CORAL HARVESTING AND OUTPLANTING
This summer, we invited guests who were with us for the duration of lockdown to assist us with our coral outplanting. Nakita, our Environmental Manager and Bea, our Environmental Intern set out in the morning to harvest Elkhorn coral and identified spots near the jetty to attach them.
A few hours later, everyone arrived, and we set out on a snorkel adventure. We swam out to the nursery, where Nakita explained the process of growing different species of coral, while our watersports team were SCUBA diving below. They collected the coral and swam below us blowing bubbles and pointing out various fish and sea turtles.
One at a time, each child mixed the two part epoxy used to stick their piece of coral onto their new permanent rock homes. They all then held their breath, ‘duck dove’ below the surface of the water and attached the coral fragment. In all, we planted 50 pieces onto our house reef.
Many thanks to our team that day – Robbie and Sonny on kayak, Bea explaining the process, Oli capturing the action with these beautiful photographs, and of course our watersports team Rock, Keon, Orandy and Gilan.
If you are interested in planting corals and restoring Mustique’s reefs, please email our Environmental Manager at Nakita@mustique.vc
