Back from rainy Great Barrier Reef - some wildlife and macro/micro shots

    The Great Barrier Reef is renowned for amazing underwater sights... but the weather might seriously let you down. I spent most of the two-week long field trip indoors cursing the weather, yet managed to get a few shots.

The field trip took place at Heron island, which is a large coral cay. University of Queensland has a research station there.

Divers vs reefs in Thailand

The picture above might look like something coming straight from my camera attached to my microscope, but don't be deceived. That's just bubble coral from the Indian Ocean and not even a macro shot.

   One of divers' mottoes is "take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but bubbles." But do divers really leave reefs unharmed? Being a biologist with reef conservation experience made me see my vacations differently. While everyone seems to come to tropical destinations to enjoy water activities, spend time on sunny beaches, and look at colorful fish and corals, I automatically start evaluating reef damage and looking for coral diseases. The last trip to Thailand made me question such things as whether or not conservation biologists are pessimistic in general or is it just me. I also started wondering if it's possible to come to a place without harming its environment, particularly if you are a diver.

PETAR national park and caves in Brazil

   PETAR national park is situated close to Sao Paulo in Brazil. I happened to visit it when I participated in an astrobiology school in December 2011. I might not be able to impress anyone with photography skills, but I really want to share this 3 day long experience of visiting such a fantastic place in Brazilian mountains full of waterfalls and caves. 

Tobago marine expedition

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  From September 2010 till February 2011 I participated in a Coral Cay Conservation marine expedition on Tobago. Tobago is a tiny island in the Caribbean sea. I was a marine biology volunteer and I'll try to describe this amazing experience that involved diving, underwater surveying, and living on a remote part of a tropical island...

White Sea Biological Station

The White Sea Biological Station is a fantastic place that is part of Moscow State University and it's located beyond the polar circle on the coast of the White Sea (North of Russia). It's a scientific village in the middle of the forest that has no road connections. Nearest cities are far far away from it and all biology students during their study have to come here to have practice in marine biology and botany. I had never even imagined that northern landscapes are so amazing and breathtaking with lichens growing instead of grass, never-endless "sunsets" and "sunrises" where the sun never goes below the horizon, and more mosquitoes than air...