after a one-two punch of coral bleaching and stress, Caribbean

coral is dying at an unprecendeted rate.  estimates range as high

as 30% for all Caribbean coral, with some areas ready to suffer

much higher mortality rates (for example, 96 percent of lettuce coral,

93 percent of  star coral and nearly 61 percent of brain coral in St. Croix

has bleached, making it succeptible to dying off).  Source.

   the Caribbean is actually doing well, compared to some areas of

Asia, where mortality (not bleaching) has been in the 90-percentile

range in the Indian and Pacific oceans.

   see my earlier entry on Barrier Reef coral bleaching.

   will our "generation" of divers be the last one to remember

what coral reefs were like?  this is certainly possible, given

the global warming that is threatening corals everywhere.

  also, corals grow very slowly, taking decades to cover

an area the size of a dime.  any damage done over a few

hot summers will likely take centuries to repair, if repair

is even possible (coral can only grow on a narrow temperature

range, with 82 degrees Farenheit being its limit).