Tag Archives: underwater

Cayman Islands, Uncategorized, wide angle

Have you seen a new coral garden?

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When I first started diving finding healthy stag horn and elk horn coral was easy.  Unfortunately, finding healthy stag horn and elk horn coral has become more more difficult more recently.   You don’t have to look very far in the headlines to see various headlines about coral bleaching.   Unfortunately there have been size-able beaching incidents on the Great Barrier reef and around the world.   According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2014 through the end of 2016 will likely be the longest coral bleaching event ever recorded.  The current bleaching event is largely blamed on global warming.  There can be a number of causes of coral bleaching causes, which among others include:

  1. oxygen starvation caused by an increase in zooplankton levels as a result of over fishing;
  2.  increased solar irradiance (photo-synthetically active radiation and ultraviolet light);
  3.  changes in water chemistry (in particular acidification caused by CO2 pollution;
  4. increased sedimentation (due to silt runoff);
  5.  bacterial infections,; 
  6. changes in salinity herbicides;
  7.  cyanide fishing;
  8.  mineral dust from African dust storms caused by drought;  and 
  9. four common sunscreen ingredients, that are non-biodegradable that  can wash off of skin and on to coral.

Continue reading Have you seen a new coral garden? →

Sharks, wide angle

How many varieties of shark have you seen?

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As shark week approaches it occurred to me that I have had a chance to dive with quite a few varieties of sharks, and I am not talking about the two legged variety.  I hope that I will never forget the first time I saw bull sharks.  They are incredibly beautiful animals that move through the water column easier than most people breath.  They are so efficient under water a very small flick of the tail will carry them forward with incredible speed. 

Bull sharks in Playa del Carmen Mexico

From fast to enormous size was the next set of sharks with which I had a chance to interact. The first time I jumped out of the boat with my camera in hand I had not even had a chance to turn around entirely when I saw this incredible mouth, almost 6 feet across, coming directly at me. I kicked for all I was worth trying to get out of the way only to realize later that with a small flick of the whale shark’s tail he could easily avoid me. So much for my swimming skills.

Drafting a whale shark
Drafting a whale shark

It was not until I traveled to Ambergris Caye in Belize that I really had a chance to watch a number of active nurse sharks. Sure I had seen nure sharks laying on the bottom napping while I was diving, but I had not really seen them actively moving around a reef until I was in Belize. Although many people think of nurse sharks as fairly “tame” you still need to be careful because they are big animals and can create some problems if their space is not respected.

The Bahamas gave me an opportunity to interact with grey reef sharks. They are very fast predators and they have a mouth full of teeth, but unless they are being fed they tend be to fairly shy about divers.

This is why you wear the steel suit
This is why you wear the steel suit

Grey reef sharks I think are very photogenic sharks. They are innately curious and will often give divers at least a quick look before they go back to looking for more interesting food.

The most recent type of shark I came across off of the Kona coast. A white tip reef shark. At least the one I found was about 5 feet in length, a juvenile and he was not interesting in hanging out with divers. I barely got a couple of shots off before he was long gone. And, even then he was pretty well hidden in the shadows.

One of the many sharks at Shark Junction

Maybe on my next set of dives I will get a chance to see a tiger shark. I guess we will see if we are so fortunate.

Kona, Uncategorized, wide angle

Do you like mud bugs?

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close up lobster-1

Alright I know, mud bugs are technically crayfish, but to me lobsters are just a bigger version.  And, fortunately, more meat to eat.   I was thinking after a week of diving off the Kona coast that in 24 dives I had seen two lobsters.  Now, granted the two lobsters I did see were quite large, probably 5 pounds or more a piece, but that was far fewer than what I usually see when we are diving in the Caribbean.

A Kona Lobster on the coral head
A Kona Lobster on the coral head

Maybe I was diving in the wrong place to see them. But it reminded me that what is plentiful in one part of the sea is often times quite rare in another part of the sea.  So I guess I should look forward to the next trip to the Caribbean and seeing lots of lobsters.

In this little hole there were well over a dozen little Caribbean lobsters off the coast of St. Vincent.  lobster insanity-1

 

Kona, wide angle

Have you been diving at Stoney Mesa off the southern tip of Kona?

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stoney brook 1-1
Stoney Mesa was the first dive we did on our week aboard the Kona Aggressor. The water was a pleasant 79 degrees and we had at least 80 feet of Viz. The structure of the reef is awesome.  Enormous lava flows had flowed into the ocean and created immense cliffs to swim around.  The fish life was abundant.   The small fish were very adept at swimming between the branches of coral only to reappear moments later.

Gearing up was easy and we had plenty of room.  We dove nitrox all week and even though I only did 24 of the 27 possible dives as usual I found nitrox a huge help with recovery.

stoney brook 1 part 2-1

I was eager to duck down and see the fish life. I was not disappointed. Lots of small fish and some very interesting middle-sized fish. I saw one moray eel who was well hidden in the coral.

The surge was quite strong at several points so I  had to wait until the surge passed by and then kick like crazy to get past the choke off points where the passage ways in the reef structure got fairly narrow. The Sun had come out and the light on the reef was awesome. I was amazed at the colors of some of the fish; I am going to have to get a fish book for this area.

sea star with coral heads

Kona, Uncategorized

Have you seen Manta’s at night?

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Not long ago, I had a chance to do two night dives with the potential of seeking manta rays off the Kona coast. The first night I was all geared up and we were swimming to the site. Just before we reached the site I looked up and a manta buzzed right over my head. My initial thought was: wow, this could be good. The manta made two passes and I took a couple of shots that were ok, but I was hoping there would be a few more passes so I could hone my timing in on the manta’s pace. I was actually quite surprised at how fast he blew by me. Yeah, I know I am slower that a turtle, but that manta was fast. Well, as happens with many opportunities to watch for animals, you can wait and you can wait. The manta made one more pass about 35 minutes later and that was the end of it.

Well I could not complain. I had seen a manta. I had gotten off a few snaps and I wasn’t even that cold in my 2mm shorty. But my hopes were that on Thursday night we would see more than one manta and they would make more than a few cursory passes.

Well we were lucky. We saw at least 10 mantas and they were pretty active for our 70 minute dive. Now the environment at the second site was totally different. Night one was just a few divers and one manta. Night two there were 20 dive boats, at least 60 divers a lot of snorkelers and 10 mantas making a variety of passes. There did come a break in the action early on where the mantas seemed to stop making passes through the site. It’s about that time I got into it with a photographer who decided she was better than the rest of us. All of the divers but one were circled around the lights that were on the bottom of the ocean and they were facing inward. Not her, she put herself inside the circle and faced outward shining her lights in any diver’s eyes that were close to her. I was within three feet of her and I was not happy. After one of the local instructors chewed on her she still wasn’t moving. It is rather hard to cuss some one out through a regulator, but it is a helpful talent I have developed. I’m guessing she got my message because after I finished telling her what I thought of her behaviour, she flipped me off, and she moved away from me. Now, it might have had something to do with my shining my 4000 lumen video light in her face, but she moved off not long after I was done “talking to her”. Nevertheless, inspite of the challenges, I shot over 200 images and a little bit of video during the dive. Some of the images were very good, and some were interesting. The whole scene had a rock concert feel to it. At about 50 minutes most of the divers had cleared out. The last 20 minutes were awesome. So here is the link to the video from the show.

Bahamas, wide angle

Do divers have an obligation to help conserve the environment?

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A 200 plus pound Black Grouper at Shark Junction
A 200 plus pound Black Grouper at Shark Junction in the Bahamas

I used to think of the ocean as endless and its fish life as unaffected by people.  I was wrong on both counts.  Yes, over 70% of the earth is covered in water.  Yes, if you were to take the average depth of the ocean and take out the lows and the highs the average depth would be over 4,000 feet deep, or at least so I have read.

But, the ocean that can be explored by recreational divers is only 130 feet deep.  And, within that depth in many places, fisherman have and are over fishing many species. Many variety of grouper, such as black grouper are becoming much rarer to see in large part because they do taste good.  For the most part I have stopped eating grouper because of the pressure on them.  Other species of fish are also being fished to extinction.

Isn’t it odd, that lion fish, an invasive species in the Caribbean are thriving and doing so at the expense of native fish such as the parrot fish who is necessary to reefs in order to keep algae at bay.

Are you the scourge of the Caribbean?
Are you the scourge of the Caribbean?

So I will continue to eat lion fish, in hopes that someone will figure out how to eradicate them from the Caribbean, and avoid grouper in hopes that they will make a recovery.  And, I will continue to bring up trash when I see it in the ocean in hopes that by removing it some small part of the wild life that remains in the sea will be there the next time I return.  Its an enormous task in reality.  I hope you will join me in my small little effort to save the sea.

Bahamas, Belize, Mexico, wide angle

Do you ever grow tired of seeing turtles underwater? nah

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I am not sure what it is about turtles that always fascinates me when I am diving. Sometimes it strikes me that turtles remind me of grumpy old men swimming under water. I guess I can relate to that. Other times I am amazed at just how quickly they can swim and leave me in the dust, even when I am wearing fins.

Some dives are just magical

Over the years, I have seen hawksbill turtles, green sea turtles, Ridley’s turtles and even a leather back turtle.  I was amazed when we were sailing to see an enormous leather back turtle surface directly in front of our catamaran.  I had no idea that a turtle that probably weighed half a ton could immediately dive down with seemingly very little effort and at a speed that took it out of the center of our catamaran.

 

I especially like to see sunlight reflected off the shells of green sea turtles because their shells reflect so many colors. So here is to the turtle, I tip my hat so to speak.

Grenadines, Uncategorized, wide angle

The biggest hermit crab I’ve ever seen?

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The Grenadines are known for having nearly countless small underwater creatures to see under the sea. Arrow crabs, banded shrimp and other small creatures are plentiful to see if you are scuba diving.

A banded shrimp hanging upside down waiting for fish to be cleaned
A banded shrimp hanging upside down waiting for fish to be cleaned

We had seen a number of small hermit crabs during our trip to the Grenadines. There were quite a few to be seen, but for the most part they were in shells that were not much bigger than a silver dollar. Most species of hermit crab have long, spirally curved abdomens, which are soft, unlike the hard, calcified abdomens seen in related crustaceans. The vulnerable abdomen is protected from predators by a salvaged empty seashell carried by the hermit crab. The shell is ususally large enough so the crabs entire body can retract inside the shell. Hermit crabs often use the shells of sea snails (although the shells of bivalves and scaphopods and even hollow pieces of wood and stone are used by some species). The tip of the hermit crab’s abdomen is adapted to clasp strongly onto the columella of the snail shell. Most hermit crabs are nocturnal.

So I was not expecting to swim around a part of the reef only to come face to face with a hermit crab whose home shell was as big as my head.

The biggest hermit crab I've ever seen
The biggest hermit crab I’ve ever seen

Even assuming the crab did not fill the shell entirely, he was enormous, and obviously quite strong because he did not seem to have any problem trying to carry about such a large shell.

Cayman Islands, Grenadines, Roatan, wide angle

So why dive?

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Goliath Grouper silhouette
Goliath Grouper silhouette

For about as long as I can remember I have always liked being in the water. If there was a puddle near where I lived as a kid, I was in it looking to see what might be living in the puddle. I was the swim team kid who was always in the water. I earned some of my early pay checks being a life guard at a local pool. Later I would manage a pool while I was in college.

When I first started diving it was something I hoped I could do with my family.  It took a while and a fair amount of convincing, but to a large extent diving has become an adventure we can do together.  Diving seemed like a great way to turn off the phone, fax, text, and email stream of communications that had invaded my life. Unfortunately, what I have found is that it only delays the delivery for a while, but even that is a help.  To an extent, diving has been a great way to tune out the communication noise that otherwise buries me during the day.

But, diving also allows me to explore parts of the world that I otherwise would not see. Whether it is 12 feet down looking at southern rays at Sting Ray city off the coast of Grand Cayman, or hundred feet down looking at bull sharks off the coast of Playa del Carmen, or some depth in between looking at a hermit crab or other creatures, there is almost always something to see and learn about.

The shell of this fellow was easily a foot across
Channel clinging crab

So for me, what keeps me coming back is not just the opportunity to have some peace and quiet, but also to feed my curiosity about what exists in the other 70% of the world.

A spotted moray eel in the Grenadines
Grenadines, Uncategorized, wide angle

Have you ever seen an electric ray?

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This fellow reminded me of sleeping on a hammock
This fellow reminded me of sleeping on a hammock

I have been diving for quite some time and have done hundreds of dives in blue water.  And yet, it was only recently that I came across an electric ray.  Not an electric eel, but an electric ray.  According to my fish book they are uncommon to rare in the northern part of Caribbean such as in the Bahamas and Florida.  They are more common in the southern Caribbean.  They tend to be unconcerned and won’t move when approached by divers, but if touched can produce a mild electric shock of between 14 and 37 volts.

From doing a little research it appears there are over 60 species of rays world wide, but far fewer are electric. The electric ray I found was what is known as a lesser electric ray.  I looked, but the could not find a “greater electric ray”;  who says naming protocols are logical?

The better known electric ray is the Torpedo fish. The really odd part is that the ancient Greeks used electric rays to numb the pain of childbirth and operations. In his dialogue Meno, Plato has the character Meno accuse Socrates of “stunning” people with his puzzling questions, in a manner similar to the way the torpedo fish stuns with electricity. Scribonius Largus, a Roman physician, recorded the use of torpedo fish for treatment of headaches and gout in his Compositiones Medicae of 46 AD.

I think I’m glad I can quite happily stop by the local pharmacy and find my choice of aspirin or other pain relievers.  Which brings me to my next rumination?  Is there such a thing as finding too many interesting creatures under the sea?  That is, is there a point where there is too much of a good thing?  I think it is kind of like asking can you take too many vacations?  Not  a chance….

Grenadines, Macro, Uncategorized, wide angle

Where are the turtles? Tobago Caye of course

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In the Grenadines, the government has created a marine park in and around Tobago Cayes.  Although the park is not particularly large, it is well placed.  The marine park is bounded by several small islands and the depth of the water in much of the park is relatively shallow.  With  shallow water and a white sand bottom, this creates some amazingly pretty turquoises water.

Sailing in to Tobago Cayes with just a hint of the turquoises water that we will see
Sailing in to Tobago Cayes with just a hint of the turquoises water that we will see

We had barely had time to anchor and we spotted several green sea turtles surfacing for air, only to return to the bottom to feed on turtle grass. We arrived in the afternoon and after lunch we were picked up by a local dive shot to go diving.

I did two dives with a macro set up.  The first dive was horseshoe reef.  With alot of newby divers we had some challenges, particularly since the current changed twice in about a half an hour.  I did manage to get a few interesting critter shots.

This banded shrimp almost reminded me of an old west gun fighter with her guns drawn; I guess you could call her "Two guns". I say her, because I think if you look closely you can see eggs.
This banded shrimp almost reminded me of an old west gun fighter with her guns drawn; I guess you could call her “Two guns”. I say her, because I think if you look closely you can see eggs.

After the second dive I switched the camera to a wide angle set up for the next morning when we would go to the marine park looking for green sea turtles.

If you have to anchor somewhere, Tobago Cayes is pretty spectacular
If you have to anchor somewhere, Tobago Cayes is pretty spectacular

Unfortunately, no diving was allowed near the island where the turtles were, but on snorkel we were successful in finding sea turtles with which to swim.  Below is a video from our swimming with green sea turtles at Tobago Cayes.

Bahamas, swim throughs

Have you been to Littlehails Laird?

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Grunts under elk horn coral
Grunts under elk horn coral

As a dive site, Littlehails laird has an abundance of marine life.  There were quite  few grunts of various species.  But while it is know for a variety of grunts we were fortunate to see a turtle swim through the site within minutes of getting to the bottom.  Like most hawksbill turtles he reminded me of a grumpy old man.  In my mind I could hear him saying:  ‘oh bother another diver trying to follow me, quick I will show him I can out swim him in a matter of moments.”  And, of course he was right, but not before I shot about a thirty second video climp of him swimming over the reef.

Moments later, a gray reef shark swam by as if to say welcome to the reef.  I did not manage to get the video light on before he had disappeared over the reef.  It must be nice to go up in down in the water column without worrying if you have exceeded a maximum ascent rate.  In something under 10 seconds he had gone up and back down 30 feet in the water column.  It must be nice to be able to do that.  Divers are limited to 30 feet up in a minute.  So there is no way of safely trying to follow a shark, we can just wait for them to make another pass.   Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t, but the anticipation is what makes it fun– at least for me.  I’m usually thinking, is there a way to position my self so that if the shark or turtle or other wildlife that has just passed me will come back just to see me, at least out of curiousity.