Left of Centre

If it wasn't for Jenna, we wouldn't have even known about this. Turns out that the weekend edition of the local paper had a centre page special on Cayman wildlife with a selection of 11 photos, 45.45% of which were mine.

Of course no one from the paper would even dream of contacting anyone to make them aware that their pictures would be appearing. Thanks Compass (not).

Congrats to the other folk who made it in there as well with some superb shots of the diverse wildlife of the islands. I'm going to have to up my game some in the very near future.

My shot of Captain Nige gets in there as well with his lionfish culling antics, Debs should be please she married a centrefold........

For anyone even remotely interested, the originals from this spread are posted below.

Into the lens

Hooray, new lenses arrived today! Boo, I'm using a 5 year old camera body with them until my new body arrives at end of August. It's like having a Ferarri but being restricet to 20mph. Ah well, I've waited this long, I can wait a little longer.........

The macro lens has some serious heft to it and you could physically beat someone to death with the fisheye converter, it's got that much glass in it.

Old fisheye adapter on the left, new one on the right. Like comparing a minnow to a whale, the size difference is pretty substantial.

Couple of quick shots taken in the back garden with the 90mm macro so don't read to much into them as I just stuck it on and fired away and it's a new lens on an old body like I said. I think the A7RII is really going to maximise the potentional, especially with the 5 axis IBIS. Maybe I'll get some proper play time at the weekend.

Dance little sister

Hooray! Decent weather and reasonable conditions allowed us to get in at LHP, the first time in a few weeks because the weather has really had it in for us recently. Fine through the week, but come the weekend, it all goes pear shaped. Today was about 12-15 knots ENE, overcast, with 2-3 foot swells and a healthy does of surge in the shallows, but it's better than a finger in a wolfies hole! (old St Abbs joke).

It was all about the small things today and right of the bat we had a great selection of nudis, gobies and blennies. I can photograph these things all day every day. And I do!

We had an occasional barracuda cruise by not to mention a three flippered turtle, but the little fellow was a bit too far away for the macro lens. I didn't see how it had lost it back right flipper but it didn't look to be in any distress and managing quite well.

There were also some fine examples of flamingo tongue cowries out today, far better than some of the recent examples I've been seeing.

You can really spoilt for choice with the little stuff at this dive site and low and slow is definitely the order of the day if you want to get the best macro experience on the hard pan. No seahorses today though, but to be honest, I wasn't particularly looking for them so so much other stuff to see.

And the last little surprise at the end of the dive was a nice little banded jawfish who really didn't mind me getting up close and personal with him which was a nice way to round out the day. Hopefully the weather will be more consistent at the weekend's going forward. So many things to see and so little time........

12 eyes of evil

Surprise surprise, the weather was forcast for a 19-22 knots Easterly but it only felt like a 12-13 so we only had a few lumps on the trip out to Old No.12 for the first dive.

I don't honestly remember having done this particular site before and there was a chance of seeing sharks but neither sharks or great viz failed to appear on this particular dive. The scenery was ok, but I wouldn't put it on my list of sites to visit especially when there are multiple other sites here that are triple A. Maybe I've just been terribly spoiled........

I did get some shots of Captain Nige in full "angel of death" mode as he rooted out the lionfish from the nooks and crannies.

After a round of muffins we, headed over to Delwyn's Delight which we have done before and is ok but hard work for macro lovers. I think I was off my game today as I failed to find one nudibranch the entire dive.

And of course, you know when you're shooting with a macro lens in not great viz that's when the sharks are going to appear....... unbelievable. I'm sure they do this to taunt me.....

Let's just not talk about. Onwards and downwards to the next dive..........

Secret Touch

Some interesting information you may already know about flatworms and if you didn't, prepare to be surprised because it certainly beats 50 shades of grey! Next time you're photographing these guys, take some time to watch them carefully and see what they get up to........

Link: HERE

Every Macrostomum hystrix worm has both male and female reproductive systems, which makes reproduction games highly intensive. When two worms love each other, they try to stab each other with their penises, in something of a fencing match (video below).

The winner gets to keep being called a male and releases sperm into the loser, which becomes the female and will then give birth to their offspring. Things get even more interesting when one worm remains alone, Discover Magazine reports. Apparently, these worms can love themselves so much that they wants to have their own babies.

 
Researchers from the University of Basel in Switzerland and Bielefeld University in Germany have demonstrated that the M. hystrix inseminate itself when a partner is not in reach, and it does so by inserting its penis into its own head. The worm is apparently forced to choose the head for purely anatomical reasons, as that’s the only part of its body the penis can reach. What’s interesting about the species is that the sperm is smart enough to find its way to the egg even though they start their journey at the wrong end.

Researchers have also shown that some worms that have reproduced normally might also self-inseminate days later, if left alone.

Ice ice baby

NASA has started testing its new Buoyant Rover for Under-Ice Exploration (BRUIE) prototype, and as you can see above, it looks markedly different from its predecessor. It's taller, thicker, has rotating segments to be able to take pictures from different directions and can withstand depths up to 700 feet.

This prototype also has communications equipment and sensors similar to those used for Mars Cube One. That's the communications CubeSat slated to escort the InSight lander to the red planet.

The agency recently put the new BRUIE to the test for a few days inside a 188,000-gallon tank at the California Science Center, where it spent its time taking photos of tropical fish. It was attached to a corner and didn't have its wheels in the aquarium, but it'll most likely get them back for its next test run near one of the planet's poles.

Link: HERE

 
Provisionally called the Buoyant Rover for Under-Ice Exploration (BRUIE), this rover would normally float and have wheels. Its wheels would roll along on the underside of ice, as if the ice were the ground. Operating underwater, the rover would take images and collect other data to help scientists understand the important interface between ice and water.

The worlds green laughter

The day started as anticipated, grey, overcast and around 15-18 knots E., but we're diving so who cares! Watching the rollers coming in just off shore, it was a safe bet to go North, where we ended up at Split Rock.

As soon as we jumped in and headed through the split, we got instant shark action and seeing as everyone was heading East, we went West and was rewarded with three separate reef sharks cruising round and checking us out, up close and personal.

They hung around for about 20 minutes or so and then disappeared off to do better things with their time.

A little bit further round the corner there was a nice outcrop which house a pair of giant green morays with the added bonus of a turtle scudding past as will. Hat trick! You can just make them all out in the photo, unfortunately the turtle wasn't wholly wanting to be co-operative.  But you know what they say, never work with kids or animals.

There was next to no current at this point which was an added bonus after our previous foray but the depth did put a little crimp in our NDL's so we didn't get as much bottom time as we would have liked but what you going to do?

Back on the good ship Leather back we headed back round the corner the Snapper Hole and by this time at least a good quarter of the boat was green and hanging over the gunwhales calling for Ralf and Huey. We left them to it as we enjoyed the sun as it started to creep out from behind the clouds and warmed our bones.

By the time we got in, the surface was turning pretty lively with a healthy surge and some turbidity down below. Hugging the mini wall, we headed out to get some shots at the anchor of the Methuselah before the mob arrived.The ring of the anchor is almost big enough to get your head into and makes a nice little frame for shots (thanks Capt. Nige and Nat).

Zigging and zagging in and out of the tunnels looking for the little stuff proved to be a challenge on this dive die to the increasing swell and dropping viz but I did find a nice double act with a slipper lobster and channel crab both seeking refuge.

JB found a nice quad of spiny lobster under a shelf as well so is was definitely a day for crustaceans on this dive. If I had a choice I would have been in there with them as instead of bouncing off the rocks. Picked up some colourful bruises mind you, how we suffer for our art. :-D

And on a final note, I would just like to offer a heartfelt thanks to the muppet who threw up all over my dive bag. Muppet. Couldn't get it over the leeward side so you had to do it on the boat. Not even an apology either, that's just rude. I don't get why people who are prone to sea sickness take a preventative before they get on the boat. Is it me or is that just common sense? On the bright side it was nice to laugh at the ongoing suffering. Cruel? Possibly. Justified? Most certainly.............