Best of Mike #128

I found this particular parrotfish, asleep on the bottom during a night dive.

A number of parrotfish species secrete a mucus cocoon, that envelopes the fish and protects them while they sleep.

Presumably the cocoon hides their scent from predators.

It is also thought that the mucous envelope may act as an early warning system.... allowing the parrotfish to flee when it detects predators such as moray eels disturbing the membrane.

This fish's skin itself is covered with another mucous substance that may have antioxidant properties.... that serve to repair body damage, repel parasites and protect them from UV light.

Best of Mike #127

We often see Hermit Crabs when we dive.... usually, as they scurry away or retreat into their shells.

This particular one was large enough and brave enough.... that I was able to get a great pixture of the inhabitant.

Who knew they have blue eyes?

Checkout Wikipedia for a great pixture of a hermit crab without it's shell.

Here is an abridged version of the description that Wikipedia provides for the whole name and shell swapping thing that hermit crabs are known for.

Most species have long, spirally curved abdomens, which are soft, unlike most crabs. The vulnerable abdomen is protected from predators by a salvaged empty seashell. Most frequently hermit crabs use the shells of sea snails. The tip of the hermit crab's abdomen is adapted to clasp strongly onto the inside of the shell.^[5]

As the hermit crab grows in size, it has to find a larger shell and abandon the previous one. This habit of living in a second hand shell gives rise to the popular name "hermit crab". Several hermit crab species, use "vacancy chains" to find new shells: when a new, bigger shell becomes available, hermit crabs gather around it and form a kind of queue from largest to smallest. When the largest crab moves into the new shell, the second biggest crab moves into the newly vacated shell, thereby making its previous shell available to the third crab, and so on.

Best of Mike #126

Another of my all time favorite pixtures.

This Diamond Blenny is a wee, wee guy.

To give you and idea of how small ... the large tubular things that are dwarfing him in the pixture are the fingers of an anemone.

Each of those fingers would be less than 1/2 the diameter of your pinky finger.

They take their name from the black (diamond like) spot on the fin above their head.

Diamond Blennys move across the reef in little hops, barely rising above the surface of the coral.

They can be found living in or near anemones and will take refuge among the tentacles if threatened.

Apparently, they are unaffected by the anemone's stinging cells.

Diamond Blennys are generally not afraid of divers or snorkelers.

But if you do get too close for comfort.... they will simply swim a short distance away and then turn to watch you.

Best of Mike #125

Not the prettiest thing on the reef, the Southern Stingray, is the definition of poetry in motion.... once it comes up off the bottom and starts to fly.

 They have a flattened, diamond-shaped body, that varies between olive brown and green.

The wing-like pectoral fins are used to propel the stingray across the ocean bottom.
The slender tail has a long, serrated and has a poisonous spine at the end.

This spine is used for defense.... and while not fatal to humans, it does deliver an incredibly painful sting if stepped on.

The Southern Stingray is an opportunistic forager .... feeding on small crustaceans, shrimp and crabs.

It feeds by flapping the wing-like pectoral fins to disturb the sand and expose it's prey.

They range from New Jersey to Brazil and are typically found singly or in pairs.... except in the summer months when they migrate in schools to higher latitudes.

Best of Mike #124

This simple pixture is one of my all time favorites.

I am fascinated by the idea that it is an animal (Giant Anemone) not a plant.

I like the idea that down low and up close, I almost get the perspective of one of the small shrimp that live in symbiosis with the anemone.

We see anemone with some regularity, in the waters that we dive. Some more colorful than this.... many not as healthy as this one.

Most often we find them in shallow water where the wave action can make it tougher than you think to get the framing right on an extreme close-up.

Thank goodness for Lightroom.... as on this particular shot my strobe did not fire.

If it weren't for the tweaks that I can make to light level, color and tone in that software.... this pixture would not have survived the "you can't show that to anyone, cut".

Best of Mike #123

This is neither a rare or a technically challenging pixture.

If you live in or visit these parts of the world.... it is a pretty much an everyday, just before sunset, scene.

But as common as this scene is, it never fails to remind me of the vast adventure that awaits.... on and across the sea.

I imagine it was scenes just like this that originally inspired man to set sail.

And.... I imagine it still inspires those thoughts today.

Best of Mike #122

Although, it looks for all the world, like the "attack of the killer crabs".... it's really more of a beach clean up effort.

These Crabs have found the carcass of a Sharptail Eel just above the water line.... and are working hard to scavenge what they can before the next high tide.

On the last night of pretty much every Bonaire trip.... we go to Richard's for dinner.

This was the scene that played out on the rocks below as we waited for dinner to be served.... the appetizers were excellent too.

Richard's restaurant is in a converted house that sits right on the waters edge.

The seating is on a series of balconies that  extend out over the water.... including a very romantic table for two that sits all alone right at the end of the pier.

There really is a Richard.... a refugee from Boston who has for the last 20+ years owned and operated this great spot.

But don't go in August. He closes for that month and takes his annual vacation in America.... probably a driving trip in his vintage Ford pick-up, that usually involves some fishing.

Best of Mike #121

On the beach at Margate Bay in Bonaire there is an old and abandoned shack.

It's built from what looks like scraps and driftwood.

I don't think it was a place that anyone ever lived in. Looks more like a place where many great beach parties have (and maybe still do) happened.

These boats sit right next to that shack and every time I see them.... I think of the "Old Man and the Sea".

On a couple of occasions we have arrived here to dive and the boats have been gone.

On those days you can see them just off-shore, with a single occupant, hand fishing.... just like in that story.

That's the sea for you, practical and romantic.... often on the same day.

Best of Mike #120

When you dive Bonaire you tend to think in terms of north and south.

The center of the island, culturally if not geographically, is the town of Kralendijk.

Sites to the north tend to involve steep terrain both above and below the water. While the sites to the south often have a shallow sandy bottom that makes for a nice long and leisurely swim to and from the wall.

We pretty much always drive to dive when we are on Bonaire.... and that's where this spot comes in.

Once you drive as far north as Karpata (one of our favorite sites to dive on the island) the road becomes one way and to get back.... you have to circumnavigate the upper half of the island.

A nice drive but it does take a little time, maybe 30 minutes. Which is not a significant investment.... when you are measuring in island time.

So.... what we like to do is spend the morning diving sites to the north, drive around the island and then picnic for lunch.

Our favorite picnic site is this spot. Located very near the airport it is named for the Windsock that hangs at the end of the runway.... right across the street.

There is great shade here, a very pleasing view thru the trees, the occasional excitement of a plane coming right overhead on it's approach to the airport.

And, if you are so inclined after lunch.... it's a fine dive site too.

A very easy entry (both the waves and bottom), with a short swim over sandy flats to a steep wall that always seems to have an abundance of smaller stuff that we so often see in Bonaire.