SeaMonster blog
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Cuba journal: Day 5 – Quiet
Day 5: Tuesday 31 May Quarter past midnight, end of a long day on the water and in the lab that started at 0600. Sitting in the quiet breezy night on the narrow concrete back deck of the dorm (not a proper lab as this is really a dive and fishing operation), creaking boat ropes…
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Cuba Journal: Day 4 – Pipin reef
Day 4: Monday 30 May This morning we dive at a site known as “Pipin” after the famous Cuban free diver. I am snorkeling and the day begins disappointingly since the buoy is in 15 m of water and overcast skies and somewhat murky water mean I can barely make out the bottom. But a…
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Yao Ming ?? : Shark Fin Soup
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJG7RaLX-DM&[/youtube]
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It’s blue footed booby day – get your blue shoes on
Founded by the Galapagos Conservation Trust, today is the day to celebrate all that is brilliant about blue footed boobies. So, get out your best blue shoes (or socks) and be a booby for the day. (These are one of my many pairs of blue shoes – yes blue is my favourite colour, and yes,…
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Forensic fisheries scientist Courtney Cox makes waves in Belize
Bruno lab PhD student Courtney Cox was all over the news in Belize Tuesday. There was a media frenzy about her work on fraud in the the Belize seafood industry and the poaching of parrotfish in Belize waters, where they are now protected. From News7Belize: In this coastal country – it’s hard to find anyone…
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Cuba Journal: Day 3 – The Octopus Cave
Day 3: Sunday 29 May Fantastic dives and natural history today. We are scouting sites for Abel’s dissertation project examining impacts of sharks on the reef community, so targeting sites where sharks are abundant. This area, the Jardines de la Reina (“Gardens of the Queen”), is widely considered to be among the most pristine sites…
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What makes a great surf break
Surfline has a really cool article on The Mechanics of Malibu that explains the history of the iconic surf break and why it works. Like so many breaks, it is all about the supply of sand and cobbles that form the bar that the waves break on. Hat tip to Randy Olson.
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Using Skype to explore the deep sea in realtime
There’s so much we still don’t know about what lives at the bottom of the sea. Just go look and you’ll find heaps of new species and weird things going on that you’d never have imagined. But how to make the most of scientists’ knowledge for exploring the depths? These days, you don’t need to…
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Herbivorous halos seen from space
Don’t mess with vegetarians – they can really leave their mark… These funky patterns were created by grazing reef critters venturing out from patch reefs in the Red Sea. Scientists spotted this phenomenon going on at the Great Barrier Reef from space using Google Earth images. Read more at Mongabay. Image downloaded from Google Earth…
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Cuba journal: Day 2 – by Land and by Sea
[Number 2 in a continuing series] Day 2: Saturday 28 May Up at 0400 again, this time to meet the bus for the long, slow drive across Cuba to our port. Traveling east by bus in the misty humid sunrise across the flat agrarian landscape of Cuba. Endless fields, most apparently fallow, fencerows of sticks…
Got any book recommendations?