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CORALREPUBLIC Cook
Islands 2003
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Trip
dates: |
28 September 2003 and 4 October 2003 |
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Boat
/ resort: |
Edgewater Resort, Rarotonga |
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Dive
centre: |
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Photo-friendly?: |
Not much You would be fetched from the hotel and taken to the
dive site. There, you would get on a truck with the boat in tow and drive to
the harbour. There the boat was set on the water and off you went. Same thing
on the way back. |
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Number
of dives: |
3: one on 28 September and 2 on 4 October. |
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Diving
conditions: |
Clear weather, calm seas. No currents. Water temperature 23.5°C
Excellent visibility 20 to 30 m. Poor reef life. |
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Comments: |
I’m sorry to say that the reefs are very dead. They have been so
since the 70’s, apparently, and scientists cannot say why, but the safe bet
is a full number of factors came together to kill them, notably pollution, overfishing
and an outbreak of crown-of-thorns sea stars. As the pictures show, the only
interesting feature were the Spanish dancers, which were plentiful and very
beautiful. It was the end of the whale season and we could see their spray
from the beach, but were not lucky enough to encounter them underwater. I was
told that earlier in the season, they had come across them quite a few times
on the very reef edges. I was there for work and managed to eke out two free days at the
beginning and the end of my stay to dive the area. I would not go again to
the Pictures taken with my |
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