Philipp and Diana have safely arrived to join us at Sesoko. By now, we are pretty big group of people united to wait for the day of Acropora spawning. The weather got better and the water temperature has risen to 25 degrees Celsius – just about right for spawning induction. Luckily, there is enough to do: snorkeling, food-shopping, equipment shopping at the Daiso (you can never have enough plastic cups for experiments!), collecting flatworms and other creatures in the tide pools and of setting up little fun experiments. But maybe tonight the waiting is over!?

Over the last 3 days, we settled into the routine of waiting. Every night at 8.30 pm we go for a night snorkel to check on the Montipora colonies to spawn in the sea. They are supposed to spawn a few days before Acropora, our object of interest. So far no promising signs though. At 9.30 pm, we start to check our field-collected Acropora colonies in the water tables and continue to do so every 15 min until 10.30 pm. So far no signs. On a positive note: we have time during the day to cruise around, go snorkeling to amazing snorkel-spots such as the South tip of Sesoko island and enjoy the local ice-cream. The number of waiting researchers at the station has increased substantially and so has the amount of food and Formaldehyde in the lab. Did I mention that being bare-feet in the lab is a must?

After gathering a few more pieces of high-tech equipment at the Daiso and our favorite hardware store (The Monkey Store), Liz has successfully set up her first experiment with adult corals which will be running for the next 10 days. From now on, each evening we will check the Acropora corals in the ocean in front of Sesoko Marine station by snorkeling and in our water table for the beginning of spawning. Spawning is predicted for Sunday the 22nd of May at around 9.30 pm. However, they can be a few days early or late, thus from now on we will operate on coral watch every evening. Unfortunately, the water temperature has dropped below 25 degrees Celsius which may delay the awaited spawning. But of course there is always time for a beer after a busy day in our favorite Isakaya right next to our Super Hotel. Our evening work has freed up some time to check out Naha´s famous market where you can buy every marine creature that you can order in a restaurant. Including symbiotic giant clam (chacogai), which Liz and I enjoyed eating on Tuesday. Summary: Everything is awesome.

Day 2 and 3 were dedicated to coral colony collection from the reef for spawning in buckets later this week. It´s a four person job: Masayuki is an expert in spotting mature coral colonies by snorkeling. Liz and I use Scuba and some serious hammering and chiseling to free individual colonies from the reef and Reina is always ready to collect and transfer our corals in buckets to the boat. After a few hours, together we got some beautiful Acropora digitifera at the south tip of Sesoko island and Acropora tenius in the north. Corals were brought back to shore and are now stored in our water table at Sesoko Marine Station. After the Hatta and Guse lab, the Ueno lab has now also arrived and our cosy wet lab space is almost ready for action. And by the way, after one day of sunshine we just hit the rainy season. Oh well – it´s still pretty gorgeous out here.

Arrival day. After a a stressful week of packing and organizing all equipment for the coral spawning season 2016 in Okinawa, we finally arrived safely. Upon arrival, Liz and I found a lovely Welcome note in the Nago Super Hotel and made our first trip up to the Sesoko Marine Station to store our dive gear and lab equipment. We concluded the day in our favorite Isakaya with a cold Orion beer and some delicious sashimi, shrimp tempura and tofu. What could be better?