Spooky Channel Survey Project

In September of 2003, a team from Wiley's Scuba Locker in Riverside, CA began a comprehensive survey of Spooky Channel.  Despite an all-night flight & some airport hassles along the way, the team hit the water the afternoon they arrived. Led by Tony Wiley, team members Wes Kaminsky, Reed Nescher, Ted Plucinski, Roy Widney, and Al Zabala,  began by laying a series of base lines through the channel.   After these first two dives, they were able to put together a basic profile of the channel for planning their mission and lay the first of their base lines.  The next morning, they got up & moving-  no jet lag allowed! By lunch, they had refined sketches of the surface &  the bottom levels and were ready to settle in for the long haul.  Within four days, the team had already laid over 1500 feet of line & created more than 3 dozen data sheets & drawings.

Stay tuned for more from the survey team.   

Interviews with the team:

So how does is all work?  Click here to read the first of a 2 part interview with Tony Wiley.

Coming soon- video clips of the team talking about their experiences on the expedition

Survey Team Photos

Survey Team from Wiley's Scuba Adventures in Riverside, CA	Taking depth readings for the survey map	Adding features to the profile map

Island Discoveries would like to thank Tony, Wes, Reed, Roy, Ted & Al for their hard work & dedication.  Their professional work will form the backbone of our reef studies as well as open up a fabulous section of the reef to divers.   Thanks from the team to volunteers Jared & Taylor Keifer, Kay & Lisa Terri,  Tyrone Raymond and Larry Tor...

We'd also like to thank the people who helped sponsor this expedition:

Bay Islands Beach Resort, Wiley's Scuba Locker, Dive Rite, Oceanic, Reef SCUBA,

Trident, 2 Tank Productions, Stitchen Dreams, & EZ Bail Bonds.

2004 -  The Year of Spooky Channel

The Year of Spooky Channel begins in January 2004 with the Spooky Channel Adopt-a-Buoy

This special project will link 10 classrooms & dive clubs worldwide as these groups participate in a 3 month survey of the life in Spooky Channel & the Natural Aquarium.  Teams of student researchers will "adopt" a buoy.  During that time, the teams will receive weekly updates with survey results and physical information about their site.  The researchers will interpret & track this data & return the summaries to Spooky Channel Online.  Each buoy will have its own page with postings of the raw data & the summaries & conclusions.  If you are interested in adopting a buoy for 3 months, please email Patti at islanddiscoveries@yahoo.com

Also in January:   Spooky Channel Photo Contest- enter your picture of Spooky Channel.  Check back in December for details.