My friend Laura's dog Lucy and me meeting for the first time.
Location:Maui Meadows
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Thresher Shark!!!
Two days ago we saw a rare creature on the water. It was a Bigeye Thresher Shark that swam around our boat a few times. A guest onboard, Pamela Dobbeck, sent me a few of her pictures.
The Bigeye Thresher Shark is a deep living fish (yes, sharks are fish and so are rays) that is sometimes caught as by-catch by fishing boats, especially by long-lining, which is in general a type of fishing that gets a lot of by-catch such as sharks, turtles, birds and dolphins. It is possible that is what happened to the one we saw since it was groggily swimming along the surface.
The one we saw was about 10ft (3 meters) or so, however this species can get 15ft (5 meters) long and they are found in all of the tropical and subtropical oceans around the world. They are considered a pelagic (eg. open water) species but also lives close to coast lines. At nighttime they tend to move closer to the surface and come up to around 300ft, whereas at daytime they go deeper, sometimes as deep as 2100ft. The big eyes that you can see on top of the fish's head are likely used to spot the outlines of prey (different kinds of fishes and squid) above it when it's down in the dark deep ocean.
They are believed to use their long caudal fin as a whip to stun prey, hence their name.
What an amazing day! It reminded me of what it's like to see one of the amazing creatures of the ocean for the first time.
The Bigeye Thresher Shark is a deep living fish (yes, sharks are fish and so are rays) that is sometimes caught as by-catch by fishing boats, especially by long-lining, which is in general a type of fishing that gets a lot of by-catch such as sharks, turtles, birds and dolphins. It is possible that is what happened to the one we saw since it was groggily swimming along the surface.
The one we saw was about 10ft (3 meters) or so, however this species can get 15ft (5 meters) long and they are found in all of the tropical and subtropical oceans around the world. They are considered a pelagic (eg. open water) species but also lives close to coast lines. At nighttime they tend to move closer to the surface and come up to around 300ft, whereas at daytime they go deeper, sometimes as deep as 2100ft. The big eyes that you can see on top of the fish's head are likely used to spot the outlines of prey (different kinds of fishes and squid) above it when it's down in the dark deep ocean.
They are believed to use their long caudal fin as a whip to stun prey, hence their name.
What an amazing day! It reminded me of what it's like to see one of the amazing creatures of the ocean for the first time.
Location:Maui
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Sunset Cruise
My co-worker Laura (second from the left) invited me to go with her friends on a Marty Dread (he's in the middle) Sunset Cocktail Cruise. Live music, tropical drinks, sunset, and whales jumping.
Location:Ma'alaea Bay
Bus Stop Conversation
Homeless bike at bus stop: "That's a nice bike. Canondale, it's a good brand."
Me: "It's old though, but it works."
Man: "... I don't bike myself. I drink too much, I have no business on a bike."
No denial there. The homeless in Maui fascinates me for some reason. Maybe it's because I believe that in another society they would not have fallen through the grid, nor would they stay there.
Me: "It's old though, but it works."
Man: "... I don't bike myself. I drink too much, I have no business on a bike."
No denial there. The homeless in Maui fascinates me for some reason. Maybe it's because I believe that in another society they would not have fallen through the grid, nor would they stay there.
Location:Kihei
Friday, March 15, 2013
Whale Watching
Some recent whale footage. The first one is filmed by my co-worker's phone. This whale came up after swimming under our boat.
Same encounter but different angle:
And a photo of the same encounter:
This is what we call a "tail slapper:"
And this is a calf splashing around next to our boat. You can see the white pectoral fins ("arm-fins") that look turquoise under water:
In this clip you we have a hydrophone in the water and the background noise is actually humpback whale song that you can hear even with your own ears if you go diving or snorkeling during whale season. This song has been heard in all the world's oceans for centuries but we didn't figure out where this cacophony came from until the 1960s. I bet that many marine stories of ghosts and sea monsters originated back in the day when sailors heard whale song through the wooden hulls of grand ships.
And finally, some pictures of me. Here's one of the better ones I could find:
Ha ha, I love the cupcake face mask from LUSH. Seriously though, here's another one:
I finally after several years here got my license.
Same encounter but different angle:
And a photo of the same encounter:
This is what we call a "tail slapper:"
And this is a calf splashing around next to our boat. You can see the white pectoral fins ("arm-fins") that look turquoise under water:
In this clip you we have a hydrophone in the water and the background noise is actually humpback whale song that you can hear even with your own ears if you go diving or snorkeling during whale season. This song has been heard in all the world's oceans for centuries but we didn't figure out where this cacophony came from until the 1960s. I bet that many marine stories of ghosts and sea monsters originated back in the day when sailors heard whale song through the wooden hulls of grand ships.
And finally, some pictures of me. Here's one of the better ones I could find:
Ha ha, I love the cupcake face mask from LUSH. Seriously though, here's another one:
I finally after several years here got my license.
Location:Maui
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