The Life Aquatic with Ian Johnston

The week we’ve all been waiting for! After loading our gear on the catamaran, we hit the open water for the three-hour ride to Northeast Caye located in the Glover’s Reef Atoll. Stepping off the boat and onto the island it’s hard to believe that this is class! A mere 9-acre island with an authentic Robinson Crusoe feel, we spent the week studying the beautiful underwater world of Belize with the CCSP veteran marine biologist Ian Johnston. Glover’s reef remains one of the most remote and unexplored areas in Belize’s barrier reef, so we had plenty to explore at this World Heritage Site and Marine Reserve. We spent time looking at the entire marine ecosystem from coral reefs to sea grasses to mangroves and learned how important each is to a healthy marine environment. Unfortunately these three environments are being threatened at an alarming rate (even remote locations like Glover’s) – the removal of mangroves and sea grasses for commercial resorts, blast fishing, over fishing and other unsustainable fishing practices, coral bleaching (much associated with global warming), the international market for shells and coral for jewelry making, destructive and insensitive tourism, the list goes on. Getting into the water each day we thought through some of these issues as we got to experience the reef first hand. It’s hard not to be completely overwhelmed with this bustling marine community, all the colors and shapes and sizes of so many different fish, coral, and sponge. And then there was the night snorkel. Dropping backwards into the water at 9pm with only a flashlight is not the most comforting feeling in the world. But we all survived the week, being dazzled every time we stepped foot into the reef that we could reach from the shore. What a memorable week this was, we’re so blessed to have such a unique ecosystem at our fingertips.