Pic of the Day – Red Irish Lord

Posted on July 12, 2013 by Judy G Diver
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Red Irish Lord (Hemilepidotus hemilepidotus)

Friday’s Funny Fish Face is a Red Irish Lord (Hemilepidotus hemilepidotus), a cold water fish that I photographed in Discovery Passage in British Columbia.

This brightly coloured fish, which can camouflage itself to blend into its environment, is a member of the Sculpin family. They can grow up to about a foot long – this one was smaller than that. I have seen very few of these fish, despite a significant number of cold water dives in my logbook. It is my understanding that they are not overly uncommon, but this is the only one that I have had the chance to photograph – way back in May 2003 when Mr G and I were diving on a Diverlink group trip to Dynamike’s, on Quadra Island.

The Red Irish Lord has fascinating eye details. And this type of fish is so confident in its camouflage that it will allow divers to make a close approach, if executed cautiously, so getting a good gander at the eye should be totally possible.

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The Tipping Point

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Judy G Diver

Food for thought, in a well-argued article on Slate Magazine this week…

Tipping is an Abomination

Despite the rather dramatic headline, this article offers an interesting perspective on the whole concept of tipping for service in restaurants in the US.

Personally, I am a fan of service compris (service cost included in the menu prices, or sometimes at the end of the bill) – a concept found in some countries in Europe (France, Germany, Switzerland, and some parts of Italy, in my experience). It takes away the arbitrariness of tipping, and assures that the wait person gets paid for the work they did. So they didn’t do such a great job? Then don’t go back. And let the Manager know why you won’t be returning. This is a lot more humane than stiffing a wait person making less than minimum wage in the US.

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Pic of the Day – Topside Tuesday: Blue Whale

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Judy G Diver

 

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Blue Whale in the Channel Islands of California

Here is today’s thinking: why not dedicate Tuesday to be a “topside” image feature on the blog? I do occasionally share images that are not diving related, but for some reason I seem to gravitate more to stuff from under the surface.

I enjoy topside photography as well, especially landscapes, wildlife, and flowers. I will admit, that despite having worked hard to master lighting while shooting underwater, I am a neophyte at flash photography in air. Maybe something to focus on (ar, ar ;^) during these long, dry spells of no diving.

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Sport Diver Photo Essay – Dirty Diving in Ambon, Indonesia

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Judy G Diver
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Screen capture of the feature on Sportdiver.com – live link is below.

My July feature has just been published in Sport Diver Magazine – it’s all about the dirty, but bodacious, muck diving in Ambon Harbour, in Indonesia.

In addition to the essay, there are 15 images, with descriptive captions, at the top of the page (controls on top right of image). They tell a story of some of the really weird, wild and wonderful stuff that can be found in this remote corner of the planet.

Here is the link —-> Sport Diver Magazine – Muck Diving in Ambon, Indonesia

I hope you enjoy an (armchair) dirty dive :^)

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Pic of the Day – Wide Angle Wednesday

Posted on July 3, 2013 by Judy G Diver

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I’ve been featuring a lot of smaller subjects and fish faces for Pic of the Day, so thought I’d share something more in the ‘big picture’ category for today.

This image was captured on a deep wall (image taken at about 90 feet) on a reef not far from Banda Harbour, in the ‘Spice Islands’ of Indonesia. We were on the Archipelago II. Sadly, a few years later, this beautiful boat hit a reef in a storm and was not salvageable – such a shame as it was a wonderful live aboard with a great crew. Fortunately, nobody was hurt in the accident.

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Pic of the Day – Reeftop Pipefish

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Judy G Diver
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Reeftop Pipefish (Corythoichthys haematopterus)

Just a quickie for a Friday Funny Fish Face. I am currently writing and assembling pix for a July Sport Diver Magazine feature. It’s gonna be all about groovy little stuff, found in unpretty places. Yup, that would be muck diving.

I am a fairly new convert to the joys of muck diving. For many years, early in my diving life, I really was all about the big picture. So, it is no great surprise that when I started to take images underwater, I focussed on wide angles – trying to capture, and share, the incredible beauty of undersea reef structure and scenes.

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Sport Diver Magazine Photo Essay – California

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Judy G Diver
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Screen capture of the feature on Sportdiver.com – live link is below.

My bad. I totally forgot to link this California Channel Islands Photo Essay when it was first published a couple of weeks ago.

I am delighted to have been asked to be a regular contributor to Sport Diver Magazine, with my byline being ‘Postcards From The Edge‘. They are continuing to feature monthly photo essays from me, on a variety of topics and destinations. I am currently cooking up my July piece.

Decisions, decisions ;^)

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Pic of the Day – Jellyfish

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Judy G Diver

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I will admit that I have a fascination for jellyfish. I think it has something to do with their movement – I find the pulsation with which they propel themselves through the water to be very poetic.

Unfortunately, my Tropical Pacific fish and reef creature identification books don’t cover jellies, so I am not able to make a positive identification of this creature. I did dig a bit online trying to match it, but the closest I could find was a White Spotted Jellyfish (Phyllorhiza punctata), with which it shares a similar form, but it lacks the white spots on its mantle.

Factoids about jellyfish – they have no organs – no brain, no heart, and no eyes (with the exception of the extremely toxic box jellyfish which has four real eyes. Seriously). Yet they are very much alive. Lately, there has been an effort to rename them sea jellies, as they are not fish at all; instead they are a gelatinous, fairly simple organism, with many subspecies. They are found pretty much everywhere there is salt water, including in some marine lakes in Asia, where they have evolved to be quite benign with regards to envenomation, so snorkelers can safely enjoy close encounters with hundreds of these otherworldy creatures.

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Pic of the Day – The Sexy Sea Apple

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Judy G Diver
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Sea Apple (Pseudocolochirus tricolor)

Today’s pic is an unusual subject – a Sea Apple, inspired by a crazy post that was circulating on Facebook this morning. To see some truly freaky stuff, follow this link. If you are already fearful of what lurks beneath, it might be prudent to give it a miss… ;^)

This Sea Apple image was captured at Cannibal Rock in the southern Komodo region of Indonesia. This is the only place where I have seen these strange creatures.

A member of the sea cucumber family, the Sea Apple (Pseudocolochirus tricolor) is not your typical, layin’ in the weeds kind of cuke. Instead, it attaches itself, upright, to the reef with some gnarly little feet, and then extends its “arms” to trap flyby plankton.

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Pic of the Day – Guineafowl Pufferfish

Posted on June 7, 2013 by Judy G Diver
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Guineafowl Puffer – Arothron meleagris

It’s Friday, so here’s another funny fish face.

This is a Guineafowl Puffer (Arothron meleagris), shot (with the camera) at Cocos Island, in Costa Rica. I captured this image on the infamous Manuelita shark rodeo night dive – you know, the one with dozens of marauding white tip reef sharks. No wonder this little puffer looks alarmed – with all the sharks swarming, hunting for tasty tidbits, his chances were not so good.

Capturing good images of the sharks was tough – I found that in the dark, my camera was not so keen to focus. Still, being there was a total thrill. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

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Pic of the Day – Crab Porn

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Judy G Diver
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Mating Red Rock Crabs – Cancer productus

I haven’t been crabby for a while. So why today, you may ask? Well, it’s certainly nothing major, nor porn-related for that matter ;^) Instead, I have come to realize that due to my inferior image archiving practices, I have a tedious and daunting task in my near future.

I have reams of images, burned to CDs and DVDs, collecting dust. It is suggested that the data files on these burned discs can deteriorate over time, which would mean, if I don’t do something with them sometime soon, I could lose the originals. I do have small, resized images sorted in a gallery function on Awoosh, but they are a fraction of the size of the original files, as they are intended for sharing on the internet. As an example, they could never be converted into quality prints.

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Pic of the Day – Male Sheephead

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Judy G Diver
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Male sheephead – Semicossyphus pulcher

A funny fish face quickie for a Friday. I am currently beavering away on another photo feature for Sport Diver – this one will be all about diving in California. It has been keeping me busy, rifling through archived files, trying to find a nice broad representation of the wonderful features of this great diving.

This is a male sheephead, aka Bucky, captured (with the camera) at Anacapa Island, in the beautiful Channel Islands of California. These are big fish – this guy was about two feet long. He was surprisingly curious about us divers, and allowed us to approach quite close to him. He seemed to be interested in admiring his reflection in my dome port – this image was shot with a wide angle lens, and he was perhaps about a foot from my camera.

Sheephead are part of the Wrasse family. These fish are all born female, and according to social demand, may sex change as they mature.

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Pic of the Day – Spotted Shrimpgoby

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Judy G Diver
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Spotted Shrimpgoby – Amblyeteotris ogasawarensis
– About 3 inches in length

Here is a funny Friday fish face. This little cutie is a Spotted Shrimpgoby (Amblyeteotris ogasawarensis), from the Raja Ampat area of Indonesia. Seriously, this fish looks like it belongs in a Dr. Seuss book, dontcha think?

There are many varieties of these shrimp gobies – so called because they live in partnership with little bulldozer shrimp. The shrimp are basically blind, and depend on the gobies to alert them of danger. The gobies rely on the shrimp to excavate the holes in the sandy/rubbly bottom, in which they cohabit, and also the lengthy tunnels that connect them.  On approach, the shrimp will scurry into the hole, quickly followed by the goby. And then you will have to wait, and wait, and wait some more, for one or both to re-emerge. I have yet to get an attractive image of both the shrimp and the goby together. Skittish little b*stards… :^)

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Pic of the Day – Turtles, Turtles, Yeah Yeah Yeah

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Judy G Diver

In honour of World Turtle Day – May 23rd – I am featuring turtle(s) for Pic of the Day.

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Hawksbill turtle – Eretmochelys imbricata

Turtles are very cool creatures – air breathers, and egg layers (on land – much to the peril of the turtles, their eggs, and the hatchlings). They appear to be sometimes curious, and will often let divers approach quite closely, especially when they are feeding.

Turtles like to eat sponges and jellyfish, and I’ve seen them drifting in the blue as they munch a big jelly (they seem unconcerned with the stinging tendrils), and I’ve also seen them hunkered down on the reef, chowing on a tasty sponge.

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Pic of the Day – Vancouver Lighthouse

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Judy G Diver

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A break today from underwater pictures. Instead, I offer up a Vancouver city scene, taken on the weekend, from a marine perspective.

On Sunday afternoon, the heavy morning clouds started to mound to the east as they opened up in the west. Seeing the possibility for a nice afternoon scoot, we fired up the boat and headed out around the point from Fisherman’s Cove, towards the city.

Shooting images from a moving platform (in this case a small boat, in rough seas) is always a bit challenging, but I braced myself as best I could and took a couple of pix as we bounced by. I couldn’t resist the beautiful light and the dramatic cloud formations.

The lighthouse is at Point Atkinson, on the north shore of the city of Vancouver. It was originally constructed in 1875, and for any mariner in these waters it is an important navigational beacon. The lighthouse no longer has a keeper, as it was automated in the 1990’s.

Point Atkinson is located within a beautiful “natural” park – aptly called Lighthouse Park. The park has trails and paths winding through the forest (some of it old growth) and out to dramatic rock promontories, where people perch to enjoy the gorgeous views.

 

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In a Garden

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Judy G Diver
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Happy Harry scoots around the garden.

Today’s post is a gallery of Spring garden images. In addition to a love of the sea and all its creatures, I also love gardens. When I travel, I often plan excursions to walk, and sometimes photograph, “famous” gardens and city parks.

Over the years, I have been inspired to create, transform, and maintain an oasis of our own. It is not intended to be “famous” or “grand”, but I think it has evolved over the years into something pretty, and more importantly, something manageable. It has also been an exercise in blending something old – many of the original trees, large shrubs etc, with something new – many more trees and shrubs, to give privacy, year round structure and colour interest to the garden.

The garden is a happy place for me – planning, weeding, planting and tending. I find it to be very meditative, and there is something therapeutic and natural about digging in the earth, planting, watching things grow. And it is good exercise.

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Pic of the Day – Wolf Eel

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Judy G Diver
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Wolf Eel – Anarrhichthys ocellatus

Here is a Friday funny fish face. This is a Wolf Eel (Anarrhichthys ocellatus), from British Columbia.

I have been featuring mostly tropical images on the blog lately, and figured it was time to share some stuff from my backyard. This Wolf Eel image was captured at Clark Rock, just off Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island.

I’ve only seen a couple of wolfies in all my cold water diving – and this is the only one that I have had the opportunity to photograph, so far. And I only got this one image before he disappeared into his hole.

These eels truly are, as the French say, joli-laid (beautifully ugly). They are reclusive creatures, living in dens in the rocks, and apparently mate for life. On a diver’s approach, they tend to recede into their lairs – I’ve heard of divers successfully coaxing them out by hand feeding them urchin bits (their food of choice – they can tear apart a spiky urchin with those big jaws). The juveniles (which I have never seen) are remarkably different – bright orange with brown blotches. Adults can grow up to about 7 feet in length.

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The Komodo Chronicles – Part 10 – There Be Dragons

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Judy G Diver
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Komodo Game Warden – Walk Softly and Carry a Big Stick

Some of you may be wondering if this blog series about our awesome group trip to Komodo last fall is ever going to end. The short answer is: you betcha. There are three or, at the most, four more chapters of the adventure left to share. But I am saving some of the best for last – and by that I mean the diving we did at Cannibal Rock and South Rinca Island, which, in one word, rocketh.

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Mother

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Judy G Diver

English Rose

My mother gave me a gift, but I didn’t open it until I became a mother. And now that I have children of my own, I know that I took advantage of her generosity. I never realized the sacrifice she was making to be there, for me. It never occurred to me that she might have dreams that reached beyond the bounds of her reality.

My mother’s journey has taken her on a winding path, away from the shores of England, where she was born and raised, to a new life in Canada. She is a classic English rose – lovely and delicate – transplanted into North American soil.

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Pic of the Day – Psychedelic Frogfish

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Judy G Diver
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Psychedelic Frogfish – Histiophryne psychedelica

A funny fish face for Friday. I wonder if the first person to spot this bizarre looking frogfish thought someone had spiked their pre-dive beverage with a little tot of Lysergic Acid. I mean, really? What forces of nature would have a fish evolve with this kind of crazy patterning and coloration?

But Mother Nature, she’s got a sense of humour all right – so many marine critters have crazy appearances – just check out the thousands of kinds of nudibranchs and fish with their polka dots and Picasso patterns.   Continue reading →

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