Here are a few shots from the Saba portion of our May 2008 expedition. Saba is basically a mountain jutting out of the water. One beach for part of the year only, basically no flat land and the shortest airport runway on earth. There are also great reefs which, due to their relative depth are very healthy. These photos were done before I had an underwater strobe, so there isn’t a lot of color, unfortunately, but there was a seahorse!

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Fancy photo thingy is back with some photos from Bermuda in July.

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Another fancy photo thingy? It sounds crazy, but it’s true. We’ve created a fancy photo thingy for our August 2009 Bermuda expedition. A couple things to note: we’ve included a lot of landscapes and wreck photos because both are pretty amazing in Bermuda. The reefs are healthy and colorful, and the area abounds with wrecks from the past few centuries. There are fewer fish portraits, mostly because we weren’t as good at getting close to fish then.

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We’ve been reviewing the photographs for previous expeditions and are proud to announce our fancy photo thingy for our January 2009 Roatan Expedition. Diving the extensive reefs was a joy, as was snorkeling in Half Moon Bay. We were also able to enjoy the exact opposite of extreme shallow snorkeling: a trip down 2,000 feet underwater in a submarine, during which we were able to observe and photograph a variety of deep sea life.

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If you’ve seen us, we’ve probably already talked about this, but our application videos are online now for the job where you hang out on the Great Barrier Reef for six months. It seems like an ideal expedition for Les Fruits de Mer. Links to our videos are here:

Madam J

Marc AuMarc

Hopefully we’ll make the shortlist so you can actually vote for us. There are only 34,000 other applicants, so our odds should be pretty good. G’day mate!

Les Fruits de Mer were recently featured on the Octopus Diving and Snorkeling blog! The post was written by Sally, who runs Octopus Diving with her husband Chris. It’s our favorite dive shop in St. Martin, hands-down!

Artificial reefs are man made structures placed underwater to promote reef formation. There are many kinds of artificial reef, ships being perhaps one of the most common, either inadvertently shipwrecked, or deliberately sunken after being cleaned and towed to the desired site. Artificial reefs are also made from cars, and retired subway cars.

Artificial reefs provide a substrate upon which corals, sponges and mollusks can grow. For example, this rudder has been encrusted with a variety of growth:

Artificial reefs also provide shelter for a variety of fish species. The structure provides shelter from predators, much like the recesses and crannies in a natural reef:

Concrete is a popular artificial reef material because it is inexpensive, and provides a good substrate for coral growth. In the photo below, J.P. (The Lion of the Sea) is adjusting starter coral attached to a small concrete artificial reef substrate. Notice that the structure has holes to allow the flow of water, otherwise it would be destroyed by the surge. As it turns out, this artificial reef structure was destroyed, most likely because, at 25 feet, it was not protected enough from the waves, tides and surge.

Below is a photo of a number of concrete reef pods near the wreck of the Ro/Ro off the coast of Sint Maarten. While you can see growth on these pods, coral and other reef-building organisms take time to become established.

Chris and Sally from Octopus Diving and Snorkeling in St. Martin hope to start artificial reef programs on the French side of the island, hopefully using grants or sponsorships to cover the cost of creating and deploying the pods. Sponsors may even be able to have a plaque on their undersea pod commemorating their contribution! We’ll let you know as plans unfold.

Marc AuMarc has officially completed his application for the World’s Greatest Job. As soon as his application is available online, we’ll let you know where to go and vote for him!!!

I just figured out how to add a fancy new photo gallery thing, so expect some of them to pop-up on the site soon. This one, for example, features some of our favorite shots from our most recent expedition to St. Martin. Pretty fancy, eh?

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Les Fruits de Mer returned tonight from their expedition to St. Martin. After a successful mission, the members will begin cataloging their data and identifying the flora and fauna they have photographed and video recorded. Expect to see further updates in the coming days with additional info from their expedition!