Tale of Encrusting Sponge Scary Face

Of the island of Bonaire is a dive site called Witches Hut home to the diver eating Encrusting Sponge Scary Face.....

...and the monsterous Witches Hand.

Many divers have decended into the depths at Witches Hut only to be dragged down by the Witches Hand and eatin by the evil Encrusting Sponge Scary Face. It is said that on Halloween night you can see all the divers rise up from the deep to reclaim their lost certification cards....

Have a Great Halloween!

A Great Day to Dive!

One of our favorite islands is Utila, off the coast of Honduras, where we always stay at Laguna Beach Resort. Utila is known for great diving, and if you are lucky, whale sharks. Wagner, our boat captain, has a true gift for finding whale sharks.

On this special day we were doing our surface interval in the channel when Wagner spied a flock of birds circling and swooping down to the water in the distance. It was whale sharks feeding. As the whale shark comes up from the depth, with its big mouth open, schools of baitfish try to escape and boil up to the surface. The birds swoop in to feed.

Wagner said he would put us right on top of the whale shark, all we had to do was wait until he said jump.

With mask, snorkel and fins we jumped on the given signal and swam down with a lung full of air. In the abyss I could see something huge coming straight toward us but I was too mesmerized to move. My lungs were beginning to burn for fresh air but there was no way I was going to miss this experience. Suddenly the huge fish was upon us with its mouth open wide enough to swallow us whole. I looked over at Mary and her eyes were wide with excitement. I just knew it was going to hit me but it made a graceful turn. As it glided by it looked at me with an inquiring eye and the gentle giant’s dorsal and tail fin narrowly missed me.

Shark Bites: by the Numbers

400 million
How long sharks have existed on planet Earth.
20-100 million
The number of sharks killed by humans each year.
10
The number of humans killed by sharks each year.
20,000
How many teeth a shark may use over its lifetime. Sharks never run out of teeth; when one is lost, another spins up front from the rows of backup teeth.
2
How many months a great white shark can go without feeding.
20
Speed, in MPH, of the shortfin mako. Making it the world's fastest shark.
60

Length, in feet, that the worlds largest shark, (actually a fish), the whale shark, can grow to. Don't worry, it eats plankton!
$400
Blood money paid for shark fins per kilogram- this is what ignorant people pay so they can eat soup!

source: National Geographic News

Donor's Choose Challenge! We Still Need Your Donation!

Wow, with the help of Kevin and Dr. M at Deep Sea News and Lauren, an environmental educator for a park in NYC , our challenge was met and as a result Memories has made a matching contribution of $50. That brings Memories contribution for the Ocean Bloggers Oceans in the Classrom Initiative to $175! Read below the projects our donations will help to fund.    

Nemo in the Classroom" or "Invertebrates in my Tank"
"I am the teacher for the districts 5th Grade Gifted and Talented students. Our district pulls out these students for 2 days a week to come to our campus for enriched classes of differentiated instruction. We try to have students use knowledge and make connections between subjects and create projects of high quality.

Breaking Science News
"My project will expose students to current events in Science through Weekly Reader's "Current Science" magazine. Most of my students are from impoverished backgrounds and have received few chances of being exposed to current events. Most of the households do not receive newspapers.

Experience Sea Floor Spreading
"Have you ever wondered what happens at our last frontier in the depths of the ocean on the sea floor?
My 6th grade science class lives in a high poverty area that is located far from any sea or ocean. Many students have never had the experience of seeing the ocean. Most students coming into 6th grade have little knowledge of the sea floor or what occurs there.

Remember there are still unfunded projects needing donations and you help by making a donation at DonorsChoose.org.

Be sure and visit Deep Sea News to read: We Did It! But We Can Do So Much More!

Save the Oceans!: One Kid at a Time and YOU can help!

Every so often an opportunity presents itself to allow us to pass on to future generations the wonders of our most precious resource, the living seas.  Memories is proud to be teaming with other Ocean Bloggers to promote Ocean Literacy through an "Oceans in the Classroom Initiative".  This worthy initiative allows individual K-12 teachers to bring ocean literacy to the classroom through educational projects designed to teach about coral reefs, marine life and science of the sea.

As you know the oceans are being strained from a myriad of environmental impacts.  The survival of healthy oceans depends on future generations understanding, respecting and enjoying the oceans of the world.  Your financial assistance can help in a large way toward ocean literacy.

Please take a look at the Ocean Bloggers Oceans in the Classroom Initiative and help us bring ocean literacy to the classroom.  The wonderful teachers developing these projects are resourceful and creative so any donation is appreciated.  A donation of $10 helps to reach many students and of course the more we donate the more students we reach.

Memories wants to thank Deep-Sea News, The Right Blue, and all the other ocean and nature bloggers  for allowing us the opportunity to participate as a sponsor in such a worthy cause.

Please visit the DonorsChoose.org site and donate today!

Lionfish - Alien Invasion

Beauty and timidity belie the lionfish’s true demeanor; that of an efficient predator. Docile during the day, the lionfish is a very effective hunter at night. It uses its fanned-out pectoral fins, like fingers, to trap small prey  which it stuns with its venomous dorsal spines before swallowing them whole.

Welcome to Jellyfish Lake - Palau

You hike up this steep trail, holding on to roots, to get to the Jellyfish Lake. As you descend the trail you see a dock not unlike others you might see around a lake. There is some apprehension about being the first person to enter the water, but my excitement cannot wait, so I quickly don my mask and snorkel to ease into the lake.

Jellyfish Lake is a salt water lake located in the Rock Islands of the Pacific island of Palau. It was morning, the sun was low, and as I swam through the lake I didn't see any jellyfish. Just as I entered the area of the lake with the greatest sunlight there they were, millions of them, glowing and moving through the water with a throbbing rhythm.

These jellyfish have been isolated in this salt water lake for millions of years and, as a result, have evolved very small stinging cells so you can snorkel with them without risk of being stung.

The dock at Jellyfish Lake

The unassuming Jellyfish Lake

NO WAR

Have you ever had a Forrest Gump moment? When you just happen to be present at an historic moment but did not know it.

On the morning of March 18, 2003, Mary and I were sitting on the steps of the Sydney Opera House when we saw people running around the building.

Right over our heads two guys had climbed the building and painted “NO WAR” in big red letters on the roof. Needless to say it was quite a big deal and not a little embarrassing to the local police who were suppose to be on extra alert for terrorists.

These two guys climbed the building carrying paint buckets and brushes up to the building’s highest sail and nobody notices until it is over. This was our Forrest Gump moment.

Unbeknownst to us it was also the eve of the Iraq war and this was the initial protest.

The next day we waited at our hotel to take a van to the Sydney Airport. The driver was noticeable nervous but we have no clue why. So we all blissfully pile into the van when he says we need to leave early. He tries to enter the main highway only to be blocked by police barricades and hundreds of protesters. I ask the driver what is going on and he says “guess you haven’t heard mate but your Bush declared war today.”

He took another turn and more police on horseback blocking our route. He backed up, turned around and took another street, still more protesters and police. After over two hours of stop and go traffic on side streets we finally get to the airport. Only problem is we have missed our flight time by an hour.

We go to the Qantas ticket counter to see if we can get on another flight and the guy says “no worries, you didn’t miss your flight because the plane hasn’t arrived from Cairns yet.” Seems there was a baggage strike and our flight was delayed. We spent three more hours in the Sydney Airport before the plane finally arrived.

Building crew power washing the NO WAR off the Sail

Flamingo Tongue

Grand Turk dive sites are filled with gorgonians and sea fans that are home to, and food for, the colorful snail called a Flamingo Tongue. Extended over its shell is a skin, called a mantle, that is not only colorful but also acts as its gills. The Flamingo Tongue holds onto the gorgonian with a short leathery pad or foot and drags itself slowly to feed on the polyps that make up the gorgonian. Their scientific name is Gastropoda (stomach foot) Prosobranchia (forward gill).

Dominica - Diving the Nature Island of the Caribbean

We arrived in Dominica on Saturday afternoon after a spending a night in San Juan Puerto Rico. In San Juan we stayed at the Hampton Inn and ate dinner at a really nice Puerto Rican restaurant next door called the Metropol. The food is traditional and reasonable priced. I ordered garlic pork with tamale, black beans and rice, Mary got the sampler plate. The food is very good, just make sure you have enough Rolaids you will need them.

Lambert and Martin from Ken's Hinterland Tours met us at the airport in Marigot Dominica. While Mary and I were traveling alone, another group of divers from Arizona was arriving at the same time, We all were driven in a tour bus by Lambert to Roseau. The drive to Roseau takes about one and a half hours across the Island on a very narrow winding road. The scenery and topography is fascinating. You pass small desolate villages with houses made of cement blocks and tin roofs. See Beautiful Atlantic Ocean vistas with warm inviting beaches and rolling thunderous waves. Cross over fast moving rivers of crystal clear water cascading over huge boulders. View banana plantations on rolling hills with blue plastic bags tied around the fruit. Pass through National Reserves with unspoiled beauty, cascading waterfalls and every shade of green you can imagine. See Street hawkers, at intersections, in rags selling grapefruit and oranges. Avoid cows and goats grazing on the side of the road. Exotic flowers you toil over back home grow wild on the side of the road in addition to orange, lime, avocado and palm trees.
Marigot Street crafts

The kids were very interested in watching the craftsman work.

Sea Squirts

Believe it or not this is an animal. It is called a green tube tunicate or a sea squirt. It has no head but does have a nervous, digestive, reproductive and circulatory system. It feeds on plankton through openings called siphons. The incurrent siphon takes in water, passes it over tiny gills, and then it is discharged through the excurrent siphon.

Tunicates get their name from the cellulose material covering its body called a tunic. These critters usually attach themselves to rocks and extend out to feed. They look like a green plastic tube but if you disturb them they will rapidly close their siphon.

Although tunicates are quite common, the green tube tunicate is rarely found because most divers do not even recognize them. Mary found this one on a dive in Utila.

Toutou, Snakes and Get Off My Reef!

As we swam over the coral mounds onto a sandy bottom, Toutou took off after something. Mary and I stopped to admire a nudibranch on one of the many coral fingers that gave this dive its name “Coral Gardens.” Toutou was definitely chasing something and motioned us over for a closer look. He had captured a banded sea snake.

The banded sea snake is extremely poisonous but its mouth is generally not big enough to bite you except for between the fingers. Banded sea snake venom is neurotoxic and it only takes about 1.5 milligrams to be fatal. These snakes produce 10-15 milligrams of venom making them 10 times more lethal than a rattlesnake or black mamba.

Another interesting fact about the banded sea snake is that it lives in the water but breathes air. Because its left lung runs almost the entire length of their body it only has to come up for air every 8 hours or so.

Toutou is from the Village of Vuna on the island of Taveuni in Fiji and we were diving Vuna Reef that belongs to his tribe. As a member of the tribe he is responsible for protecting the tribal rights to the water. One day we came up from a dive at Vuna Reef and there was a cruise ship anchored in the tribal waters. They had sent out a small boat with divers on it. Toutou asked to be let off on the boat to speak with them. Later I asked Toutou what he said. He said he told them that these waters belong to the Chief of Vuna Village. That it was a great insult to be on these waters without first asking permission from the Chief and that they must purchase Kava to present to the Chief to ask for permission. A very polite way of saying "get off my reef!"

Bet You Can't Guess? Name this Beach

The results of the "Name this beach" challenge are in

43% of the folks taking the survey said Bondi Beach. 5% said Seven Mile Beach. 52% said Ulong Beach and 0% said Wakiki Beach.

And the answer is Ulong Beach in Palau. If you saw Survivor Palau this is the beach that the Ulong Tribe inhabited for the 2005 episode.

Of course this beach was famous way before the reality show Survivor. It is know for its amazing sandy white beach, beautiful tropical flowers and turquoise waters. Oh, and RATS, big ones, that the locals call coconut squirrels. Used as a surface interval for scuba divers and a rest stop for sailboats for years it was one of Palau's best kept secrets. Many of Mary's favorite dive sites are near this island and this is one of her favorite beaches.

For those folks that selected Bondi beach it is the famous beach near Sydney Australia. Seven Mile beach is a sandy white beach on island of Grand Cayman in the Caribbean and Waikiki beach is of course on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.

Taveuni Elementary School

We were walking with the groundskeeper of Paradise Resort when he mentioned that his daughter went to the school we passed and invited us to visit the school. The children had won a soccer game and were celebrating the victory with a lunch prepared by their parents. In the photographs you can see the smoke from the cooking fire next to the building. Notice the children lined up with plates in their hands.

Children are precious to the Fijian people and if you cannot have a child a family member may offer to have a child for you and release that child to you as your own. This was the story of the groundskeeper who was unable with his wife to have a child so his brother and sister-in-law offered to have a child for them.

To view photographs of the school children go our gallery at Taveuni Elementary School.

The Chiton Lady's World is Flat

I remember reading a book by Thomas Friedman called “The World is Flat”. The premise of this book is that the world is getting smaller and more globalized through technology. There is a question he asked in the book that I had not given thought to until I came up from a dive one day in Bonaire.

Mary and I were staying at the Divi Resort and decided to do an afternoon shore dive. After the dive Mary went back to the room and I stayed under the pier to look for blennies and gobies. As I was coming up from the dive next to the rocky shore I startled a woman prying something from the rocks. She had a baggie in one hand and a knife in the other so I asked her what she was doing. She showed me the bag filled with some kind of fish meat and said she was getting chitons to eat. She was in a raggedy t-shirt and worn out shorts, no shoes and here she was prying these chitons off rocks to make soup for her supper. I spoke with her a while, stowed my gear and went back to the room.

I was in the room completing my dive log when I heard a voice outside the sliding glass door facing the ocean. I opened the door and there was the “chiton lady” standing on a rock looking out over the ocean, knife and baggie in one hand and cell phone to her ear, having a lively conversation.

Looking at the lady standing there I thought of Mr. Friedman’s question. “When did you first realize the world was flat?” For me it was the “chiton lady”.

When Mary and I first started traveling you were hard pressed to even find a telephone but now cell phones are ubiquitous; even chiton ladies have them. Once upon a time beach side hotels were surrounded by palm trees and mangroves and the only “hot spot” was the local bar not some Wi Fi java joint. But things change.

Leave a comment and let us know when you first realize that the world was flat.

Bull Sharks of Bat Island

Jutting abruptly from the sea is a spit of volcanic rock next to Bat Island also called Islas Murcielagos, or the Islands of the Bat. This is to be our dive site, this rock, surrounded by surge and current and aptly named "Big Scare". This same surge and current attracts large schools of snapper, wahoo, pompano, horse-eyed jacks and eagle rays. And, bull sharks!

Our dive master was Diego. We had met Diego the year before in a chance encounter at the Greater International Airport of Utila, Honduras (a lean-to next to a crushed shell airstrip and a large bra hanging from the ceiling). We were there to dive and Diego was there to get advanced instructor training. Diego is from Costa Rica and we struck up a conversation, exchanged addresses and went our separate ways.

The following year Mary and I walk into the dive shop at Ocotal Resort in Costa Rica and who do we meet but Diego. Call it fate or circumstance but this is how we came to dive Bat Island in search of bull sharks.

As we descended into the dive the surge became worse. The schools of fish undulated and I found myself getting seasick. The visibility was very poor only about 15 feet. Mary is following Diego and I am looking into the abyss for sharks when I see something that looks like a submarine coming straight toward me. It is a bull shark and begins to circle me. Soon others arrive, all between 8 – 15 feet long, and begin circling as I try to take pictures in the murky water. As the circle becomes tighter I notice that when my back is to the bull sharks they advance toward me but when I turn toward them they glide away.

I had gotten separated from Mary and Diego and as I began to ascend in search of their bubbles the bull sharks kept circling. Finally I saw bubbles and swam over to them. They too were enjoying the bull sharks but soon the sharks lost interest in us and disappeared into the abyss.

Leave us your comment and let us know what your most memorable shark moment was?

Sistine Chapel of Saba

Nestled on a volcanic peak of a tiny Dutch island called Saba, pronounced "Say-bay", is the Sacred Heart Church. Located in the village of The Bottom, this church has a magnificent mural around the alter painted by Heleen Comet. It took over 2 years to complete the mural and what makes it unique is that Heleen incorporated local plants and architecture but also used faces of local children for the faces of the cherubs. As you look at the lovely and timeless faces you cannot help but wonder what became of the lives of these children as they grew up.

The Rapture of the Deep

Many divers, especially baby boomers, dream of being able to give up their job and go live on some exotic island teaching SCUBA. Michael Zensley's lively tale, of seven years wondering the globe as a SCUBA instructor, is a must read for folks with that dream. The book is written like a blog post and is filled with humor, history, and personal stories that the author says "you probably shouldn't know". The underwater adventure and entertaining characters make you want to continue reading. Mary and I have visited and dived many of the places described in the book so we could relate to the experiences and anecdotes. For those that are non-divers the colorful stories, of kava ceremonies in Fiji to chicken wars in St. Lucia, descriptions of diving and island life will be truly entertaining to you.

Southern Stingray Feeding

In our post Southern Stingray Evil Monster of the Sea we wrote about the southern stingray. This video of a feeding stingray displays his grace and beauty and there is a guest appearance from Mary.

Attack of the Barracuda

Barracudas have lightening fast speed with dagger like teeth that will slice their prey in half. They are very curious and will closely approach you and sometimes even follow you around. That can be a little un-nerving but I have never known one to attack a diver, yet.

While diving next to Diamond Rock in Saba I noticed a barracuda coming toward me at very fast speed. I turned back to the wall but looked back over my shoulder and he was still approaching so I threw up my camera to get a picture but he closed the distance so fast he literally filled my lens.

On one trip to Cozumel all of the dive masters we knew were missing. I asked why and was told that they were all in the hospital because they had eaten barracuda and got ciguatera poisoning. I did not really know what that was at the time but later learned that the barracuda, being an apex predator, can accumulate the ciguatera toxin from eating herbivorous fish that also have accumulated toxins from eating seasonal algae. Cooking does not kill the toxin so that sounds a little too much like Russian roulette for me so I stay away from eating barracuda.

While diving in Utila we noticed a barracuda attack a bar jack and slice him in half. We didn't get the attack on camera but did capture the aftermath. At the very start of the video you can see the back half of the bar jack falling as a school of black durgons move in to feast until a yellow fin grouper decided he wanted the prize all to himself. Notice how the yellow fin grouper keeps a watchful eye on me as he guards his meal.