Rain and grey skies were no deterrent for our crews this weekend, as Saturday saw the departure of OceansWatch project lead-boats, Moksha and Magic Roundabout, from Whangarei Marina. Both yachts were guided the short distance up the coast to Opua by a pod of bottlenose dolphins. A GoOd OmeN! The sail to Opua provided the opportunity to check that everything from Magic Roundabout's refit was in working order, and to say a LasT FAreWeLL to New Zealand's rapidly cooling weather.
Moksha headed out of the Bay of Islands on Sunday night, and after picking up Skipper Mark Needler, Magic Roundabout followed them on Monday. It will take the boats between 8 to 12 days to reach Port Vila in Vanuatu. Once there, the teams with be working closely with Fisheries Officials, Reef Check Vanuatu and local communities. First on the agenda is to undertake two weeks of dive training. Week one involves the provision of a PADI Open Water training for 5 Vanuatu Fisheries employees; While week two sees us undertaking Reef Check training for crew and OceansWatch members. We'd like to say a HUGE 'Thank-you!' in advance to Claire Bisseling who is donating her time to OceansWatch to run these courses.
From here our project lead-boats part company with Moksha heading to the Solomon Islands and then onto PNG. Our work will be concentrated in two main communities whilst in the Solomon's, those of Tuo community in the Reef Islands and with the Tehakatu’u Conservation Committee on Rennell Island. Like many Atoll islands, Tuo is currently facing issues of increased salinisation of their freshwater supply and decreased fish stocks. Once in PNG the Moksha crew with be joined by Fisheries representatives and researchers from the University of Queensland's Centre for Marine Studies. Crew on the Moksha are excited about the opportunity of following up our previous two year’s work in communities and monitoring the progress of established initiatives. Our core team on Moksha consists of Skipper Chris Bone, 1st mate and Climate Change Researcher Kathryn Rainone, Marine Projects Co-ordinator Irene Llabres Pohl, and Team Scientist Emily Long, the crew are being helped up to Vanuatu by resident 'burly bloke' Tristan Kiddie.
Magic Roundabout will spend the 2010 season mainly in Vanuatu waters, continuing previous years work with Fisheries and Reef Check. There is also a possibility that the team will sail for the Solomon Islands in August to provide follow-up on Moksha's work there. Our core crew in the 'Magic' team are Project Leader Claire Giner and Marine Biologist Tom Barnfield, in Vanuatu they will be met by Skipper Guy Robinson and his son, Divemaster Jesse Robinson. To follow them keep an eye on their blog site.
