Sea lion vs. camera

Digging into the backlog of things I've meant to post, here is an excerpt of one of the videos from the fish diversity recordings featuring a curious sea lion trying to eat the camera...




As it swims off it goes right for the transect tape, which is why you see the tape move up into the camera frame. We've seen this kind of demonic intrusion before...

Sharing space

Working on a sheer subtidal wall can be interesting, especially when the wall has exactly two (2) ledges that you can put cameras and research equipment on, and exactly one (1) of them is occupied by a sleepy sea turtle that doesn't want to move.

I have seen and swum with many turtles before, but this is the first time I have ever looked one straight in the (sleepy blue) eye. It is a little bit surreal to be stared at by a turtle.

I see you too.

We wrapped up our last Galapagos dive yesterday, making a total of 48 for this trip. The next week and a half will be some data analysis and a side trip to the western island of Isabela for Leslie and me, then it's back to Nahant and more algae work. The summer goes by quickly.

The camera sees all: Manta ray at Baltra

Over a week after one of our early dives at Isla Baltra, I review the video from the GoPro recordings and see this. None of us knew it, but we were diving with a manta ray. I guess we should look up from working on the bottom once in a while... :)