Ocean Wildlife Pictures SeaPics.com Blog

Shark Talk

2008-10-23T15:06:00.035-10:00

It's been so long since I (Susan Dabritz) have blogged, or even had something to blog about! Boat excursions have been few, and those we've had were uneventful. Fortunately, I got mail from a student in France, Océane Beaufort, with some great questions about sharks, so here's my deux centimes on that topic ...

Q. I would like to know how you reacted the first time you saw a shark.

I learned to dive off the coast of Long Island and New England, where the water is very murky. Fortunately, I never saw a shark there; if I had, it would have been right in my face! I was already an experienced diver when I first saw a shark in the tropical waters of Malaysia. It was a whitetip reef shark, Triaenodon obesus, a very docile, non-threatening shark, and one of the most common sharks seen by divers. They are not scary by any means, and while I don't remember exactly, I was probably happy to finally see a shark.

Q. Why did you choose to work with sharks?

Many of the professional photographers who market marine life pictures with SeaPics.com are eager to dive with sharks because sharks are exciting to watch and they are extremely photogenic with their sleek, fuselage form, large teeth and penetrating eyes. High quality shark photos are also among the most marketable stock images, as the public is fascinated with sharks and people are always eager to see an in-your-face shot of a large open mouthed shark.

Pictures of great white sharks, Carcharodon carcharias, tiger sharks, Galeocerdo cuvier, scalloped hammerhead sharks, Sphyrna lewini, great hammerhead shark, Sphyrna mokarran, and bull sharks, Carcharhinus leucas, are among the most sought after by the media and the general public because they are potentially dangerous to humans and one of those sharks is typically responsible for attacks on humans. In addition, it is most difficult and challenging for marine wildlife photographers to take such exciting pictures of those sharks due simply to their massive size and aggressive nature.

Q. Were you afraid of sharks when you first started diving and working with them? If yes why, by which type of shark, and in which place of the globe?

There are so many species of shark in the ocean, and most of them are not particularly dangerous, so speaking for myself and others in the marine wildlife stock photography business, I would say we are eager to observe most species of shark, and they aren't scarier than any other animal we encounter in the ocean. That being said, I would personally never swim with a great white shark without a cage, though there are some extreme risk takers out there who are doing just that! Other large species of shark, such as hammerheads, bull sharks and tiger sharks, should always be treated with caution, but they are not overly dangerous in controlled situations, such as areas where the environment is healthy and the sharks have plenty of their natural prey, and the water visibility is good so the sharks do not mistake a moving body part for a fish.

One of the best great white shark viewing areas today is South Africa. There are cage dives and popular boat trips where you may be able to observe a great white shark breaching completely out of the water as they attempt to catch a cape fur seal, Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus, on its daily foraging trip across False Bay.

Here in Hawaii, we often encounter oceanic whitetip sharks, Carcharhinus longimanus, because we typically go offshore for tuna fishing at FAD (fish aggregation device) and the sharks like to hang out there to snatch some fisherman's catches for easy meals. Oceanic whitetip sharks are known to attack humans, and they may be responsible for many of the horror stories of over-board victims or offshore airplain wreck victims. They are persistent scavengers like many other sharks, and they often swim with pods of short-finned pilot whales, Globicephala macrorhynchus for their feces and whatever they leave behind during hunting (see previous blog post: The Strange Dietary Preferences of Oceanic Whitetip Sharks). Pictures of these large oceanic whitetip sharks are particularly impressive, as they do not afraid of humans and readily approach us to inspect us for edibility. Cute, pilotfish frequently swim alongside the sharks, making for a nice image of symbiosis, too.

Q. Does man have every reason to be afraid of sharks? At what instant can they be the most aggressive?

In general, scuba divers need not fear sharks, and dives in controlled situations with sharks rarely end in injury. There are almost no deaths on organized shark dives (though I do know of one in a recent well-publicized event in the Bahamas). People swimming in the ocean, either from shore or from a boat, tend to worry about what lurks below unseen, so their fear becomes magnified. Considering the number of people in the ocean and the few recorded shark attacks, the fear is far out of proportion to the actual risk. It is a well-publicized fact that there are many more deaths from dog bites or lightning strikes than there are from shark attacks.

Nevertheless, the few shark attacks that occur are always reported on TV and in the newspapers, which increases people's anxiety and amplifies their perception of the risk. Most shark attacks do not end in death, as a shark bite is most often an exploratory bite to determine the nature of the prey. When the shark realizes that the swimmer is not the prey it was expecting, they swim away and the victim has an opportunity to escape. Sharks most often mistake humans for prey in murky water, when a flash of leg or hand can be mistaken for a fish. Researchers also believe a surfer lying on a surfboard bears a resemblance to a sea turtle or seal when viewed from below by large sharks that prey on those animals.

Sharks are most dangerous if the swimmer can be easily mistaken for their natural prey, if there is blood in the water, or if a person puts a hand or foot near their mouth. Sharks brought into boats by fishermen will lunge and snap at any hand that comes near their head.

There is information by researchers about threat displays by sharks, where they lower their pectoral fins and arch their bodies in preparation for an attack. Personally, though, I don't believe your average swimmer or diver is apt to witness such a display as a prelude to an attack, so the usefulness of this information is minimal, except perhaps, for shark researchers!

Q. What kind of shark is the most impressive for you? Why?

The most impressive shark for me is the whale shark, Rhincodon typus, which sometimes comes to the coast of Hawaii where I live. They are the largest fish in the ocean, but among the most gentle. They have a beautiful, spotted pattern and divers and snorkelers can swim alongside them without fear. They are plankton feeders and have no teeth, so they are no threat to the swimmer or photographer. The most impressive predator shark is the great white shark, the largest predator fish on earth. Millions of years of evolution have made them extraordinary predators, but they are currently under great stress by humans the world over. They are listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List, and I an fearful for their future.

Q. Did your opinion of sharks change in the course of time?

Because I have encountered many sharks while diving, and the photographers at SeaPics.com have photographed many more, I react to sharks with respect but not fear. Like many environmentally conscious people today, I've learned that sharks have more to fear from humans than we do from them. I am concerned about the rapid depletion of sharks from our oceans, and I abhor the practice of shark finning. Over time, I have come to view sharks as magnificent animals deserving of our protection rather than animals to be feared or hated. I hope the photos available at SeaPics.com generate interest in sharks and lead to more protection for all species of sharks. They really need it, as they are not prolific breeders and many species are severely threatened by the international shark trade.

Q. Do you think that it's possible for people to get used to sharks so there is less prejudice towards them (as the "killer of the sea ")? Can they become animals that are accepted by mankind?

I have seen a change in people's attitudes over time, and more people around the world are interested in protecting sharks. However, this concern for sharks is more than offset by the increased efficiency of factory fishing vessels and the increase in international trade in the fishing industry. It will be a difficult battle, as sharks are not cute and cuddly, and they can't be preserved in zoos like tigers or pandas.

Q. How do you feel about the massacre that sharks are subjected to at present? How can it be put right?

As I've said, shark finning is a repulsive practice and should be outlawed. Even if that happens, though, it will always be difficult to have enforcement around the world, especially when people's livelihoods are affected. The recent rise of China as an economic superpower will put ever increasing pressure on shark stocks, as shark fin soup is so popular in East Asia, as is shark cartilage medicine. I lived in Singapore and know and respect the Chinese, but it will take an extraordinary effort, and may well be impossible, to get them to lessen demand for these items. Still, the Chinese have embraced the panda and have made an effort to save other endemic species (though they had little luck with the baiji, aka Yangtze River Dolphin, Lipotes vexillifer), so it's possible some dramatic initiative will resonate with the Chinese people. In any case, we must publicize the plight of sharks and stimulate interest in preserving them around the globe. Marine sanctuaries should be created wherever possible, and find a way to successfully and sustainably cultivate sharks for consumption so that the value for wild shark fins and cartiliage drop significantly. And eventually ban the shark fishing in the wild thoughout the world.

Q. Marine tourism is increasing, and there are many publicized dives with sharks that claim to be safe. Do you think this tourism will become a problem or change shark behavior in the future?

This is a complex and difficult issue. Judging by past experience with animal conservation, it has usually been the case that ecotourism has provided a livelihood for local people, and their personal interest changes from wanting to kill an animal to wanting to protect it. You can kill an animal once for food or a trophy, but if the live animal can attract the tourist dollar, it has value longer and for a much larger payoff. Tourists in an ecotour area support not only the tour guides, but also local restaurants, hotels and shops, so the benefit to the community is multiplied. Additionally, as more tourists are able to encounter rare and exciting animals, they are more likely to contribute money to animal conservation causes. From this point of view, shark dives can be considered a positive development.

Unfortunately, there is a downside with respect to shark dives as a tourist attraction, as these excursions tend to habituate sharks to humans. Most shark dives rely on either chumming (putting buckets of bloody fish into the water to attract the sharks) or actual feeding of fish to the sharks by the dive operator. The result is that sharks begin to associate boats and people with a meal, where they may have tried to avoid both in the past. This may potentially increase the number of shark attacks on humans, and it may attract sharks to charter fishing boats. Most fishermen I know will not tolerate sharks grabbing fish they've hooked, so I can only imagine the increased risk to sharks in encounters of this type.

On balance, I would say a limited number of shark dive excursions, with strict controls, is probably a good thing.

Merci for your questions, Océane!

Susan Dabritz

Breaching Humpback Whales!

2008-02-21T18:48:00.006-10:00

Wow, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? Part of the reason for the gap is that Masa got a new boat, so we had some down time between saying goodbye to the old boat and getting the new one shipped over from Oahu. Masa felt pretty sad about seeing his old friend go, a boat on which he’s had many memories and taken so many amazing, award-winning shots over 10 years in Hawaii.

Once he got the new boat, though, a nice twin-engine, catamaran style Glacier Bay, we were out almost every day, testing the equipment and checking out the wildlife. We’ve been so busy out on the water, that I haven’t had much time to write it all down.

On Feb. 21, Masa, me, and Steve Drogin were out on the water for a full day of whale watching. I wrote about Steve in my blog called Steve Drogin's Party 11/30/07. He’s one of our SeaPics.com photographers, and he has many great images of sharks, rays, monk seals and more on our site.

Anyway, Steve was with us, enjoying Masa’s new boat and checking out the humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae. The whales were incredible that day, breaching all around us. It was really a photographer’s dream. Most days are not like this, as it’s not possible to predict where and when a whale will breach, so you have to be vigilant and a little lucky to t a reat shot. On this day, though, getting the money shot was like rolling over in bed. The light was great and the whales kept breaching over and over, so we could position ourselves perfectly and get the shots we wanted.

One of the great things about living in Hawaii is being able to see these amazing humpback whale breaches. If you live on the west coast of the U.S., you may be able to see blue whales, Balaenoptera musculus, or gray whales, Eschrichtius robustus, but they aren’t known for the breaches and other above water activities performed by the humpback whales.

The playful behavior of humpback whales is well known and has even been mentioned in classic American literature. Herman Melville, using the character Ishmael as his narrator in Moby-Dick, said of the humpbacks that they are "the most gamesome of species and light-hearted of all the whales, making more gay foam and white water than any other."

He certainly got that right. Humpbacks must think they’re dolphins, a distant relative, though they’re at least 110 times heavier. They launch themselves out of the water, nearly clearing it, and flop onto the surface, usually on their back or side, creating a minor tsunami for nearby boats. They’re also known for tail slapping, pec slapping, peduncle throws, spy hopping and other behaviors.

Here’s a quick glossary of humpback whale behaviors, with links to images of the behavior on our site:

breaching – the whale launches most of its body out of the water and crashes onto the surface. Masa call this spectacular breach an "epic breach" (this is not a scientific term!). However, 90% of the breaches we see, are those only the half of their bodies break out of the water at best. It's still quite impressive, and he call it a "lazy breach or tired breach" (again please note that these are not scientific terms of the behavior if anybody cares).

lobtailing or tail-slapping – the whale, with its body nearly vertical, facing down, slaps its tail repeatedly onto the surface of the water. This behavior creates loud sound which can travel miles in open ocean, above and underwater.

lunging (head lunge) – a shallow breach where a male lunges aggressively towards competing other male, in many case, it ends up head-butting others by doing so. In addition to the sound of the sudden water breaks, the aggressor usually creates loud and scary, whistling sound.

Sometimes it also makes a loud clapping sound by using its jaws (jaw-clapping). Other times it slaps its chin to the water surface to create a loud sound (chin-slapping).

pec-slapping – the whale, lying on its side or rolling its body, slaps its pectoral fin repeatedly against the surface of the water. It can create a similar effect to lobtailing.

peduncle throw – a powerful and quickest move where the whale thrusts its tail and lower body area (caudal peduncle) across the surface of the water, throwing up a big spray. Most of the time it happens so quickly and unexpectedly, thus, it is one of the most difficult humpback behaviors to phtoograph besides an "epic breach".

spyhopping – the whale, curious about activity above the water surface, assuming a vertical position, pokes it’s head out of the water. Humpback whale's head are covered with many lumpy, sonsory organs, called nodules, so it can sense the whale watchers!

singing - only mature male humpback whales sing by suspending his body vertically underwater about 50 t0 100 feet deep. It is known to sing the same "whale song" each season and also known to only sing at their breeding ground such as Hawaii. The singing sound is so lound and it can reach 100 miles away. If you have ever submerged yourself underwater during the whale season in Hawaii, you will most likely hear their singing. If you would like to hear such whale songs, visit Jupiter Research Foundation web site. They recorded and collected many songs at Puako Bay, Big Island where we regularly go whale watching.

Why do they do these behaviors? The breaching behavior may have the practical use of shaking off barnacles, or it may be that the whales just like the sensation of leaving the water and crashing onto the surface...just for the fun. A whale calf can do most of the tricks except singing. When a baby goes off, usually its mom goes off, too as if she's trying to teach her baby how to do.

While we can’t interpret each behavior precisely, many of their behaviors are believed to be related to breeding and thus, most often seen while observing competitive groups. As such groups are also called "heat run" and their behavioral displays sometime get really wild and violent. Other times, though, their behavioral displays are simply spectacular and graceful.

For me, personally, this was one of my best days ever for humpback whale photography. The reason for my confidence is that Steve Drogin lent me his telephoto lens, as he was trying out another one. For the first time, I was able to use an 80-400 vibration reduction lens, which made a huge difference in the kind of shots I could get.

Normally, when I’m out on the boat with Masa, his shots are always so much better than mine as he uses longer, superior lens. At the safe distance we must maintain from the whales, his whale shots have always filled the frame and been beautifully in focus, while mine have been way too small. On this day, though, with Steve’s great lens, my shots were nearly filling the frame! The light was great, and the whales breached straight in front of us, over and over. At least on this occasion, my breaching whale shots are good enough to beat my own previous best. I still can’t compete with the world class photographers I represent at SeaPics.com, but I was really stoked to get some decent shots, as those of you who take photos for enjoyment can readily understand! Thanks, Steve, for the assist!

That’s it for now, but I’ll have another blog up soon about more humpback whale excursions. I expect you’ll see that in a week or so. And don’t forget to check out my album, or better yet, go to the SeaPics.com site for all of my pix!

Close Encounters with Wyland the Artist, Part II

2007-12-29T17:58:00.013-10:00

After a marathon day with Wyland, the Artist, where we boated, swam and snorkeled all day, followed by an artist’s reception at Wyland Galleries in the evening, Wyland was up and ready for more the next day! Wyland is a machine!

It appeared his gallery reception had gone well, and Masa and I had a good time, too. Besides the awesome original Wyland art we received (see Wyland Part I blog 12/28/07), we had met Dean Bernal, the Dolphin Whisperer. Dean was famous for his work with dolphins in the Turks & Caicos, where he used to live. For years, I had been selling our SeaPics.com photos of him with JoJo, the sociable Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus (that’s Dean & Jojo in photo at left), and suddenly, here he was in Kona, where he now resides! What an amazing coincidence!

Dean’s story of why he no longer lives in the Turks & Caicos, and how he ended up in Kona, Hawaii is a little long and personal, so I won’t go into detail. I will say, however, that the story involves a stopover in Crete, where sirens sing to you and cure whatever ails you. Enough about that, and on to our adventures with Wyland!

It was Saturday morning, the 29th, and we still wanted to see humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, so we headed north. If you come to Big Island, Hawaii during whale season, which is December to March, you’ll usually find majority of migrated humpback whales north of the Kona airport, especially up in the Kohala Coast region. Humpback whales breed here in winter after their long migration from Alaska.

As we headed north, Wyland said he wanted to stop and check out Turtle Pinnacle, one of Kona’s better known dive sites. SeaPics.com has many photos of green sea turtles, Chelonia mydas, being cleaned by yellow tang and other reef fish, and most of them are from this spot. We have so many of these nice shots that divers visiting Kona tend to think sea turtles are always getting cleaned somewhere, waiting to be photographed. Well, the key to getting these great shots is to be at Turtle Pinnacle, a time-honored cleaning station. If you look for this anywhere else, you’ll likely be disappointed.

The water was kind of rough, but we stopped at Turtle Pinnacle for Wyland to work his magic and find some sea turtles. Strangely, though, it didn’t happen. We searched for sea turtles for about 45 minutes, but never found any. Hmm, it seemed the Wyland magic was wearing off!

We continued north, convinced we’d see some long-snouted spinner dolphins, Stenella longirostris, around the airport. Nada. We wondered where all the marine life had gone.

As we searched the area, we stumbled upon a huge fishing net drifting in the ocean. The net was so large, we couldn’t even attempt to retrieve it. Like an iceberg, the tip of it was at the surface, and the rest of it hung down, down, down, fading into the blue.

A drifting net like this is certainly a danger to marine life. On the other hand, it’s also a refuge for thousands of other species. There were countless fish using this net as a floating reef, as were the sea plants and tiny crustaceans attached to it. When small fish and inverts gather, big fish follows. Any decent size, floating objects are great fishing spot! Usually you can expect big games like yellowfin
tunas, Thunnus albacares, wahoo, Pacific kingfish or ono, Acanthocybium solandri, and dolphinfish, dorado or mahi mahi, Coryphaena hippurus, as well as off shore sharks like oceanic whitetip sharks, Carcharhinus longimanus.

Masa dropped a jig to see what's down there, and his lure was immediately hit by a fish! He caught a rainbow runners, Elagatis bipinnulatus. Rainbow runner is one of jack or trevally speceis and belongs to the Family Carangidae. Masa said it is underrated but the fish is very tasty when prepared correctly. Everytime he dropped a jig, he caught one. All sizes are pretty big for rainbow runners. After we saved some for our dinner, Masa & Wyland decided to get in the water and see what was really happening down there around the net. After a dive, Masa came back to the surface and excitedly said there were hundreds of rainbow runners, Elagatis bipinnulatus, and whitespotted filefish, Cantherhines dumerilii, and mahi mahi near the surface, and then, deep under all the fish there were a dozen wahoo hanging around. Wyland videotaped and Masa photographed those shooling fish (see Masa's picture - Wyland and hundreds of fish). Wyland said he got some great footage and we may see it in his music DVDs!

After Wyland got back in the boat, I spotted a breaching humpback whale in a distance. Wyland was eager to go see if we could get some photos of it, but Masa was thinking he wanted to stay a bit longer in the water and photograph the net. To Masa, finding this size of floating net and the amount of marine life around this humongous net was very rare and significant event, and he must document that thoroughly as a marine wildlife photographer. It's certainly one of the greatest opportunity of this kind of subject.

Wyland suggested we leave Masa at the net, check out the whales, and then come back for Masa later. Strangely, Masa was not eager to go along with this plan. It seems being left drifting with a net in the middle of the ocean was not Masa’s idea of a good way to spend the day. I admit, I could see the logic in his reasoning. Wyland promised we’d quickly return to the net and Masa, but we thought it better to all depart together to look for the whales, which is what we did.

Well, the Wyland magic was definitely on hiatus, as we didn’t saw a humpback whale the rest of the day. After looking long and hard, we decided to go back to the floating net and do some fishing. But now that net was playing hard-to-find. We went up and down the coast, looking for it. It’s a really good thing we didn’t leave Masa out there, drifting with the net, as we might never have found him again!

After half an hour or more, finally, we spotted it and this time, Masa put out a couple of trolling gears and caught a mahi mahi right away. When you catch a mahi mahi, it’s common to leave the first one on the hook for a while, as strangely, the other mahi mahi will congregate around it. This happened in textbook fashion, and within minutes we had our second mahi mahi. We caught two more mahi mahi and packed it in for the day.

We headed south to try Turtle Pinnacle one more time at Wyland's request. Masa free-dived over the pinnucle and confirmed there were no turtles. Despite Masa's scouting report, Wyland decided to go for scuba diving, so we let him go solo. While Wyland was diving, we swam and snorkeled around there for at least an hour, but never did see a turtle. Too bad for Wyland; at least we live here, so we’ll see the turtles another day!

Close Encounters with … Wyland the Artist! Part I

2007-12-28T16:57:00.009-10:00

As some of you may have noticed from my "Steve Drogin's Party" blog of Nov. 30, 2007, I do occasionally associate with humans. Most encounters of this type never make it into my blog, but now and then something of note happens on dry land and I feel compelled to share it with you. Today’s blog will be one of those occasions!

Last month I got a call from my friend, Wyland, the artist, and he said he was coming over to the Big Island for an artist’s reception at the Wyland Gallery on Ali’i Drive in downtown Kona. He was wondering if Masa and I would take him out on the water to look for whales and dolphins the morning of the reception. We said yes, and we spent the better part of a day on the coast of Kona, Hawaii, looking at marine life, both in the water and on the canvases in Wyland’s gallery.

First, let me give you an introduction to Wyland. His name is Robert Wyland, but he goes by the name of Wyland, the Artist. Wyland is known throughout the world for his murals and paintings of marine life, especially of whales. His series of 100 "Whaling Walls" is nearing completion, after which he will tackle a series of 100 monumental sculptures.

The "Whaling Walls" were what made Wyland a household name, as they are iconic artworks for the cities in which they’re located. They can be found in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. His 100th wall in the series will be painted in Beijing, China during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The walls are enormous and decorated with all kinds of marine life, with whales as their main focus. Wyland has featured gray whales, blue whales, humpbacks, orcas and others in an effort to raise environmental awareness and foster affection for whales. The Beijing installment will feature life-size images of the great (balleen) whales, and children from around the world are going to be invited to paint along with Wyland. To see more photos of Wyland’s Whaling Walls, go to the Wyland Foundation website.

We met up with Wyland in the morning of the 28th for breakfast for a meeting. He does not only bought us nice breakfast, but also gave us his calendars and newly produced Wyland Musice CDs. He has such a charm or charisma in him and also knows how to please people. Besides his talent, no wonder he is so successful as an artist. Around noon, we left the restaurant for Keauhou and then departed the harbor for whale-watching. Right away we ran into a Capt. Zodiac boat and asked them if they’d seen anything. They told us a pod of short-finned
pilot whales, Globicephala macrorhynchus, was just south, on the way to Kealakekua Bay, so we headed in that direction.

We found the pilot whales no problem, but unfortunately, there were a bunch of other boats there, too. We waited quite a while for them to leave, then Wyland got in the water with all of his HD video camera gear. As I mentioned, Wyland has a new record label and he needed some video of pilot whales, which he planned to use for a DVD version of one of his records.

Large marine mammals are protected in Hawaii, so we’re not allowed to approach them, but the pilot whales seemed drawn to Wyland, and they circled him for some great footage. One of the keys to Wyland’s success is that he always seems to be where the animals are, and if he’s not, they come to him! I’m looking forward to seeing those shots on the Wyland music label DVD.

Wyland is 51 years old, but he has the energy of a teenager. He was in and out of the boat at least 15 times, lugging that heavy video equipment, and putting in at various places to get different angles. I came away with a new appreciation of how hard a worker Wyland is!

After Wyland had enough of the pilot whales, we went into Kealakekua Bay to enjoy the beautiful scenery there. Again, there were tons of tourists, so we felt a little claustrophobic. There were some long-snouted spinner dolphins, Stenella longirostris, there, but they did not close enough to get any video of. Finally, as we were thinking about leaving, some spinner dolphins approached where we were, and again Wyland got some great footage for his label. A little while later, we saw one breaching humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae.

We finished our boating excursion about 6:00 p.m. Wyland is amazing, because after a full day of swimming, snorkeling and videography from Masa’s boat, he still had the energy to take on a full night’s work at the Wyland Gallery. He was there by 7:30 p.m. and stayed all evening, painting a whale on canvas in oils, and using a Japanese ink brush to make line drawings of humpback whales for friends and gallery patrons.

The gallery was pretty packed with Wyland fans, gallery clients and quite a few passers-by who just wanted to see what all the noise was about. Wyland would work on the canvas for a while, then put down the brushes to talk to the guests and sign memorabilia. He took photos with anyone who asked and delighted everyone with his friendly personality and casual style.

After he finished the humpback whale painting, it was auctioned off, and it fetched $16,500!!! The snapshot here, taken by one of my employee’s 8-year old daughter, shows a glimpse of the painting mid-way through the creation process.

Masa and I were personally invited to the gallery but didn’t arrive till later in the evening as I had to do some car pooling for my daughter and Masa had to wash boat and clean up all grears after all. There were still lots of people there, but when things started to die down, Wyland drew a line drawing for each of us using a Japanese ink brush . He drew a humpback whale and calf for Masa and a whale fluke for me! They came out great and we were both so excited to get these great works of art! Mine is now on display in the SeaPics.com office.

After all that, I was pretty exhausted, but Wyland was eager to get us to commit to another day on the water the next early morning! Obviously, there’s more to write about, but I’m going to save it for my next blog. Check out Close Encounters Part II, which should be up in a week or so! Mahalo!

Hunt or To be Hunted - Gang of False Killer Whales!

2007-12-20T19:03:00.008-10:00

As some of you may have noticed from our spotty blog appearances, Masa and I haven’t been out on the water quite as much as we’d like to. It’s the holiday season, when everything is really hectic, so things like fishing excursions get put on the back burner. We also had some technical issues to cope with at my SeaPics.com office, which occupied much of our time. Finally, on the 20th, we managed to embark at long last.

As a change from our usual pattern, we launched Masa's boat from Honokohau H arbor, which is just north of Kona town, rather than from the southern marina, Keauhou. We were hoping to find a whale shark, Rhincodon typus, as they often appear in this area in December. I bet you didn’t know whale sharks were harbingers of Santa, did you? There were reports of some sightings north of the harbor. For us, though, it remained just that: a rumor.

We took some pictures of the lighthouse and the deep sea water pipes at Keahole Point. These pipes suck up cold sea water from a few thousand feet deep and pump it to over 30 enterprises in the National Energy Laboratory of Hawaii (NELHA). Some companies use the cold, clear sea water for aquaculture, including the raising of main lobster, abalone, Japanese flounder, seahorses, algae, and more. Other companies produce mineral-rich drinking water labeled as Hawaii Deep Sea Water. This water is exported to Japan, where it commands a nice price. We recently read in the local newspaper, West Hawaii Today, that the pipe had some damage to it and would require extensive repairs.

We cruised past the open water fish farm operated by Kona Blue Water Farms. They have huge submersible net enclosures out in this area where the current rips past. They raise very tasty and now famous Kona Kampachi, almaco jack, Hawaiian yellowtail, or kahala, Seriola rivoliana. Paradoxically, farm raised amberjack is arguably healthier than the natural variety. The fish farming operation produces fish that are free from ciguatera, the reef toxin that is common to this species when they live in the natural environment. The fish are fed pellets, so they don’t ingest any reef toxins. An article from West Hawaii Today told of a recent fish breakout that occurred here. Apparently, a lot of the escaped fish just hung out in the area of the net, as they had no inclination to strike out for better things.

We took some photos of airplanes landing at Kona airport, and because it was pretty clear, we had a great view of snow-capped Mauna Kea, and got some pix of that, too. Then we hung around with the "swim with dolphins" excursion boats for a while. About 3 or 4 boats were there, and all the tourists were trying to get close to the long-snouted spinner dolphins, Stenella longirostris, that were milling about in this area. The dolphins did their spins they’re so famous for, and everyone got a nice show. A dog barking on one of the boats drove us a little nuts. I love dogs, but I wonder how the paying customers felt to have that yapping going on all day. The ocean off the Kona coast is a quiet place, unless you bring noise like that with you.

After the boats left, Masa got in for some good picture opportunities. There must have been a hundred spinner dolphins there; a real sight to behold!

We headed out to ZZ buoy - the FAD
(Fish Aggregation Device), where the water was particularly rough. We tried XX buoy next, but there was nothing there either, so we continued on. We did some fishing out at OTEC buoy and caught a couple of small bigeye tunas, Thunnus obesus, for dinner. We almost had a nice one of about 40 lbs, but the hook came off at the surface. It was getting late and we were about 15 miles offshore and about to call it a day, when we noticed something going on in the water. We first thought they were wild Pacific bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, but as we got closer, we noticed their blacker, larger bodies and discovered they were something more rare and exciting: false killer whales, Pseudorca crassidens! Two or three of them! As their latin name shows, they share characteristics with more popular orca or killer whales, Orcinus orca. False killer whales are large marine mammals that grow to about 20 feet in length with a body shape somewhat like the killer whale, but more slender and without the distinctive black and white pattern. Like the orca, they are known to attack and kill other cetaceans such as dolphins and whales.

False killer whales live around the Hawaiian Islands, but range widely. They are generally difficult to see up close, as they are rare to find in the first place and tend to shy away from boats. This time, they seemed preoccupied with something at the OTEC buoy. They appeared to be blowing bubbles toward the buoy again and again. It would certainly be dangerous to photograph such "Killer Whales" up close, but it was a once in a lifetime opportunity for wildlife photographer, Masa Ushioda, to capture the moment.

As we slowly approached the buoy, we noticed the ocean current was ripping, so Masa dropped in the water up current of the buoy, and drifted toward it and two of the whales. According to Masa, it turned out the whales were trying to hunt a lone bigeye tuna which was using the buoy as a shield against the whales! Masa was kicking hard and trying to stay parallel with the buoy and whales in the strong current. He was barely able to keep himself positioned far enough from the buoy to not affect the activity of the animals, but close enough to watch and photograph this rare event. Masa said the false killers occasionally looked straight at him, but they seemed unconcerned about his presence. Apparently the tuna looked a lot more appetizing to them than Masa. Lucky for him!

Besides these killer whales, there was another rare species in the vicinity, a lone silky shark, Carcharhinus falciformis. These are fairly rare in Hawaiian waters, but they’re one of the most beautiful shark species. Masa was able to snap some good shots of the shark lit up by golden sunset light, because unlike the false killer whales, it seemed more interested in him than anything else, and it circled nearby.

As the whales continued to focus on the tuna, they blew big bubbles underwater with a loud noise. It seemed like they were trying to startle the tuna away from the buoy and snatch it as it tried to escape. Two relatively smaller whales tried this technique again and again, but at the last moment, the tuna was able to swim to the other side of the buoy, escaping the sharp teeth of killer whales. As this behavior kept on, a large false killer of about 19 feet came out of nowhere and swam right by Masa’s legs and joined the rest of the whales. Now three whales with open mouths blowing bubbles ganged up on this poor, frightened tuna. Can you imagine if you were that tuna dodging these huge black monsters? Three whales persistently attacked the tuna in vain, and finally the false killer whales faded into the blue one by one. Yes, the tuna prevailed and went on to live another day!

What a day! Masa was able to get some fantastic photos of two rare species. It was really a behavior we don’t normally get to see, and Masa nailed the images nicely!

As the sun was setting, we thought we saw the false killers again in the distance, but they turned out to be short-finned pilot whales, Globicephala macrorhynchus. It was a large pod - maybe hundreds of them - spread out for miles. We all traveled together riding large offshore swells for a while, and tried to photograph the pilot whales rocketing out of large swells like in the emergency surfacing scene of the Navy submarine from the movie, Red October. Believe me, it was very hard to capture the scene in the near-sunset because the whales were quick and totally unpredictable as to where they were going to appear. Besides, the boat was rocking pretty bad, and in the end, neither of us got a decent shot. Despite that, it was a great day for marine photography; 3 false killers, spinner dolphins and a silky shark! We’ll catch the pilot whales and the whale sharks another day!

Steve Drogin's Party

2007-11-30T19:11:00.002-10:00

Most of my blog entries so far have been about our activities on the water with fish and marine mammals, but today I’m going to write about how I spend some of my free moments on dry land with the two-legged critters. Masa Ushioda and I (Susan Dabritz) were invited to a dinner party at the Kona home of our friend, Steve Drogin, who is also one of our SeaPics.com photographers. He and his wife, Hiro, reside in La Jolla, California, but they have a lovely house here on the Big Island, which they visit between boating excursions around the world (from the left, Hiro, Steve & Masa).

Steve Drogin is first and foremost, a fantastic photographer, and SeaPics.com represents over 300 of Steve Drogin's Pictures in our database. His work has been featured in BBC productions, the Discovery Channel, Disney’s Living Seas, as well as in countless books and dive magazines. He is also an environmentalist, and he gives lectures on marine life and the environment around the world.

Steve was in town after a visit to Easter Island. Before that, he had been in Costa Rica at Cocos Island, where he actually has a submarine that can take passengers to depths of 1,500 feet. Now many of us dream of having a nice boat to cruise the world, but Steve has his own submarine! Of course, it’s a commercial operation, so he doesn’t really have unlimited use of it, but still… What undersea photographer wouldn’t love to have their own submarine? Anyway, if you are ever interested in going 457 meters deep off the coast of Cocos Island, and you’ve got about $2,500 to spare for a ticket, then consider the Deep See excursion. Prices actually start at about US $600 for a 100-meter dive. Check out the Undersea Hunter website for more details. And no, I’m not getting a cut of the sales; this is just a friendly link to a friend’s site!

While at Steve’s dinner party, we had the opportunity to meet Bob Talbot, another well-known person in photography and film. He’s a world-renowned marine photographer and an award-winning film-maker. His film credits include "Free Willy," "Flipper" (1996), the Imax motion simulation film "Dolphins-the Ride," and most recently, Imax’s "Oceanmen-Extreme Dive." For those of you who don’t read film credits, you may be familiar with Bob Talbot from his iconic images of marine life and seascapes that have appeared in posters throughout the world.

Talking to Bob that night was fascinating, as he’s a true visionary in future environmentalism, and he’s committed himself to ending our destructive treatment of the planet. One of the reasons he’s in Hawaii is because he’s shooting in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands for a film project on the health of the oceans. According to Bob, this will be a kind of "Inconvenient Truth" about the marine environment, and I’m really looking forward to seeing it. To learn more about Bob and his activities, visit his website at the Talbot Collection.

Besides Bob Talbot (center in the photo), Masa & me, there are some other people of note. On the right are Carlos Eyles and his wife Margaret. Carlos is another amazing SeaPics.com photographer (see Carlos Eyles's pictures). His photos are notable for their artistic composition and the amazing underside angles he often gets. Carlos and his wife are both excellent freedivers, and they can swim below the animals and look up to see them silhouetted against the surface. Amazing, the depths they can reach and the unique shots Carlos can get. Margaret is famous in Kona for being a rolfing therapist, and Carlos is an accomplished author.

Are you all tired of me name-dropping yet? Well, you’ll have to bear with me, as an upcoming blog will be about Wyland, the artist, who was in town recently, and who went out on the boat with Masa and me. Watch for that soon!

Surfers in Kona

2007-11-29T15:51:00.001-10:00

Today was the day after the Hawaiian Sea Turtle Research (see 11/28/07 blog), an event which ended in a tumultuous rainstorm. Because of the storm, the surf was particularly high today. Big Island is not the top surfing destination of the Hawaii chain, but on this day, the surfers were out taking advantage of the swells.

Just at the mouth of Keauhou Bay, there were some nice sets coming in. This is kind of unusual for this location – or at least I've never seen it like this. We stopped our boat at the point where the waves were coming in to take some shots of the surfers. There was a guy and a girl out there, and we had a nice angle on them. The guy managed to stand up 5 or 6 times, while the girl, who was probably a novice, just got up once while we were watching. I wanted to get some shots of the girl, because in the stock photo business, pictures of women surfers are kind of rare.

We watched the surfers for about an hour and finally left the harbor. Immediately we found a big patch of sawdust floating on the ocean surface. This was probably due to runoff from the big storm yesterday.

We passed a fishing boat that was using a green stick, which is a technique used in Hawaii, though apparently it originated in Japan. The reason it's "green" is because that's the original color of the equipment used in this technique. One long pole sticks straight up from the boat with a line trailing from the very top of it. It drags along a floating object called a "bird," the purpose of which is to keep the line taut. Attached to the line are other lines hanging straight down with lures dangling into the water, just barely skimming the surface. The lures appear like squirming squid on the water, which is irresistible to big yellowfin
tunas, Thunnus albacares. We didn't stick around to watch if they caught anything, but I took a shot of the boat so I could describe the fishing technique on my SeaPics blog!

A dolphinfish, dorado or mahi mahi, Coryphaena hippurus, swam past us and Masa tried jigging for it. He also threw out a buoy, as it's common knowledge around there that mahi mahi gravitate toward floating objects. This one failed to live up to expectations, however, and went on its way. Masa retrieved the buoy, and we went on our way as well. Some playful pantropical
spotted dolphins, Stenella attenuata, accompanied us for a while and swam in our wake for great photo opportunities.

On this day, Masa caught one small tuna – about a 15 pounder. We took a few pics of the waves crashing off the rock cliffs near Kealakekua Bay, and called it a day. Today wasn't exciting for wildlife, but we got a few photos of the surfers, which we don't usually get. Soon the humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, will be here, and we'll really have something to write about! Check back for that!

Green Sea Turtle Tagging on the Kona Coast

2007-11-28T17:19:00.004-10:00

Between mechanical problems with Masa's boat and the unwillingness of Kona's marine life to cooperate, I haven't managed to get many compelling photos lately. Thankfully, an interesting land event took place that filled the gap – Hawaiian Sea Turtle Research at the beach in Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park!

At SeaPics.com, I'm in a good position to hear about events and happenings related to the ocean and marine life. My photographers, who are out on the water on a daily basis, usually keep me informed. On this day, however, it was my staff, Christine Sheppard and Lynn Webber, who told me about the sea turtle research. They told me they needed the morning off to help further the cause of sea turtle research. And since this event also provided a great photo opportunity, we all abandoned the office for a close-up look of Big Island's honu (Hawaiian for green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas).

Down at the beach at Kaloko-Honokohau National Park, near the Honokohau Harbor, a large tent was set up for the all-day research event. George Balazs, a prominent sea turtle researcher with the National Marine Fisheries Service (he was largely responsible for getting the green sea turtle listed as an endangered species), and Marc Rice, a teacher at Hawaii Preparatory Academy were in charge. They were being assisted by students from HPA, and by a few specially chosen volunteers, including Christine and Lynn, my two SeaPics.com employees. Christine and Lynn were able to participate because of their work with ReefTeach, a volunteer group on the Big Island. It is due to their efforts that the Reef Teachers were educated on sea turtles and now pass that information on to visitors at Kahalu'u Beach Park.

The procedure was for a group of researchers and student volunteers to go out with nets and large inner tubes to find sea turtles on the beach and in the shallows. Once found, the turtles are carefully placed into the inner tube, which has an attached bottom, then transferred to a crate on the beach for weighing.

After weighing, each turtle is placed on a table for examination by George Balazs. The turtles are examined for injuries, disease and parasites, and they are all scanned for microchips which may have been inserted into the turtle's flipper at a previous tagging event. If no microchip is found, one is inserted. If they have a sonic transmitter attached to the shell, this is also scanned. George then measures and records the turtle's length, width and girth. The purpose of all of this is to help researchers understand the general condition of the turtles, and to see whether they are growing well and getting enough food.

Before releasing the turtles back into the water, a number is inscribed onto the shell and then painted over with white paint. There are several purposes for this number. One is to provide an easy way for observers to identify the turtle in the wild. Park staff at the Kaloko-Honokohau National Park record when certain turtles are seen at particular points on the park beach, which helps researchers to understand their behavior. Another reason for the numbers is to ensure that the researchers don't continually recapture the same sea turtle during the tagging. The white paint tends to become less visible over time, as algae accumulates on the turtle shell, but there is no harmful effect on the turtle.

After all data is recorded, the turtles are released back into the ocean. Some hurry off to deeper water, while others appear content to linger. Sea turtles are not used to being handled (it's actually illegal in Hawaii for people to touch them, with the exception of this research effort) so I'm sure they were happy to be on their way.

I have lived in Kona, Hawaii for 12 years, and seen hundreds of sea turtles. To see them up close like this, and to learn about the turtle tagging effort, was a unique and valuable experience. Sea turtles are one of the symbols of Hawaii, and it's important for this type of research to take place. Sea turtles are endangered the world over (you can see the IUCN status on our SeaPics.com database). Numbers are generally increasing in Hawaii, but this poses new problems of turtles and humans competing for the same patch of sand. Thanks to the efforts of the National Marine Fisheries Service, the HPA students, and ReefTeach volunteers Lynn & Christine, Hawaiian green sea turtles stand a better chance of making it through to the next century!

A special thanks to researcher George Balazs, who was kind enough to invite Lynn & Christine, and who was so informative about the sea turtle tagging. There is not one person on the beach that day who didn't come away with more knowledge and appreciation of sea turtles!

To Take or Not to Take Floating Trash

2007-11-09T16:18:00.007-10:00

We left the boat launch at about 10:45 and headed out to the FADs
(Fish Aggregation Devices), as we normally do, but we hadn't even left Keauhou Bay when we came across a huge baitball of Akule or bigeye scad or akule, Selar crumenophthalmus. Photographer Masa Ushioda jumped into the water to get some photos, as shots of swirling bait can be beautiful in the right light. He was in the water for 10 minutes or so, got some ok pics (he said visibility was too bad in the bay) and then we continued on. There was a pod of long-snouted spinner dolphins, Stenella longirostris, with us for while, but they seemed unwilling to ride our wake, like they often do. No notable pics as a result of their standoffishyness.

We got to the VV buoy fairly quickly. At one point, two large dolphinfish, dorado or mahi mahi, Coryphaena hippurus, circled our boat and checked out Masa's lure. One of them grabbed it just underneath the boat, and leaped 15 feet out of the water! It's always exciting when a mahi mahi takes your lure and leaps so high up - the very behavior that led them to be called dolphin fish! That long, green fish ended up breaking off the hook, and making a clean get-away. It's odd that he managed to break off the hook, as it was on a 60lb wire leader (prepared for wahoo,
Pacific kingfish or ono, Acanthocybium solandri), so we speculated on what other toothy fish (wahoo, barracuda or shark) was down there that may have done the job before him. We hung there for a while, but came up empty.

About 300 feet from the VV buoy, we came across some trash in the water. It was a piece of floating styrofoam, and my readers, I know you're thinking, "Of course, you retrieved the trash in the interest of protecting marine life." Well, in this case, you'd be wrong! And since there is little else to talk about for today's blog, I'm going to pontificate on trash.

There is all kinds of trash in the ocean. Floating plastic can be a danger to sea turtles, as they ingest it, thinking it to be edible, like jellyfish or squid. There are discarded fishing nets that can get wrapped around seals, whales and dolphins, and of course, no marine animal will last long with synthetic nylon cords constricting its neck or flippers. On the other hand, there are bits of floating foam or other debris like this, which over time accumulate all manner of algae, plant life, and eventually, marine animals. This bit of styrofoam was now home to all kinds of life, including barnacles, small fish and crabs. At this point, it seemed unlikely to pose a hazard to turtles. On the other hand, ripping it out of the water would immediately cause the destruction of a whole ecosystem, with an unknown number of animals that called this ocean slum a home. A couple of months back, we came across a sargassum fish, Histrio histrio, which is one strange ranger, floating in debris like this. So for us, every bit of floating garbage is an individual issue, and we may or may not pick it up. Today, for better or worse, we let harmless trash lie.

About two weeks ago, we came across a large plastic bag trailing a long monofilament line in the ocean. I had so much to write about that day (see Oct. 25 blog!), that I couldn't make room to discuss it. Near South Point on the Big Island, where a strong wind blows almost everyday by nature, many shore fishermen use plastic garbage bags in a fishing technique called "kite fishing." They blow the bag up with air, tie it closed, and attach their fishing line to it. They then launch the improvised "kite" in a windy area and let the wind and water currents pull their fishing lines out to sea. In this way, they can get their fishing lines out to much deeper water where they have a chance of catching some offshore species like ahi (yellowfin or bigeye tunas), aku, ono (wahoo), mahi mahi and even marlin. For people who can't afford a boat, this may be their best chance of landing those excellent eating fish. On the other hand, predictably enough, plastic bags end up getting lost at sea. It's deplorable, but it happens.

On that day, we retrieved the plastic bag from the ocean. We looked around for what kinds of marine life might have called it home, and found only two tiny crabs. Sorry crabs, but in the interest of the greater good, we appropriated the trash. So you see, folks, in our world, some trash gets picked up and some remains where it was found.

Now I'll mention one last trashy item, but of the natural variety. Today we saw a large patch of weird yellowish-brown stuff floating in the water. It may have been an algal bloom of some kind. I have photos, but let's just say they lack sufficient impact to post here.

Next, we meandered about, trying to find "F" buoy. This is one hard buoy to find sometime when the ocean is rough with swells; it seems to drift 1-2 miles in either direction. We finally gave up and headed over to "C" buoy about 15 miles away. We had a short run with at least a hundred pantropical
spotted dolphins, Stenella attenuata there, but like the spinner dolphins we saw earlier, these didn't want to play in our wake. They were active and doing some nice leaps, but they were a bit too far away for any good shots, and soooo unpredictable!

The Strange Dietary Preferences of Oceanic Whitetip Sharks

2007-11-01T16:24:00.009-10:00

We went out earlier than usual today because we were up at an ungodly hour. I went in to work at SeaPics.com for a while before going out. Amazingly, my employee, Christine, was already in the office at 5:45 a.m. Yes folks, I have some seriously dedicated employees! There weren't many trailers down at the marina, which is usually a sign that the fishing's bad. No worries for us, because when the fishing's bad, we're taking photos. Likewise, when there's nothing to photograph, we're fishing, so we're always occupied.

We did our usual rounds of going out to the FADs (Fish Aggregation Devices), but there wasn't much happening. Masa put out all kinds of trolling lures, but we had no luck. Because we were out earlier than usual, we had a nice view of Hualalai (see picture of Hualalai volcanic mountain, 2,523m/8,271ft above sea level, last historical eruption in 1800-1801, off Kona Coast, Big Island, Hawaii, Pacific Ocean), which is often clouded over a little later in the day. There were no whales or dolphins to photograph, so we took some scenic shots of the mountain.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Big Island, Hualalai is one of the 5 volcanoes that make up this island. It's not as well-known as Mauna Kea, the highest point in the Pacific, or Mauna Loa, the most massive mountain in the world, or the active vocano, Kilauea, all of which are also on the Big Island, but it's the dominant geographical feature of Kailua Kona, where we live. Hualalai is dormant, but will no doubt erupt again at some point in the future. It last erupted in 1801, and they say it erupts in a 200-year cycle, which means ... well, let's think about fishing.

We headed south, trolling for wahoo, Pacific kingfish or ono, Acanthocybium solandri. We traveled at high speed of about 8 to 12 knotts, which is best for ono fishing, and with all the right gear out. We found ourselves in a small parade of fishing boats doing the same thing: going out to the 150 to 250 ft. depth, called "Ono Lane", then following the drop-off in a southerly direction. We did this from about 7:30 to noon. There was no action on our lines, so were taking pictures of the nothing that surrounded us. The Kona coast doesn't have the dramatic cliffs of the Hamakua Coast on the north side of the island, so pictures of this area aren't very marketable. We got some scenic photos that could make background shots for a magazine spread or pamphlet. We also got some shots of the waves crashing on the 20 ft volcanic rock cliffs when we passed by the tip of Kealakekua Bay.

Having gotten up so early on this beautiful, calm day, I was sleepy, so I slept on the deck for a while. Masa told me later that C buoy was as dead as it could be for fishing. When I woke up, he was driving the boat down to UU buoy, which is near Kona Paradise subdivision. Finally we saw some activity. There were about 5 fishing boats working at the buoy and many birds flying overhead.

We saw a small pod of short-finned pilot whales, Globicephala macrorhynchus, nearby, maybe 9 or 10, logging. As expected, there were some oceanic whitetip shark, Carcharhinus longimanus, milling around with them. Masa wanted to get in the water for some photos. He entered the water quietly and found himself fairly close to the large bull pilot whale that was relaxing there. These bulls can be unpredictable, and Masa didn't want to get close enough to disturb it. They floated around in the water there together for about 10 minutes or so, just eyeing each other. While Masa was attempting to photograph one of the oceanic whitetip sharks coming his way, he saw one of the pilot whales poop 50 feet below, which sent the oceanic whitetips into a minor frenzy. Three of the four sharks immediately sensed the huge, free meal and rocketed into the cloud of poop, eating it. This behavior explains why they hang with the pilot whales, but it makes you wonder why they don't spend more time checking out the delectable diver in their midst. I guess whale poop is tastier, which is lucky for Masa.

Masa got back in the boat and we continued fishing. Right there at UU buoy, he got a 20 lb yellowfin tunas, Thunnus albacares, on a jig. He bled it over the side, which is what Masa does to ensure tasty sashimi. This brought those whitetips barreling over to the boat. With all that blood in the water, Masa jumps in for some pictures! Unfortunately, the whitetips didn't approach Masa close enough for the picture he wanted, of several in the same shot. Masa finally came back on the boat to try for another tuna.

Right away, he got a tuna, but with the blood in the water, those whitetips didn't let Masa enjoy it for long. They latched onto that tuna, churning up the water, and tore it apart. Now we know why the whitetips are nice to Masa; he feeds them tuna!

We headed south for a while and ran into a pod of friendly pantropical spotted dolphins, Stenella attenuata. They hung with us a bit, but the light was poor, so it wasn't a great photo op.

Now we were at B buoy, which is really far out from Kona for a small boat. The B buoy is located about 5 miles offshore of an old fishing village, Miloli`i. We quickly got another tuna, 15-20 lbs, then another. These fish are great for sushi, but for the moment, we were fascinated by the small cookiecutter shark, Isistius brasiliensis, scar that decorated the side of one of them. For those of you unfamiliar with this species, a cookiecutter shark is a small (20 inch) shark that latches onto dolphins, whales and large fish with a suction action. It then twists its body in a violent motion and slices off a hunk of flesh, leaving a single circular scar of 2 to 4 inches in diameter, depending on the size of the shark. The victims generally have no long term effects from this, but live the rest of their lives with that nice, round tattoo.

On our third strike, we knew a shark was in the area. The tuna was being reeled in at a predictable pace, when suddenly, in a burst of strength, it just took off, as it tried to avoid the shark. No luck for the fish or for us, as the large shark grabbed the tuna and settled in for a short game of tug-of-war. The shark was thrashing around and cut the tuna in two; all we pulled up was the head. You'd think Masa would be disappointed to lose the tuna, but he seemed pleased that he didn't lose his jig. However, with sharks in the area, we knew we'd lose any tuna we'd catch, so we headed back to UU.

There we caught a small great barracuda, Sphyraena barracuda. Barracudas are beautiful fish, but not good for eating because of the danger of ciguatera, a reef toxin prevalent among predatory fish that inhabit tropical reefs. It's rare to catch a barracuda so far out, as they generally stick near the reefs where they feed. As we took some photos, it thrashed about and cut the line with its sharp teeth, and plunged back into the water. Chalk up another one for the fish.

For our efforts this day, we had little to speak of in the way of photographs. On the other hand, we caught several tunas and managed to land 4 intact. Great sushi tonight! And for those of you who follow this blog, we are pleased to say that Sugar, my Tibetan spaniel, did really well on the boat today; no sea sickness at all!