My mom and I found a Spotted Scorpionfish while snorkeling around Gaulding Cay.

I'll add some more to this post soon...

View from above (fish is facing left):

Close up of his head:

Posted August 11, 2010

Yes, another photo of a Cuban Tree Frog. This one was resting on a Plumeria (Frangipani) plant just outside our back porch. We noticed the frogs have been moving closer to the house every year. They have now invaded our kitchen window sill; four or five of them hunt there every night!

These frogs are strictly nocturnal, finding a dark corner to sleep during the day. During daylight they can only be awakened by rain, which triggers a mass of croaking.

Posted August 6, 2010

Here's a close up of a Yellow Stingray I saw while snorkeling at the Glass Window Bridge:

Posted August 4, 2010

These are some of my favorite recent blenny photos:

A Barfin Blenny hiding in white scroll algae. The Barfin's, especially the juvenile's, yellowish hues blend in perfectly with the algae that grows around their tidepools. This guy paused just long enough for me to snap a photo:

I saw this beautiful Saddled Blenny down in a limestone basin. This was the only angle I could shoot from, but the blenny saved the photo by turning to look up at the camera.

It took a lot of messing around with to change this photo into something I liked. I spent a long time adjusting its settings on the computer and, for once, I think the result was worth it. The original photo was ruined by poor exposure and tons of backscatter.

I'm not too into post-processing my photos, which is why I usually shoot JPEG, but sometimes it's nice to be able to fix a few of those blunders I make underwater.

This Longhorn Blenny has made its home in a small hole in brain coral:

Ok, this one is not a blenny, but it lives around blennies. It's a small clingfish (Tomicodon rupestris). This isn't my best photo of one, but I like that is shows off their "chipmunk cheeks".

Posted August 3, 2010

The past few weeks we have had Great Lizard Cuckoos calling all around our house. I've spent a lot of time trying track one down for a photo, but they only call about once every 15 minutes so it's been difficult to find one. Finally though, I got lucky and found two up in a Casuarina tree. These giant birds are about as tame and curious as animals can be; indeed, I didn't have to wait long before one came hopping down, limb-from-limb, towards me. The second cuckoo called my subject away before I could get a good shot, but I got this decent one:

According to my bird book these cuckoos are only found on Cuba, Andros, New Providence, and Eleuthera!

Click the play button to hear a recording of some Great Lizard Cuckoos in Andros.

Here's my photo of a Great Lizard Cuckoo:

Posted July 8, 2010

Here are some photos I took in a local blue hole. Blue Holes are giant sinkholes filled with water. When found inland, as ours was, they are usually connected underground to the ocean. It was my first time in a blue hole so I was very excited. The water was cold and clear; brackish on the surface gradually turning saltier as you dove down. At the deepest point it's about 40 feet which is very shallow compared to many.

At about 20 feet I encountered my first Ocean Hole Fish (Lucifuga spelaeotles). These bizarre fish belong to a family composed mainly of deep-sea dwellers so it's no surprise that they lack working eyes. I would be very curious to hear what they eat.

The blind Ocean Hole Fish:

Posted June 16, 2010

A small Bahama Woodstar has been buzzing around our garden lately. These small hummingbirds are endemic to the Bahamas and is the only hummingbird specie regularly seen on Eleuthera.

Here he is perched on a palm frond: I think it must be a juvenile male that hasn't fully developed its magenta throat patch. If his sugar intake is any indication of the time it will take to mature, this guy will be an adult in no time.

Feeding on our Firecracker Plants. Even with a shutter speed of 1/2000 of a second the wings are slightly blurred.

Posted June 11, 2010

My mom wanted me to post a few more barracuda photos so here they are:

The 'Cuda is trying to swallow the baby Mojarra here. The Barracuda is so small that you can see the victim's eye through its mouth.

A view from underneath: Again the Mojarra's eye is visible through the 'cuda's mouth. The Barracuda's pink gills are also visible from this angle.

Posted June 8, 2010

My mom and I took a trip out to Bottom Harbour with our snorkel gear and camera. Bottom Habour always seems to have something good so I wasn't too surprised to find a rare four-legged Bahama Starfish before putting on my mask. Not long after I found a tiny 1 inch juvenile Great Barracuda. I had only shot barracuda this size once before so I was very excited

This barracuda didn't seem to mind my company so I followed him around for almost an hour. At one point the 'cuda and I came upon a school of baby mojarra (sand fish). The little 'cuda slowly maneuvered itself near the school and prepared to pounce. I waited...waited...and waited until finally a tiny mojarra swam too close. In less than a second the 'cuda nabbed it and swam to the surface - as if to show off his catch - where I could get photos. He swallowed the mojarra quickly, but luckily I was able to get a couple shots before. I was pretty happy with this one:

Posted May 24, 2010

This nuisance of a sea animal can be found almost everywhere (though they seem to be most common in places I am likely to step). Urchins spend almost their entire life clinging to the sea floor with long tube like feet. The mouth is placed on their underside and is ideal for feeding on algae, which makes up the bulk of its diet. Surprisingly these menaces can sometimes be considered beneficial:

The roe of urchins, although not eaten in the Bahamas, is considered a delicacy in the Caribbean and many other parts of the world. Sea Urchins also provide homes for many of our juvenile and small fishes.

The urchin spines of this specie can be particularly painful: Their spines are thin and very brittle, easily breaking off in the skin. A juvenile damselfish provided a bright background for this photo.

These Nineline Gobies never venture far from the protective spines of their Rock Boring Urchins. Photo taken at the Queen's Baths.

The Red Clingfish is another beautiful specie that lives under urchins. Also from the Queens Baths.

Posted May 17, 2010

Kirk and Jake took us on another trip to the Exumas. We had heard a few reports of people catching Mahi in the Exuma Sound so we decided to try our luck out there. Before heading out deep though, we donned our snorkel gear and hopped in at the Highbourne Cay Marina. There was a pack of over 20 Nurse Sharks there that we wanted to swim with. The water where we jumped in was a little too murky for photos, but Jake and I headed out to some deeper, clearer water and found a couple sleeping sharks.

The deep sea fishing was a bit disappointing, but the pod of Pilot Whales we found made up for it. This Pilot Whale approached us and swam parallel to the boat for a long ways. After checking us out he dove down deep, but behind it we saw two more Pilot Whales; they were heading right for us! Everyone got their masks and fins and quietly slipped into the water. Jake and my dad went ahead and only got about 20 feet away before they shouted. I thought they saw the whales so I rushed out and was very surprised to see a big Oceanic Whitetip heading right for us.

Photo courtesy of Kirk Aulin.

The shark rushed in very aggressively and turned right toward Jake and my Dad. We immediately rushed towards the boat and clambered aboard at record speeds. Just after we left the water a second smaller Oceanic Whitetip showed up. It was a pretty cool experience, but we definitely won't be diving with Pilot Whales again.

 This is a screen shot from a short video I took as we raced back to the boat. That is Jake's fin on the right; we were swimming on our back and watching the shark all the way back to the boat. I would estimate the shark to be around 8 feet.

Posted April 27, 2010

My mom pointed out this tame Curlytail Lizard to me a few days ago. He was hanging around our back porch so I grabbed my camera, got down on my belly and slowly inched my way towards him. After a while he became tame enough for me to get some good photos.

Curlytails are much more common on Eleuthera's Atlantic coasts, but a fair amount can be found in certain areas on the Caribbean side. Unfortunately Hurricane Francis wiped out most of the Curtail's habitat around Gaulding Cay. I was very surprised to see this one around our house; I hope he stays around.

Posted April 24, 2010

While Jake and I were goofing around outside we stumbled onto a couple of Worm Snakes. Worm Snakes are the smallest and probably rarest Bahamian snake. They resemble earthworms more than a snakes and, like worms, they spend most of their lives wriggling through the dirt. They seem to have some sort of eyes (looks more like a magic marker spot), but judging by their erratic movements both Kirk and I think they are blind. Their diet consist mainly of ants and termites; it's too bad these snakes aren't more common.

Here's a photo of one of the Worm Snakes in my hand:

Posted April 20, 2010

This is a photo from the trip to Current Cut in the Liberty Clipper. We anchored just north of the cut and ran the dinghy over to snorkel it.

The water was murky and the current tame, but the school of Eagle Rays seemed to be enjoying themselves. Unfortunately the Eagle Rays hung out the bottom so not many people saw them. On one of my dives I almost ran into an Eagle Ray by not watching where I was drifting. It's a good thing they are so agile as there was no way I had enough time to get out of the way.

Many of the rays were unusually large. This one has a wingspan around 6 feet!

Posted April 17, 2010

Here's a great shot of Luke holding up Liberty Clipper's stern. Luke, a deckhand, was the youngest crew member aboard and was the snorkeling guide. This photo was taken at Gaulding Cay in about 10 feet of water. The 8 foot draft of the Liberty Clipper makes navigating very difficult in the shallow Bahamas.

Indeed, we barely made it over the 8 foot deep sand bars of Current Cut. Luke and I took the inflatable dinghy ahead to scout out the deepest channel and we had a couple crew members watching for shallow spots from the top of the mast. We made it through fine, but I'm sure we scraped the bottom a few times.

Look at the size of the rudder and prop!             

Posted April 12, 2010

Our friends took us on a boat trip to the Northern Exumas recently. It was my first time there so I was really excited. Our first stop was at Leaf Cay to see the Iguanas. The subspecie we saw were the Allen Cay Iguanas which are endemic to just a few islands in the Exumas. The iguanas spend all day sunning and eating on the beach and head inland to sleep in burrows at night. We also did some diving, but the current was a bit too strong for photos.

With some lettuce in one hand and my camera in the other I was able to get some cool photos. This was one of the bigger lizards:

A large Iguana sunning on the ironshore:

The animals on Leaf Cay were incredibly tame. I got a better Bananaquit photo in five minutes there than I've gotten in nine years on Eleuthera. Bananaquit on a Silver Buttonwood:

Even the Curly-tail Lizards posed for photos!

Posted April 7, 2009

Kirk, Jake and I just had a great day fishing and diving. We started out deep-sea fishing north of Spanish Wells. Jake caught a nice Mahi, but the trolling was slow so we buzzed over to the Egg Island Wreck for some spearfishing.
     We didn't have to wait long before a school of African Pompano swam by. We followed them for a while but they weren't letting us get closer than 15 feet. Finally I got fed up and took a long shot anyway. My spear went through its back and into the stomach cavity, not a great shot, but I was surprised I hit it at all. We chased it down until it tired enough for Jake to put another spear in it. After landing the first one Jake and I headed back to the wreck hoping for another Pompano. I got lucky and ended up shooting two more, both of which also needed a second spear to be subdued. Kirk stoned the second one fairly quickly, but Jake and I had to chase the last one around for about 20 minutes.
     Kirk managed to get a nice 10 pound Nassau Grouper in this time. With all the wounded fish in the water we were amazed that we saw no sharks, this wreck usually has them even before you shoot anything. To top off an amazing day a couple enormous Amberjack made some very close passes just before we left.

Here's my three African Pompano (Alectis ciliaris). They weighed in at 25, 23 and 21 pounds. I gave most of my Pompano away, but I kept a good bit as they are one my favorite food fishes.

Posted April 5, 2010