C Time: Rose Atoll

Rose Atoll is home to some of the most unusual benthic cover that I have seen while diving. Our sites have been beautiful with 150 - 200 feet of visibility and most of the bottom covered by a hard slick of pink coralline algae. This algae is similar to corals in that it creates a hard skeleton for itself but it is still a plant. This same algae also forms columns the size of bread loaves with various pillars merging into one form and remind me of pink castles. When you look at the columns from the top, they form the shape of a rose bloom. Also, most of the atoll is surrounded by a steep wall making for even more spectacular sites with the deep blue of ocean depths behind you while you're working on a slope of roughly 45 deg.

The conditions while diving, on the other hand, have been less than gentle with surge creating more interesting dives. If we didn't have to stay in one spot on the reef, it wouldn't be a problem. But it takes us at least 5 minutes to install a calcification plate while trying to hold still. My dive buddy and I have found ways of dealing with the surge including wedging ourselves into rubble channels in the reef to try and provide some stability while installing these plates. I've been very glad that most of the reef is covered in coralline algae instead of coral, so that I have more things to hold on to without killing coral. Being that close to the reef has been amusing as I watch small fish doing the same thing that I am - being blown about by surge, trying to hide in holes for stability and occasionally bouncing into things. So I guess I'm in good company :)

One of my most memorable moments at Rose has been when we were in a strong surge moving us sideways along a wall (instead of vertically up and down it). The site was beautiful but I wasn't having much time to enjoy it. A large swell came in and rolled me off of where I was getting frustrated, trying to tighten bolts on one of the plates. I was plopped down on my rear in a nearby rubble channel with columns of pink rising all around me with accents of a gorgeous green algae and a deep blue ocean in the distance. It was beautiful and calm as I sat in my little rubble spot. I stayed there for a few moments considering how wonderful it would be to spend the rest of the dive there until I remembered that my buddy would be upset if she had to pound in all of the stakes by herself. I reluctantly pulled myself back into the fray but that has still been the best view I've had at this atoll.