Thursday, February 28, 2013

About To Dive Deep

We found a lot of new (very old) stuff on a ledge at 240ft down.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Stranded Whale Cont'd

We showed up in the morning with a van full of dive gear and my inflatable dinghy on a trailer. The DPNR guys were happy to see us, but said they didn't know if we could help since they didn't have a plan yet. We all went to the beach closest to the stranded whale and saw that overnight it had gotten itself into some slightly deeper water. Great news because this meant that the weight of the whale wasn't slowly suffocating it.
The plan was made to utilize my dinghy and two other larger boats. The larger boats had a 500ft line that they stretched across the back of the whale in order to catch its tiny dorsal fin to give it a boost in the right direction. Rather than pulling on the whale, the boats just let the wind and current move them enough to gently nudge it. My job was to maneuver my tiny boat around behind and beside the whale to encourage it away from obstacles.
Once all the boat activity had driven several large sharks a little farther from the whale, I was asked to hop in with snorkel gear and get pictures to try and identify it using various humpback databases.



The sharks were still not far away. This is an 8 or 9ft tiger shark that passed by me a couple of times.
The whale made a lot of progress, though it didn't seem to be helping itself out much. Mostly just drifting in what happened to be the right direction. The right direction brought it to one last small reef through which it needed to pass to get to deeper water and out of the bay.
Unfortunately, the whale didn't thread the needle through the small passage. It ended up just off to the side and the tidal flow and wind pushed it up against the reef. The whale then started to arch and thrash and nearly threw itself all the way across cutting gashes in its skin until it seemed to get stuck upside down. All of us were holding our breath hoping that she would turn over so she could breathe. After several attempts, she made it over and took a few minutes to catch her breath before starting to roll back  to the wrong side. 
Again, she was almost there when she just stopped. We watched for nearly 45 minutes for any sign of a breath, but it never came. The director of DPNR's fish and wildlife department got in and checked for pupil response and found none. 
We packed up and left as a tow boat was called in to drag her body off the reef and out to sea.
From now on when I'm diving, I'll never hear whalesong the same way again.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Stranded Whale

While eating lunch we heard news of a whale stranded on the reef at Great Pond Bay.
 We found it, but all we could do was watch and hope.
Tomorrow morning some other dive instructors and I are supposed to meet with the officials and offer our help.
Here's a video from a woman who was out on a boat this afternoon.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Estate Montpelier

This is a watercolor by Frederick von Scholten from the 1830's of the area where we live.
 

Life before Tan Tan.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

As A Child Of The 70's,

I have no idea what to do with this.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Monday, February 18, 2013

Sunday, February 17, 2013

We Found A Cannon!

A few weeks ago I found a cannon lying in the sand at about 150ft deep.
Today Bill and I went to take some measurements to try to figure out where and when its from.
Time will tell.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Jen's Here!

Lisa's pretty excited.


Friday, February 15, 2013

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Watching For Whales

Not as successful as the listening

Monday, February 11, 2013

Listening To Whales

I'm pretty sure she was trying to talk back to them at this point.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Saturday, February 9, 2013

I Love Weddings Down Here

especially the receptions.

Friday, February 8, 2013

Name That Part

Now that Lisa is assisting in surgeries, we get to play Name That Part when she gets home!
 Bonus round-




Thursday, February 7, 2013

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

No HabrĂ¡ Nadie En El Mundo

First gig in about 8 1/2 years

Monday, February 4, 2013

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Saturday, February 2, 2013

A Rare Rainy Morning

 on Groundhog's Day.
Wonder what that means?

Friday, February 1, 2013

WhaleShark

A guy let me swipe this bonus shot of the whale shark from two weeks ago off of his camera.
Still riding that high.