Having recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Tongan Government and our partners at the Vava’u Environmental Protection Association (VEPA), we returned to Tonga in order to conduct scientific dive surveys to collect baseline data in the island archipelago.  We assembled a crack team of volunteer divers and were also joined by a group from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, specifically, our friends at the Sandin lab.

A team from the 100 Island Challenge joined our surveyors with one of their signature cameras;  they will put together 3D datasets of photographic mosaics that will give researchers an unparalleled view into just exactly what life is on the reefs. The expedition coincided with several local celebrations during in our divers and scientists were privileged to participate.