Slugs and Worms

Or more specifically, nudibranchs and Christmas tree worms.

Nudibranchs are, roughly speaking, sea slugs. That doesn't sound very exciting if you think of land slugs. But nudibranchs come in an amazing assortment of shapes and colors. A better equivalent might be the butterflies of the sea.

The word "nudibranch" means roughly "naked gills". That's the bushy thing you can see on their backs.





One good thing about photographing nudibranchs is that they don't move too fast. Although even a slow crawl can take them out of sight when you're fiddling with camera settings and trying not to drift away.

This one isn't as sharp as I'd like, but it's the best I got of this type. We didn't see many of these.



It takes skill and experience to spot the nudibranchs, just like an expert birdwatcher will see more birds. Rafael (our dive master) is very good at it. We also had another guy diving with us, John, whose main interest was nudibranchs. Where I might spot one or two on a dive, he would see a dozen different kinds. (He had little interest in boring things like fish!) Rafael and John were also spotting ones that were tiny, e.g. less than a centimeter (half an inch) long. I didn't even try to spot (or photograph) those ones. The ones I have photos of were maybe 5 cm (2 inches).

The Tiger dorid (Roboastra tigris) below is one of the largest, growing up to 30 cm (12 inches) in length. The name fits both the coloring and its predatory behavior. It will even eat other nudibranchs, swallowing them whole.



I shared this photo previously from our earlier dives. This was the only one of this type that we've seen so far.



[update] We saw a couple more of these later. They were "flatter" than the first one.



[update] We also saw a few Agassiz's nudibranchs. I tried to get a better angle instead of straight overhead or from the side.



These next ones are related but they have a partial shell - a cone shaped "hat". They are side-gill snails because they have their gills on one side instead of on top like the nudibranchs. The photo is not the clearest, but there are two of them together, possibly mating?



See all my nudibranch photos from this trip

"worms" doesn't sound very appealing, but Christmas tree worms are beautiful. You don't actually see the worm, just their feeding and respiration structure - a spiral that can be a variety of colors. If you get too close the worms retract this structure instantly, making it tricky to photograph them sometimes - if you get too close you end up with nothing to photograph. A bit of current seems to help, probably because it "hides" your movement.

This blue color is less common but stands out because there aren't a lot of things that color.



They are often found in groups. Sometimes a rock will be covered in them.



Notice that they always come in pairs. Each pair of "christmas trees" is a single worm.



Fan worms are less colorful but the details are amazing when you look close. This one almost looks like feathers. (Some worms are called "feather dusters" due to this resemblance.)



Hopefully the photos have convinced you to look for slugs and worms next time you are snorkelling or diving :-)

Note: color (white balance) is altered underwater and I have adjusted these (raw) photographs to look "correct" as much as I can, but the colors may still not be totally accurate.

Loreto Sunrise

After four days in a row of scuba diving we decided to take a day off. Soon after we got up I looked outside and noticed orange clouds so we grabbed cameras and headed for the shore (a block from the apartment we're renting). Because it faces east, Loreto doesn't see the sunset, but it makes up for it with the sunrises.







I spotted the juvenile heron again and took a few more photos:



There was also a giant egret (aka great white heron) fishing off the dock. It had to bend right over to reach the fish in the water but it seemed quite successful.







Someone walked by and it flew over to the next dock. I managed to catch it just as it landed.



There were reflections, of course:





Loreto is pretty in the morning light.



Maybe this seagull is thinking the same thing.



See all 35 photos

Diving in Loreto

Some photos from our first few days of diving in Loreto, Baja, Mexico. We've been coming here every couple of years for about 12 years. We like the small, quiet town. And we love diving with Rafael and the crew at Dolphin Dive. We're staying at Villas Santo Nino where we were greeted by this wonderful new mural:



Heading out on the Dolphin Dive boat with Rafael:



I don't do enough underwater photography to get any good at it, but occasionally I get lucky and get a decent shot.

Baja's Sea of Cortez may not have the coral reefs of other dive sites, but it has a lot of other great sea life. This is not a very good photograph but it shows the multitude of fish. Jacques Cousteau called this area "the world's aquarium".



This next one is one of my favorites from the last few days. It's a nudibranch (sea slug), I think Chromodoris marislae.



I like these little spotted boxfish. They can be shy so it's tricky to get a good shot.



I love being able to view the details in the photographs, like this starfish.



Or this Panamic fan worm that looks like feathers:



Green moray eels are quite common. This one actually came closer when I was taking its picture, as if it was curious. Their eyes look like the buttons on stuffed toys.



The scorpionfish are well camouflaged (they're ambush predators). They look grumpy.



It's always fun to visit the sea lions. The first day they ignored us under water, but the second visit they came down and interacted with us more. They don't breed here so they are not aggressive.







Although there aren't as many dolphins around as there used to be, we were lucky enough to see a good sized group of them on our second day of diving.







Of course, there's plenty of life above the water as well, like these blue-footed boobies (famous from Galapagos)



This juvenile yellow-crowned night heron was under the dock.



Green and flowers in the desert, a result of recent rain.



And, of course, reflections :-)



See all 67 photos (sorry, too many!)

La Officina

We've been going to the same hotel bar the last few days for a glass of wine before supper. We got to know the waiter and he's quite a joker. Yesterday we showed up and someone else had "our" table. We jokingly complained about it to our waiter. Today when we arrived we found he had reserved the table for us. We're always on our computers (processing photographs and video) so he calls it our "oficina" ("office" or in Spanish). It's definitely an office with a view - overlooking the ocean and the marina and Carmen Island.

Santa Barbara, Alice Keck Park

Because we went paragliding every day in Santa Barbara, we didn't have a lot of time for other things. However, we did visit Alice Keck Memorial Gardens. We had stopped there last time but it started raining so we didn't spend much time. This time it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the flowers and ducks and turtles.

When we walked into the park and over to the pond I noticed a single turtle and started taking photographs of it. Then we realized that there were literally hundreds of turtles in the small pond!





There were lots out sunning and also lots swimming around, where often all you saw was their head sticking out. (With nice reflections from the greenery and flowers.)



There were also lots of nice flowers, including masses of bougainvillea:



And hibiscus:



The bees were enjoying the flowers as well: (so were the butterflies, but they wouldn't sit still to be photographed!)



There were lots of ducks and they were obviously quite accustomed to people so I got some good close up "portraits".







See all 22 photos