Chris Corbin dropped about 20 feet to the ocean floor at Looe Key Reef off the Lower Florida Keys July 20 to perform an important task: planting small staghorn coral bundles as a volunteer for Mote Marine …
Watch the Reef Do the Wild Thing Live
10 Aug 20179:06 AM
With coral reefs around the world in peril from pollution, ocean acidification, disease and other threats, watching these animals reproduce is an exciting, exhilarating, and uplifting experience.
A mass spawning of large boulder corals, such as the brain and star species, is expected to occur after dark on Aug. 13-14 –the week after the full moon– in the Florida Keys. And you can reserve a front-row, underwater seat to witness this spectacular event.
A few hours after sunset on one or both nights, coral polyps all along the reef tract are expected to release millions of eggs and sperm that resemble tiny white BBs into the water column. When the gametes unite, the larvae drift around with ocean currents for days or weeks before settling on the bottom and forming new coral colonies.
Meanwhile, this explosion of new underwater life attracts predators ranging from little silver pilchards to large tarpon that flash like a Fourth of July fireworks display in their quest for food.
The annual spawning event depends on a variety of natural factors and cues such as lunar cycles, water temperature, rainfall, and tide. So it’s never exactly the same from year to year and there are no guarantees it will happen as predicted. If it does go off, it will likely be between 11 p.m. and midnight.
Reserve a spot with Captain Slate’s Scuba Adventures, a Guy Harvey Outpost Outfitter, in Islamorada by visiting www.captainslate.com or calling 1-800-331-3483. Reserve a room for your dive at the nearby Islander Resort, a Guy Harvey Outpost by calling 1-800-513-5357 or visiting www.guyharveyoutpost.com.
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![](mailto:?subject=Wounded Vets, SCUBAnauts Help Mote Marine Replant Coral in FL Keys&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/11800530_873480432730276_4381179584041674224_n.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-2838 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/11800530_873480432730276_4381179584041674224_n.jpg?w=300" alt="11800530_873480432730276_4381179584041674224_n" width="300" height="249" /></a>Chris Corbin dropped about 20 feet to the ocean floor at Looe Key Reef off the Lower Florida Keys July 20 to perform an important task: planting small staghorn coral bundles as a volunteer for Mote Marine Laboratory's reef restoration project.
This was the 37-year-old retired U.S. Army Green Beret's fourth year as a volunteer citizen scientist working underwater alongside fellow combat vets and middle- and high-school students from SCUBAnauts International on a Mote project. But fastening the coral fragments with zip ties to nails driven into the bottom was proving challenging in the strong current-- especially since Corbin wears two heavy prostheses to replace both legs blown off at mid-calf.
"I just found it easier to drop my feet on a sandy spot and control my buoyancy with my breathing," Corbin said.
He planted four plots with five fragments each and still had air left in his tank.
"Every time it's awesome," he said. "It's kind of cool to see your work--'oh, that was last year and that was 2012'. It's always fun. If nothing else, I'm just playing in the ocean."
Corbin and about 50 other scuba divers and snorkelers from SCUBAnauts and the Combat Wounded Veteran Challenge planted 250 corals along Looe Key that day-- adding to the 7,500 already placed by Mote scientists and volunteers on 50 sites along the Keys. The aim is to restore decades of manmade damage that has wiped out most of the branching corals in the Caribbean-- a huge loss to the marine ecosystem and the humans who depend on it.
"Humans have so screwed up the reefs that they will never recover on their own," Dr. Michael Crosby, Mote President and CEO, told the volunteers. "This is science-based restoration in partnership with all of you."
Scientists say the rewarding aspect of working with staghorn coral is that it grows fast and is the easiest to bring back. Fragments cultivated in Mote's coral nursery have grown large enough to spawn within two years of being replanted on the reef. Their average survival rate is 75 percent.
"It proves we're on the right track," said Erich Bartels, who oversees Mote's coral nursery project.
Tampa high school student Riley Gillis, 16, became a certified scuba diver last year just so she could help with the restoration work.
"The coral dive is actually my favorite dive I've ever done," Riley said. "It's awesome to be part of a team. I love looking around, the science, the working part of it. You're contributing to something."
For the wounded vets like Corbin, the work isn't just fun, but an opportunity to bond with fellow vets.
"No one understands a service member that's been injured like another service member that's been injured," Corbin said. "We're all trying to get back to a semblance of normalcy after injury."
He invited fellow retired Green Beret Bobby Dove to join the mission. Dove, 28, who lost most of his right leg and right arm to an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan, didn't hesitate.
"Hell, yeah," he responded. "I have not gotten to plant coral. I'm very excited about it."
Following their stint as coral farmers, the vets and kids were treated to a barbecue at Mote's Summerland Key lab.
The mission was supported by the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation; the Islander Resort: A Guy Harvey Outpost; "Protect Our Reefs" license plate; Harbor Graphics and Custom Apparel; Looe Key Dive Center; Strike Zone Charters; Underseas Inc., Rock Bottom Divers; Derby Lane; and Oceanic. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wounded-vets-scubanauts-help-mote-marine-replant-coral-in-fl-keys/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=St. Pete Beach, Home of Guy Harvey Outpost’s TradeWinds Resort, Named #1 Beach in US&body=<a href="http://guyharveyoutpost.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/st_pete_beach.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1133" title="St. Pete Beach, FL" src="http://guyharveyoutpost.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/st_pete_beach.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="159" /></a>
Travelers have spoken and St. Pete Beach, FL - home of <a title="GHO at St. Pete Beach" href="http://guyharveyoutpostnews.com/2012/02/17/guy-harvey-outpost-to-open-st-pete-beach-resort/" target="_blank">Guy Harvey Outpost, a TradeWinds Resort</a> - was <a title="TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice 2012" href="http://www.tripadvisor.ca/TravelersChoice-Beaches-cDestinations-g191" target="_blank">voted the #1 beach in the U.S.</a> and the <a title="TripAdvisor Travellers' Coice 2012" href="http://www.tripadvisor.ca/TravelersChoice-Beaches-cDestinations-g1" target="_blank">#5 beach in the world</a>!
According to the <a title="TripAdvisor web site" href="http://www.tripadvisor.ca/" target="_blank">TripAdvisor</a> survey, St. Pete Beach is known for "sugary-white sand, dolphins frolicking just off shore and eight major barrier islands make St. Pete Beach a postcard-perfect seaside destination. Situated on a peninsula off Florida's west coast, it is an ideal place to experience the state's wild beauty and the magical golden rays of the Sunshine State".
St. Pete Beach was up against some pretty stiff competition, including several locations in Florida and Hawaii. But, in the end, the perfect combination of sand, sun & surf propelled St. Pete Beach to #1!
Here's the full list of the "Traveller's Choice 2012 Top 10 Beach Destinations in the U.S." as chosen by the users of TripAdvisor, the largest travel web site in the world -
1. St. Pete Beach
2. Miami Beach
3. Myrtle Beach
4. Virginia Beach
5. Honolulu
6. Daytona Beach
7. Ft. Lauderdale
8. Lahaina
9. San Diego
10. Key West
<a href="http://www.tradewindsresort.com/"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1142" title="Guy Harvey Outpost, a TradeWinds Beach Resort" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/ghotampa-logo12.jpg" alt="" width="356" height="334" /></a>
https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/st-pete-beach-home-of-guy-harvey-outposts-tradewinds-resort-named-1-beach-in-us/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Playing Tag with Roosterfish for Science&body=Roosterfish-- the hard-fighting, black-banded fish with the distinctive cock's comb dorsal fin--is one of the most sought-after recreational species in the eastern Pacific. Anglers happily catch them in the surf, from kayaks and in sport fishing boats along the coast from Mexico's Baja California to Peru using both live bait and artificial lures. They can grow to over 100 pounds, but they're not much good to eat so they've been spared from overfishing so far. But almost nothing is known about their life history, reproduction, and movements.
However, that is about to change.
Marine scientist/artist/conservationist Dr. Guy Harvey and daughter Jessica, project manager for the <a href="https://www.guyharvey.com/ocean-foundation">Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation</a>, recently completed the first-ever roosterfish tagging program in Panama.
The Harveys, together with guides and anglers in the third annual Roosterfish Tournament at Tropic Star Lodge in Pinas Bay, Panama, stuck 80 roosterfish with external streamer tags in three days. The tags bear the foundation's phone number and ask whoever recaptures the fish to report its GPS location and fork length. The crews also took some fin clips for DNA samples and sent them to the <a href="http://cnso.nova.edu/ghri/index.html">Guy Harvey Research Institute</a> at <a href="http://cnso.nova.edu/index.html">Nova Southeastern University</a> near Fort Lauderdale. And at the conclusion of the tournament, outdoors television host Mark Davis of "Big Water Adventures" and his team implanted Panama's first roosterfish with a pop-off satellite tag that tracks its movements in near real-time for about three months.
The Harveys also distributed additional tags to the Tropic Star fleet to continue the program throughout the year.
"There were no recaptures during the tournament, indicating the fish move around a bit and the population is quite large," Guy Harvey said. "This gives us a chance to study an animal that's not commercially exploited but is a very important recreational fish."
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/P8A3282.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4809" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/P8A3282.jpg" alt="" width="5760" height="3840" /></a>
The Harveys and their fellow tournament participants caught the roosters by bottom fishing with live bait on downriggers or working poppers on the surface in depths of 30 to 170 feet. More than 100 fish were caught and released in three days of competition.
The Harveys said they plan to work in collaboration with the Pompano Beach, Fla.-based Gray FishTag research program which has tagged scores of roosterfish in Costa Rica and Mexico---including one satellite tag in Costa Rica that popped off after the fish travelled more than 37 miles in 16 days.
Jessica Harvey said the object is to establish a baseline so that fisheries managers can gauge changes in populations.
"These fish occupy the same territory of other jacks, snappers, and tuna," she said. "In a world where overfishing continues, if we get to a point where there's no more snappers and jacks for people to eat, they could turn to roosterfish. Guy Harvey Research Institute and Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation are always trying to fill in the knowledge gap, given it's a high-demand recreational fishery and not much is known about it.
"We've generated a lot of interest in learning about these fish. The more people learn about them, the more they care and the more people will be sustainable in their fishing practices."
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To learn more about the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation and its research please visit <a href="http://www.GuyHarvey.com/Ocean-Foundation">www.GuyHarvey.com/Ocean-Foundation</a>. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/playing-tag-with-roosterfish-for-science/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=LYC Commodore Sends Letter of Thanks for Successful 2010 Bimini Blast Event at the BBGC&body=The Commodore of the Lauderdale Yacht Club recently sent a letter to the staff of the <a title="Bimini Big Game Club web site" href="http://www.biminibiggameclub.com" target="_blank">Bimini Big Game Club</a> expressing his gratitude to the BBGC for hosting a sucessful "Bimini Blast", which is the LYC's annual gathering in Bimini:
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/lyc-loving-letter1.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-133 aligncenter" title="Letter from the Commodore of the LYC" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/lyc-loving-letter1.jpg?w=788" alt="" width="567" height="737" /></a>
<a title="Bimini Blast 2010 at the Bimini Big Game Club" href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13362&id=127094040665962&saved" target="_blank">Click here</a> to see a photo album of the 2010 "Bimini Blast" event at the BBGC. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/lyc-commodore-sends-letter-of-thanks-for-successful-2010-bimini-blast-event-at-the-bbgc/){kind=link}
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