Childhoods End

There's still a few days left in the Ocean Conservation Awareness month to get down to Camana Bay here on Grand Cayman and enjoy some of the best photography in the Caribbean provided by some very talented people, including yours truly. Go on, you know you want to........

Jill modelling for me whilst modelling for me in the original. It's all very meta.....

Good times, bad times

Nice little video showing a satellite capture of the 2017 hurricane season. Looks pretty unless your in the middle of several of them.

This was out worst season yet since Ivan went through, hopefully we won't see something like that again for a long time.

Sittin' on the dock of the bay

Feel free to pick up Sport Diver's special edition magazine this month "World's Best Diving - Resorts & Liveaboards". Not only is it packed with useful information but Jill gets to show off her modelling skills yet again for the camera.

You'll find her in the "Dynamic Dives" section on page 73 promoting Lighthouse Point (again) here on Grand Cayman and letting the world know about the world class diving we have here on our doorstep.

Also keep an eye out for more Cayman madness in the Jan/Feb edition of Scuba Diving magazine.

Walk the dinosaur

Not only would this be a spectacular to find, as any shark encounter would be, but to see a living fossil at that. History right before your eyes. It's nice to see that examples of this species of shark can still be found, despite our best efforts to kill them off, deliberately or otherwise.

Link: HERE

 "A fishing trawler, working to minimize unwanted bycatch and the impact of commercial fishing on untargeted species off the coast of Portugal, has caught a rare sample of a primitive shark that’s often referred to as a living fossil. The frill shark isn’t literally unknown, but it’s uncommon to catch them. It’s called a living fossil (a term also sometimes used to refer to species like the coelacanth, glypheoid lobsters, and the dawn redwood). The term refers to a species that was previously known from the fossil record, but is then discovered alive in the modern world. In the frill shark’s case, it dates back to 80 million years ago."

 "Frill sharks have been caught around the world, but only rarely observed by humans. It’s been reported around the world but never in large numbers, typically at depths above 3,300 feet (the 2,300-foot depth of this catch is within the normal range). It’s an example of how poorly we understand the distribution and ecosystem role of many ocean-dwelling creatures"

Somewhere beyond the sea

So if anyone is on the island during the month of October, head down to Camana Bay take a stroll down the Paseo, you'll see some fine photos relating to Ocean Conservation month. 

They held a photo contest for all the best and brightest photographers, no money involved, so I threw one in just for sh*ts and giggles and they picked it. Couldn't make the photoshoot for the newspaper as I have to work for a living but you can see everything on display for the next few weeks by some quality people including Captain Tilley, Miss Brittainy and Jim (not Kirk) to name a few.

P.S. The caption they put on my photo is not the one I wrote, they changed it, and personally, I think it's pretty crap but they have the rights to it now. Ah well. Enjoy!

Link: HERE

Cherub Rock

The weather wasn't nearly as bad as it was forecast to be but it still wasn't great but we took a risk anyway and got a quick dive in. 9 Knots NE with a mild Northerly current and decent viz but the marine live was a little lacking but I couldn't blame them for that. There were a few nurse sharks cruising the Nicholson when we first arrived but they disappeared in short order unfortunately. Probably had way more more important things to do than play with us.

I did get them on the first few seconds of the video disappearing mid frame if you look really quickly. Took a while for Spot and Brutus to turn up and they brought Spot Jr. with them too which was nice because it's always good to see a new face.

Down the sand chute and over to main wall proved a little barren in marine life but the colourful sponge and coral formations made up for it.

Did I mention the colours?

One last whizz round the Nicholson with a quick hello to Amphitrite on the way past for good measure to round things off. Don't know if there will be diving next weekend as the wind looks spectacularly crap but we'll see what we can do.

Obligatory crap video inserted below for sh*ts and giggles.

Also link: HERE

 

I wanna hold your hand

Countless octopi have been moving up the beaches of Wales over the past few days, which scientists suspect may be the result of climate change but have yet to come up with any conclusive evidence as to why this is happening.

Link: HERE


Brett Stones, who runs dolphin tours in Cardigan Bay, saw as many as 25 curled octopuses on New Quay beach as he returned from a day at sea.
"It was a bit like an end of days scenario," he said. "There were probably about 20 or 25 on the beach. I have never seen them out of the water like that."

 Mr Stones, 39, who has spent most of his life at sea and runs tours for SeaMôr dolphin watching, said: "Maybe they are getting confused by the bright lights in New Quay harbour and maybe they are dying off after summer or getting knackered after the recent storms.