Best of Mike #164

When you boat dive, you almost always want to find your way back to the boat .... the exception would be Cozumel where you drift dive and the boat follows you.

In the cases, today, where the boat is waiting for you.... the boat is tied to a mooring buoy, that has been attached to the bottom in a place that will not damage the reef.

 Such was the case on this dive we made on St. Eustatius.

If you have one, it is common for divers to use this mooring line.... as they make their way to the surface.

On this day, just a few feet from the surface, we came upon these Sea Pearls, which were attached to that line.

These are not the kind of pearls that are produced by Oysters and are worth money.

These are the kind that are a form of algae, inhabit most reefs.

They must have a purpose.... but I have no idea what that purpose might be.

Best of Mike #163

Look very closely and you will see the subject of today's pixture, a Gobe.... peaking up from the hole in this sponge.

There are over 2000 species of Gobes.... making it one of the largest families of fish.

Gobes are among  the smallest vertebrates in the world.... some of them only growing to 3/8" long.

They have a disc-shaped sucker on their pelvis.... that enables them to cling to rocks, coral or even the side of an aquarium.

Gobies sometimes form symbiotic relationships with other species.... such as as burrowing shrimp. 

The shrimp maintains the burrow, in the sand, which both the shrimp and goby live in. While the goby makes up for the shrimp's poor eyesight.

The shrimp uses uses it's antennae to feel the goby.... and the goby will flick the shrimp with it's tail when alarmed.

Together they have a safe home and a place to lay their eggs.

Best of Mike #162

In past posts, I have shown you pixtures of anemones (BoM 74, 96, 110, 118,124)

Some plain, some with brightly colored tips and some with interesting critters climbing over them

I thought this one interesting.... because the color is not confined just to the tip but extends well down each arm.

Most sea anemone attach themselves to the bottom by way of an adhesive foot. 

Their mouth is in the middle of the disc like body, surrounded by tentacles.... with stinging cells that act as both a defense mechanism and a way to capture prey.

Each stinging cell is made up of a small vessel filled with toxin, an inner filament and an external sensory hair.

When the hair is touched it triggers an explosion within the cell.... that attaches a small harpoon to the subject and injects a dose of poison into the flesh of the aggressor or prey.

It's this that gives the anemone it's characteristic sticky feeling.

All very aggressive stuff, that I am sure the anemone finds very useful.

But each time I see one, I think more of the beauty they provide. 

The word anemone is derived from Greek.... and translates to "daughter of the wind". 

Seeing them swaying gently in underwater currents always makes me think.... well named.

Best of Mike #161

I am a fan of shellfish, as a meal.... but crab has never been my favorite.

I enjoy the taste.... but all that leg cracking to get at the meat, just seems to be a whole lot of work.

Crabs are often like that when it comes to pixtures too.

Tucking themselves back into some hidey hole.... making it just really hard to get the light where you need it.

Best of Mike #160

There is a trip that doesn't show up anywhere in my underwater photography files.... because I don't have any pixtures from that trip.

We took that trip after Christmas 2006.

It was Danielle's first dive trip and it was the trip during which I flooded my housing .... and ruined both my camera and lens.

They say, amongst underwater photographers, that flooding a housing isn't a case of "if", it's a case of "when".... and that was my when.

This pixture is from the trip we did in May 2007,  on the Explorer Adventures Liveaboard.... it was the 1st trip we made with the camera that replaced "old soggy".

I got a much better camera when I did the replacement....  but that means some trial and error while we get to know each other.

And, a lot of bad or mediocre pixtures.... the kind of pixtures that don't survive my editing process. 

So long story short, I don't have alot of pixtures (especially underwater pixtures) from this trip either.

But I do have some.... this of course is a Spotted Moray Eel, looking much fiercer than he really is.

Best of Mike #159

Just outside our hotel room on St Kitts were some very fresh bananas.

Bananas actually grow from the ground up.... but because the very sturdy stem can grow 20 - 25 ft tall, they are often mistaken for trees.

Each stem grows a single "banana heart".

That is the the male part of the plant.... and you are seeing it here, partially open at the end of the stem.

The female flowers grow farther up the stem.... and are the part that turns into the fruit.

Best of Mike #158

This was the year that Linda turned 50 and we celebrated by doing the kind of diving that she likes best .... a liveaboard.

This was a different kind of trip.... in that it departed and arrived at two different places.

We flew into St Kitts, to board a boat for a trip that would end in St. Martin.

Like most liveaboards, we boarded the boat on Saturday afternoon. But because of the flights available, we had to fly in the day before. So, we spent Friday night and most of Saturday at a very nice hotel on St Kitts.

They had a small beach that overlooked the bay .... and we spent a lot of time there. Even thought the the wind blew hard and a lot.... you can see it here in the waves breaking over the rocks.

But thank goodness for that.... because when the wind laid down the humidity was unbelievably brutal.

Best of Mike #157

And so ends another beautiful trip to Bonaire.

Made all the more beautiful by the fact that my short lived, but intense, bout with cancer is over.... and I won.

We ended this trip as we so often do.... dining on the deck of "Richard's Caribbean Dining".

I think that might be Richard's own sailboat.... that so often shows up in my final Bonaire sunset pixture.