Do you like night dives?

Corals beginning to feed as the sun goes down for a night dive
Corals beginning to feed as the sun goes down for a night dive

For a person who is largely visually oriented, night dives can be a little bit disconcerting, particularly the first several times.   The first night dive I did was in an advanced scuba class in a Texas lake.  The visibility might have been 15 feet and at night I was lucky to be able to see the fins of the diver in front of me.  I probably stayed pretty close because even with a bright underwater torch there was not much to see and even then I didn’t want to get left behind.  At one point we turned out all the lights and the dive instructor cracked open a chemical light to simulate bio-florescence.  It was interesting but it would be years that passed before I had a chance to see bio-florescence in the ocean.

Roll forward several years and I had a chance to do a night dive in Playa Del Carmen.  I had just started shooting a digital camera underwater and was still at the stage of chasing sea creatures in hopes of capturing an interesting image. Well I learned on a drift dive at night that was not a good strategy because we ran out of reef pretty quickly.

Roll forward a few more years and I was introduced to “glow diving” in the Cayman islands.  The concept was shine a blue light on corals and other creatures and see whether they had any luminescence.  This time I was moving pretty slowing and acquired a few interesting captures.

Brain coral luminescence
Brain coral luminescence

Well after that trip I started studying bio-luminescence and found that there is actually quite a lot written about the subject.  I also made a few contacts such as Fire dive who pointed me in the right direction for further inquiry.

Anemone with blue light
Anemone with blue light

Assuming I can keep TSA from breaking my filters I think there is quite a bit more to see in my night dives than I would have ever guessed.

 

 

Do divers have an obligation to help conserve the environment?

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.

Do you ever grow tired of seeing turtles underwater? nah

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.

The biggest hermit crab I’ve ever seen?

Grenadines, Uncategorized, wide angle, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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.

So why dive?

Cayman Islands, Grenadines, Roatan, wide angle, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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

Have you ever seen an electric ray?

Grenadines, Uncategorized, wide angle, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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….

Where are the turtles? Tobago Caye of course

Grenadines, Macro, Uncategorized, wide angle, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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.

The Grenadines: A macro shooter’s paradise?

Grenadines, Macro, Uncategorized

A relatively small percentage of my time is spent underwater shooting macro subjects. Why? In large part it is much harder for me to spot the small critters that are on a dive and most of the time we do not go to the same dive sites more than once. That means that if I am trying to keep up with the rest of the group of divers, I either shoot wide angle close focus and get quite a few shots, or I shoot macro and get very few shots many of which don’t turn out for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is I often rush the shot.

peppermint gobey A peppermint gobey resting on star coral. Take a look at this at 100% and see the incredible detain in his pectoral fin and in the star coral polyps

Nevertheless, I found when I was down in the Grenadines that the amount of small critters to shoot was quite substantial and I didn’t have to wait too long to find shots. Chrismas tree worms have fascinated me for years, so I do take quite a few shots of them. Their structure when spread out in the water allows them to gather the plankton on which they feed very efficiently. The extraordinary detail in each little branch is just amazing. christmas tree worms

Fire worms also have amazing detail in tuffs which carry their venon which when you look, closely resemble small whiskers. fire worm-2

If you want to get a real sense of what a fire worm looks like, look that this version of the image which is just a 60 percent crop; got to 100 percent crop and in addition to the fire worm you will see a couple legs of an arrow crab.
cropped wormEach little fiber can pack a punch with its venom — look but don’t touch

Of course, the dimensions of the creature can get very small. I found a secretary blenny who was not much wider than 1mm who made a christmas tree worm look large. The christmas tree worm is on the top right and the blenny is on the bottom left of the image.

A secretary blenny hiding out in his hiding hold in star coral
A secretary blenny hiding out in his hiding hold in star coral

But as I mentioned in an earlier post on the blog, sometimes you see something that just isn’t a macro subject ordinarily, but because I can’t change lens underwater, I shoot it with the macro lens and see what we get. Hence, the next image is LOBZILLA, who deserved wide angle treatment because he was huge, think two dinner plates, but he was relegated to macro lens shooting.
lobzilla At this range, LOBZILLA looks like something from outer space

Thus, there is quite a variety of small creatures to shoot in the Grenadines. But, you should be prepared to shoot the big critters with a macro lens when the opportunity presents itself.

Is diving in the Grenadines fun? absolutely !!!

Grenadines, wide angle,

sponges, arrow crab, brittle star and fish

Not long ago, I got back from a trip to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Getting to the Grenadines from Dallas gave me an odd sense of replaying the old John Candy movie:  “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”. Only thing was, it was three planes, and a ferry to get to our starting point. That is, Dallas to Houston (an hour) Houston to Trinidad (almost 5 hours) Trinidad to St. Vincent (an hour) and a ferry from St. Vincent to Bequia where we picked up the sailboat  that we lived on for a week (1 hour). Dragging my camera and underwater housing along on the trip was a bit of a beast.  Thirty pounds of camera gear in my backpack, 45 pounds of underwater housing in a pelican case, and almost 50 pounds of suitcase filled mostly with dive gear, a couple of swim suits and a few tee shirts for surface time.

I will write more about the individual dive sites later. We had four divers on the trip, my wife, one of my daughters Megan, and cousin Dave who was going to experience his first “blue water dives”. Now Dave, while not having many dives under his weight belt, has to be considered a pretty committed diver. In order to get certified in time for the trip to the Grenadines, he did his check out dives in less than 37 degree water (2 degrees Celsius) and finished the week before we went on the trip. By the end of the trip to the Grenadines, Dave had gained  a lot of experience, 8 dives back to back can help you get better pretty quickly.
Dave's 2nd blue water dive-1
Of course, Chandre, the captain of our ship “Freedom” joined us on most dives. Chronologically, Chandre was the youngest person on the ship, but was mature and wise beyond his years.

In general the dive sites in the Grenadines were full of sea life. Vast schools of a variety of fish joined us on most dives. On some dives it was creole wrasses. Most dives there were what can best be described as clouds of brown Chromis. The sponges were numerous, colorful and ranged widely in variety, size and texture. The sponges were healthy and reminded me of some of the colorful dives we had in Dominica a few years ago. We saw relatively few lion fish, but the ones we did see were enormous. The real attractions on many of the dives were the little “critters”. The sea horses, the arrow crabs and such.  And, I do not remember ever seeing so many moray eels. So the short answer to the question of: is it worth going to the Grenadines, it is, and because it is, I will have to write more about it in the coming days.

small hiding places

Have you been to Littlehails Laird?

Bahamas, swim throughs, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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.

The uncertainty of animal behaviour

Uncategorized
A zig closer to see you
A zig closer to see you

Anyone who has been around animals for long probably realizes that it is just when we think that we can predict what any particular animal will do that they surprise us. Not long ago when I was in the Bahamas, I was watching a large group of grey sharks swimming in amongst our dive group. After watching the sharks circle and swim through our group for about 10 minutes, I had one shark zig towards me rather unexpectedly. I managed to get the camera in position and shoot but also managed to get my fin in the picture. Now the shark was maybe only a foot a way from my fin, but because he had changed course rather suddenly to get to where I saw him, it was unexpected, unsettling and had me thinking: Did I leave bait in my pocket? Well I hadn’t, but it was the thought that ran through my mind.

Most of the time the surprise adds an element of freshness to the encounter. Sometimes the event makes us laugh or at least smile. Sometimes things get a little to close for comfort. And, yet it is in those moments of the unexpected that we see the one thing that we often are looking for — it is the untamed aspect of how animals behave. For me it’s those moments that I realize I may never see that particular behaviour replicated in my lifetime. But, at least for me it is the adventure and the hope that one of these great moments will re-appear that keeps me coming back.

Coming at you
Coming at you

I hope 2016 brings you many moments of spectacular animal behaviour.

A Merry Christmas

Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Christmas tree worms feeding in Curacao
Christmas tree worms feeding in Curacao

I always enjoy the infinite detail of Christmas Tree Worms.  I hope all have  a very merry Christmas.