopelessly tangled so we
abandoned that plan. We staged a cylinder of nitrox at
100 feet, and left a cylinder of trimix at the bottom
--at the same terrace we have been to on previous days.
Both Adam (using conventional scuba) and Ken (using the
rebreather) filmed us making our descent. Ken followed us
all the way to 300 feet, while pushing the digital
Betacam in its huge housing. The photo above shows John
and I chasing some fish near a small cave on one side of
the terrace at 290 feet. |