Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1998 08:25:17 -1000
From: "J. Charles Delbeek" <delbeek@hawaii.edu>
To: coral-list@coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: Solomon Islands

I just completed 12 days of diving in the Guadalcanal, Florida Islands,
Russell Islands and Marovo Lagoon regions of the Solomon Islands. Water
temperatures ranged from 30 to 32 degrees during the dives. There was no
evidence of any bleaching events. Two years ago massive bleaching and
typhoons devastated many of reefs we dove this year. Although the reefs
were still quite productive, I was told that they were no where near as
complete in coral coverage as they had been. Large stands of coral had
died during that event. These areas were now dominated by Xenia,
Clavularia and Halimeda. However, divers in the group who have dove these
reefs in some cases for six consecutive years, felt that they were
recovering slowly. 


J. Charles Delbeek M.Sc.

Aquarium Biologist
Waikiki Aquarium
University of Hawaii