Me and ‘Barry’ the Barracuda in Bonaire [the Dutch Antilles, off the coast of Venezuela] 2005
© Barbara Lloyd [Click on Photo to Enlarge]

 — What is it with ME and Barracudas, anyway? My magnetic personality?

Bat Ray Ballet: Close Enounters in the Dark

What starts as an unnerving encounter with a rather large creature in the dark… underwater, quickly becomes a graceful ballet with a very gentle animal who is merely trying to feed or breed, we’re never quite sure which.

It begins when you’re coming…

Bat Ray [Close-up: note strange, dog-like head] © Chris Menjou [Used with Permission]

Bat Ray [Note: large wings and stinger tail, which is used mainly for balance, but is also venomous] © Chris Menjou [Used with Permission]

Me and ‘Bob’ the Barracuda [Florida, 2004] © Barbara Lloyd
[Used with Permission] Click on Photo to Enlarge

On a Wall in Bonaire at around 100 ft. © Barbara Lloyd
[Click on Photo to Enlarge]

Denizen of the Deep: Fried Egg Jellyfish
 © Gary McCarthy

Note: Red Tide in upper left of Photo, off of La Jolla Shores, California [click on photo to enlarge]. We often dive right in front of the red-roofed buildings in the upper right area of the photo — where La Jolla Canyon drops off into the deep. © Barbara Lloyd

The Red Tide is Here……

One thing we like to do on our Night Dives here in San Diego is, in the shallows, turn off our lights underwater [takes balls!] and wave our hands in the water and watch the underwater light show, which results from tiny single-celled organisms called “dinoflagellates” (Greek for…

[Harmless] Horn Shark Off La Jolla Shores — click on photo to enlarge

 [Note: Horns on Left Side of Both Dorsal Fins] © Richard Alvarado [Used with Permission]