July 21, 20205 yr Author On 7/20/2020 at 5:54 AM, hputenis said: Very cool! The Cayman Islands is an incredible place to dive with sea turtles. I'm not sure if it's still the case, but they used to have the largest sea turtle farm in the world, so there are tons of them right off the shore. That would be amazing. The carribean definitely has some excellent sea turtle viewing opportunities. I took a SCUBA intro course and had a couple of wild ones show up randomly while visiting Puerto Rico. Also saw a gangload near shore in Honolulu, Hawaii on a military stop-over. That was it before coming out here.
July 22, 20205 yr Author Got in my first group dive yesterday. Great bunch. Got to see another (smaller) octopus and a school of barracuda.
July 24, 20205 yr Author Short clip from a night dive at Sunabe a few days back. Been slacking on editing all of these clips. It's amazing how these creatures that are so skittish during daylight - squid, lionfish, batfish, boxfish, pufferfish, Moorish idol - are far more tolerant and even curious when darkness falls and the dive lights are the only thing they see. That big thing that looks like a plant at the beginning of the clip? It's actually a species of starfish...
July 24, 20205 yr 9 hours ago, MIRV Griffen said: Short clip from a night dive at Sunabe a few days back. Been slacking on editing all of these clips. It's amazing how these creatures that are so skittish during daylight - squid, lionfish, batfish, boxfish, pufferfish, Moorish idol - are far more tolerant and even curious when darkness falls and the dive lights are the only thing they see. That big thing that looks like a plant at the beginning of the clip? It's actually a species of starfish... That first squid-like creature looks like a cuttlefish, but I might be mistaking it for a squid. Either way, awesome stuff. So in the last few weeks you've gotten inches away from a deadly sea snake and now a lionfish. 😂 If you see a tiny blue-ringed octopus anywhere, please do not pick it up.
July 26, 20205 yr Author On 7/25/2020 at 12:19 AM, hputenis said: That first squid-like creature looks like a cuttlefish, but I might be mistaking it for a squid. Either way, awesome stuff. So in the last few weeks you've gotten inches away from a deadly sea snake and now a lionfish. 😂 If you see a tiny blue-ringed octopus anywhere, please do not pick it up. I thought it was a cuttlefish at first, too, but the dive instructor assured me that it was an ordinary squid. Still looked so cool under the lights! Oh, and the current nearly landed me right on top of the lionfish. I had to hold a rock to stop the swashing that nearly caused it. Still looking for blue ring octopus out here. Apparently, one of the spots we dive is *the* place to see them, but they are tiny and hard to see. Hasn’t panned out yet. EDIT: looking at the video again and comparing it to pics online, I'm pretty damned sure that was a cuttlefish.
July 27, 20205 yr mirv...i love looking at the awesome pics of your adventures. while i'm sitting on my couch eating doritos out of my bellybutton.
July 27, 20205 yr On 7/22/2020 at 5:12 PM, MIRV Griffen said: Got in my first group dive yesterday. Great bunch. Got to see another (smaller) octopus and a school of barracuda. Can I ask a really, really dumb question? Octopus are supposedly extremely intelligent. On various nature programs and articles I've seen/read makes it seem like they think vs just react on instinct. (them using tools, them adapting to being around people, etc). When you are down there and just seeing them, do they ever strike you as such or do they act like an average fish? I was just curious because I didn't know if its just snippets of extraordinary acts or if they behave differently, like you see every day with dolphins.
July 28, 20205 yr although I don't swim in it, with the beach closed the dolphins come around in pods here in playas de Tijuana. Never thought I'd look out my window and see dolphins swimming around lol
July 28, 20205 yr Author 17 hours ago, paco said: Can I ask a really, really dumb question? Octopus are supposedly extremely intelligent. On various nature programs and articles I've seen/read makes it seem like they think vs just react on instinct. (them using tools, them adapting to being around people, etc). When you are down there and just seeing them, do they ever strike you as such or do they act like an average fish? I was just curious because I didn't know if its just snippets of extraordinary acts or if they behave differently, like you see every day with dolphins. Not a dumb question at all, and they definitely behave like higher-order organisms. The octopi I've encountered (been about 6-7 now), are not at all violent or looking to strike. Without exception, they've tolerated my presence within reason (usually while camouflaging themselves to match the surrounding coral), and when I get to close, they swim off, or lunch into some shockingly small rock crevices. If you approach them in the rock crevices once they hide, they seem to be able to make themselves almost infinitely smaller and tuck further in until to you can't see or reach them. It's pretty freaking amazing.
July 28, 20205 yr Author 5 hours ago, Coreyoz said: although I don't swim in it, with the beach closed the dolphins come around in pods here in playas de Tijuana. Never thought I'd look out my window and see dolphins swimming around lol I've heard that about the relatively recent beach closures in a lot of places. The one that really freaked me out was seeing the dolphins swimming in the canals in downtown Venice once all of the boat/gondola traffic came to a halt. Crazy sight seeing a dolphin swimming in an urban waterway.
July 28, 20205 yr Author 18 hours ago, mr_hunt said: mirv...i love looking at the awesome pics of your adventures. while i'm sitting on my couch eating doritos out of my bellybutton. That's almost as amazing of a visual as seeing the octopus pull a Houdini.
July 28, 20205 yr 1 hour ago, MIRV Griffen said: That's almost as amazing of a visual as seeing the octopus pull a Houdini. seriously, you got to see it; it's amazing. you get closer and his belly does this thing (and you don't see it move) but the dorito somehow looks like it gets smaller as he moves it with his abdominal muscles further into his stomach. i think that's how his kind eat. once i saw what looked like a beak in his naval. then we moved to a more interesting part of the sofa when we saw some old quarters.
July 28, 20205 yr 2 hours ago, wholesale_Melvin said: seriously, you got to see it; it's amazing. you get closer and his belly does this thing (and you don't see it move) but the dorito somehow looks like it gets smaller as he moves it with his abdominal muscles further into his stomach. i think that's how his kind eat. once i saw what looked like a beak in his naval. then we moved to a more interesting part of the sofa when we saw some old quarters. You think his roly poly a** has ab muscles?
July 28, 20205 yr 2 minutes ago, mikemack8 said: You think his roly poly a** has ab muscles? watch him open a beer bottle some day with them. hunt and i were hiking a mountain in upper state ny years and years ago when we came across a bear.
July 28, 20205 yr On 7/27/2020 at 11:30 AM, paco said: Can I ask a really, really dumb question? Octopus are supposedly extremely intelligent. On various nature programs and articles I've seen/read makes it seem like they think vs just react on instinct. (them using tools, them adapting to being around people, etc). When you are down there and just seeing them, do they ever strike you as such or do they act like an average fish? I was just curious because I didn't know if its just snippets of extraordinary acts or if they behave differently, like you see every day with dolphins. Was this one of the nature programs?
August 1, 20205 yr On 7/27/2020 at 11:36 PM, Coreyoz said: although I don't swim in it, with the beach closed the dolphins come around in pods here in playas de Tijuana. Never thought I'd look out my window and see dolphins swimming around lol A shame with the beach closed you can't swim with them. Ages ago when I used to surf on NJ beaches I saw a pod of dolphins as I was getting ready to paddle out to surf. Paddling along side them for 10 minutes (keeping a safe distance as there were some baby dolphins and I didn't want to upset the adults) was one of the best experiences in the ocean I've ever had. I recall some of the older local surfers on the beach were happy for me getting to experience this unique situation as they had done in years past. And @MIRV Griffen, those are some great vids you posted of your underwater adventures. I have a friend who deep dives and has dived with sharks. He practiced in old quarries to get his certification since they are deep, dark and usually cold so a good environment to learn in.
August 1, 20205 yr Author 13 hours ago, Green_Guinness said: A shame with the beach closed you can't swim with them. Ages ago when I used to surf on NJ beaches I saw a pod of dolphins as I was getting ready to paddle out to surf. Paddling along side them for 10 minutes (keeping a safe distance as there were some baby dolphins and I didn't want to upset the adults) was one of the best experiences in the ocean I've ever had. I recall some of the older local surfers on the beach were happy for me getting to experience this unique situation as they had done in years past. And @MIRV Griffen, those are some great vids you posted of your underwater adventures. I have a friend who deep dives and has dived with sharks. He practiced in old quarries to get his certification since they are deep, dark and usually cold so a good environment to learn in. Quarry dives are perfect for deep dive training in dark conditions. When I get back to the midwest, that’s where I’m headed.
August 3, 20205 yr It seems that of in the beaches that are all closed over the virus there. Wanting to decrease the cases.
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