Underwater pictures from yesterdays dive.
Sponge coral and fish
This is in about 10 feet of water, with the camera pointed straight up. At the “bottom” is my bubbles. Cloudy day.
Stingray and fishfriends.
There is a tiny, very well camouflaged, fish in this pic, about 2 inches long. Can you see it?
Giant Grouper, 3 feet long. There were a lot of groupers on this dive, which is good. Grouper is endangered. No real scuba diver eats grouper.
![FishSchool.wmv_snapshot_00.02_[2013.04.12_06.41.27]](http://markd60.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/FishSchool.wmv_snapshot_00.02_2013.04.12_06.41.27.jpg)
I know it’s supposed to be Flashback Friday, but I want to post a video instead. I took this yesterday. I put the camera on the bottom in a school of fish, then they swam around it. There’s a little surge, making the camera rock back and forth, and finally it fell over. The video is 21 seconds long.
It’s Monday, but really it’s Tuesday.
Yesterday was the best day of the weekend. We went to the beach and snorkeling.
Above is a photo and a super short (3 seconds) video of a triggerfish that hid as soon as I saw him.
And that’s about it. Also, last month, when The Wife went to Costa Rica, she brought me back a coffee cup gift from our cousins. It’s pretty fancy, with the saucer and the spoon and everything…
Yodito means super strong coffee, and has something to do with iodine.
I have been working at the Airport for 6 months now. That means my probation is over. I have to get an evaluation to make it official. Today..
Lately people have been doing this “stand up paddleboarding”. I don’t see the appeal. To me, it doesn’t look like much fun. First time I saw anyone on a kayak, windsurfing or hang gliding or sailing in a sailboat, I thought “Dang, now that looks cool!” But paddleboarding looks slow and boring. You have to have flat calm water and it looks terribly inefficient. On a kayak you can put your back into it and get going as fast as you can. Paddleboarding looks like the challenge is to stand up and paddle at all. Apparently it’s all the new rage, but I don’t see the thrill.
DO you see the thrill?
Loverfish
Baby Squid. as big as my thumb, hovering in mid water, I wasn’t sure I’d get good focus.
Turtle
Sponge
I call this piece of coral The Pinnacle. I have been swimming out to check it out as long as I have lived here.
These are artificial reef balls. Shaped like a gumdrop. Not much seems to be growing on them though.
Here’s a video from lunchtime last week. I was snorkeling and a school of fish swam by, I tried to run ‘em down but they got away.
SmithCoveSnorkel01Mar13For those of you who don’t know, when you don’t have anything to say, and it’s Wednesday, it’s legal to do a post called Wordless Wednesday, not to be confused with Silent Saturday. So since I have nothing to post about today, I’m just posting these pictures and I’m not saying a word.
Smith Cove at Lunchtime
Above and below are my attempts and over/under shots. You try to get the waterline exactly in the middle of the lens so that you can see both above and below the water. Dismal attempts.
Hi Fish Fans,
This week is the last chance to give your input to the DOE about the new Marine Parks proposal, so please ask everyone you know to say “yes” to the new proposal before the end of November. To be clear, this is their final public input period in formulating the proposal that they will present to the Cabinet for approval. Our reef fish continue to decline rapidly and will all soon be lost if we don’t hit the brakes hard now… no exaggeration! Contact DOE at: doe@gov.ky The last time this was done 25 years ago, not enough people stood up for the proposal (there were plenty who cared but sat on their hands thinking it was obvious) and we got fishing on the 80′ profile as a result of a few noisy fishermen. That fishing of the 80′ profile is the biggest reason our marine park was not much more effective than it has been (as well as too late closure of the grouper spawning grounds). Because we now have much fewer fish for recovery, we need much bigger parks and new fishing regulations (not yet addressed by this proposal). Let the DOE know that we accept their new parks proposal. Don’t let the few naysayers be the only voices counted in shaping how the proposal that goes to Cabinet will look.
We continue losing dive tourism numbers and millions of $ in tourism as we lose fish. If we still had today, the fish that we had in the 80′s we would easily have at least four times the number of divers coming here, because everywhere else in the Caribbean is also fished out. This is our chance to lead the competition. There is still a chance to reverse the current decline if we act quickly and willfully enough. This is an economic issue in which all Caymanians will either lose or gain depending on what we do with the last few fish we have. As for fishing, if they catch the last fish there will be nothing left for them to catch, so why do that! I am sure there are many preservationists who just don’t understand that this input opportunity is about the DOE comparing how many people want more protection vs how many want more fishing in order to shape the proposal. This is your “vote” on the issue! You must not sit quietly expecting that the obvious shall prevail. Everyone counts and this is not just for registered voters. Anyone can and should give their opinion.
I have recommended we accept the DOE proposal as it is except for: extend the proposed 200′ depth fishing limit along the parks drop-off to 600′ to make it more enforceable; make Little Cayman a complete marine sanctuary (or nearly so); Grandfather in the currently dive buoyed enclosures at commercial shore diving sites as no-fishing zones within the proposed fishing zone of NW Point to Barkers (Lighthouse Point, Cracked Conch and Cobalt Coast); add new fishing regulations ASAP (we need catch limits and special species protections). Please forward to everybody you know and let’s get heard this time! Speak up… pump up the volume… raise your voices to a crescendo that commands respect.
Email your recommendations to DOE at: doe@gov.ky
Forward, forward, forward this to everyone who cares.
Be counted!
Thank you and may God bless us all with a renewed bounty,
RE-blogged from Courtney Platt
Yesterday I went back to the same beach as yesterday, I went snorkeling near Spanish Bay and walked around a bit, taking pictures. While snorkeling, a frikkin remora tried to attach itself to me. Bastad. Normally they just keep hassling you but I kept chasing it until it went away.
Today I don’t know what is planned. Maybe go pick up a check. Renew the PO Box. Smoke a cigar….
When I go diving on the weekend, it makes for an easy post on Monday, ’cause all I do is post some photos. Like these from yesterday at East End.
I am heading out relatively early this morning, for some work. It is cloudy and raining a little right now, and I am thankful for this rain. I planted a bunch of plants next to the new driveway yesterday and I hope they take off!
Have a good week!