UNDERWATER

Widely considered as one of the best dive sites in Curaçao, Playa PortoMari is renowned for its unique double reef. This makes our bay a favourite destination for divers and snorkellers. Although the reef was badly damaged by Hurricane Lenny in 1999, the articles that follow will describe what we are doing "to give nature a helping hand", ensuring that future generations of underwater visitors can continue to enjoy our ocean’s treasures.

Reef Balls and Snorkel Trail at Playa PortoMari

WHAT is a Reef Ball? - A Reef Ball is a "Designed Artificial Reef" used to restore ailing coral reefs and to create new fishing and scuba diving sites. Reef Balls are used for beach protection and have many other uses too. Reef Balls are made of a special marine friendly concrete and are designed to mimic natural reef systems. They are used around the world to create habitats for fish and other marine and freshwater species. Over 100,000 Reef Balls have been deployed in over 1,500 projects worldwide. They are made in many sizes to best match the natural reef type at a particular location.

www.reefball.com | www.reefball.org

Reef Ball Research Project and Playa PortoMari - In November 1999, Hurricane Lenny caused considerable damage to PortoMari’s unique double reef. The reef closest to the shore within 20ft of the surface suffered the greatest loss of coral, and the deeper reef was also endangered due to the change of sand flow. Under the guidance of two American specialists, Todd Barber and Larry Beggs from the Reef Ball Foundation, a large number of community volunteers have over the last two years constructed some 280 concrete reef balls on site and placed them in strategic locations to encourage new coral growth and provide shelter and breeding places for other reef inhabitants. The reefs and Reef Balls are monitored on a quarterly basis. Volunteers were also responsible for transplanting coral plugs onto Reef Balls on the west side of the bay in April 2001, and we are excited to report that the Staghorn corals and Gorgonians are doing particularly well. The Staghorn corals have begun to cover the base of the plugs with new growth, in addition to extending the length of their branches — a positive sign of health.

For a full transcript of PortoMari’s monitoring reports: www.artificialreefs.org/ScientificReports/research.htm

For a photo collage of the reef ball project, go to:Reefball poster from Reefball website

Reefball Snorkel Trail

Divers and snorkellers alike can marvel at the success of PortoMari’s efforts to restore the reef off-shore by following two snorkel trails that lead swimmers past several Reef Ball clusters. It’s a fascinating underwater world, just waiting for you to discover.

The first trail can be reached from a jetty at the middle of the beach, and snorkellers can easily swim as far as the raft. Strong swimmers can go further out where the water is deeper. The second trail begins at the jetty on the left (east) side of the bay.

 

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PortoMari Wins 2001 Prestigious Reef Ball Foundation Award

In 2001, Plantages "PortoMari" was awarded "Project of the Year 2001" by the Reef Ball Foundation. In their citation, the judges mentioned that:

"PortoMari’s project included Reef Balls of all sizes, large volunteer participation from the community and local NGOs, extensive press coverage, an innovative coral transplant project using imperilled corals, recovery of shallow reefs destroyed almost completely by Hurricane Lenny and an extensive monitoring program including both the Reef Balls and the natural surrounding reefs. 180 Reef Balls have already been deployed and another 100 are planned for this Spring. This project has a strong educational component with seminars on corals, reef systems, coral transplanting, press events, kids days and on-going eco-diver training."

The Management of Plantages "PortoMari" thanks all the volunteers whose assistance and dedication were for a very large part instrumental in the achievement this award.

www.reefball.org | www.artificialreefs.org

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