Weekend 8-1-2010 Critter Shots
Méduse œuf au plat, or egg jellyfish
Here is the second batch of shots from last weekend. There are a few shots of macro critters, plus a “Méduse œuf au plat”, or egg jellyfish. It was the first one I had ever seen in person, and even thought it was a very small one, I am happy to have seen it. The mini crabs are the exact same ones I shot the week before. I just wasn’t thrilled with the results, so I went back and tried a few new techniques for getting them shot better. I think I succeeded, but I’ll let you be the judge.
Back from Corsica
The waters in Scandola were incredibly clear
We got back from Corsica on Monday night. All I can say is wow! What a paradise. We went scuba diving near St. Florent (Ludo Beach), The Cape of Corsica in the north, as well as near Calvi. We were supposed to have done one dive in Porto, farther south, but if got cancelled because of weather. The diving was good, especially near Calvi, but the best thing we did (and indeed one of the best things I’ve ever done on vacation) was to rent a boat out of Porto and cruise up the coast of the Scandola reserve, stopping to snorkel and freedive along the way.
The Scandola reserve is a protected nature reserve with no roads and foot access. The only way to see the area is by boat, and the only way to dive it is without a tank, as scuba diving is not permitted. The shoreline is absolutely stunning, the water was crystal clear, there were critters everywhere, and the water was warm and wonderful. If you are heading to Corsica, I highly recommend the town of Porto and a trip out to the Scandola reserve by rented boat. If you don’t have a license, that’s okay, you can rent a little boat that takes about an hour and a half to get you there, but it still leaves you a load of time to explore if you leave early enough. The next time I am in Corsica, I will be heading back to Porto/Scandola as quickly as I can.
Nudibranch near Calvi
The whole trip was amazing, and I have to say, I was amazed at the things we saw. Right away, from the boat we came in on, we saw dolphins as we arrived. They were jumping and playing next to our boat. We also saw a pod of dolphins playing near The Cape of Corsica in the north on our way to a dive. One thing I didn’t expect at all was to see a gigantic pod of whales on our way out, they were rolling parallel to the boat in the distance. I never thought I would see whales in the Mediterranean but we certainly did. In addition to those two marvels, we also saw rays, conger eels, moray eels of several varieties, nudibranch, barracuda, grouper, cuttlefish, several species of octopus, a triggerfish, and much more.
All in all, it was a fantastic week of sunshine, water, diving, and discovery. Corsica is truly a marvel, and I can’t wait to get back. If you are planning a trip, an want to go scuba diving, make sure to head over towards Calvi. Oh yeah, and one pro tip: if you see a wild pig on the island in Corsica, don’t feed them with your hands. Evidently, they will take everything you hand to them, even a finger or two!
[Update: For those of you who want to see where each shot was taken, I have attached geo-locationing to my shots on my flickr account here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/83275239@N00/sets/72157624429872639/map?&fLat=42.6194&fLon=8.9532&zl=10&order_by=recent ]
[Update 2: I have added the terrestrial shots to my other site. There are photos of Scandola and Piana there: http://www.w3rks.com/?p=63.]
Photos from Giens and the Island of Porquerolles
I faced off with MEGA Spider Crab... and survived
We were planning on hitting the island of Port Cros, but due to my partner being kind of sick, and some other changes on plans, we never quite made it. However, we did make it to the Island of Poruerolles, and I have to say it was very beautiful. We ended up renting some bikes and making our way to a very secluded, hard to find little beach. From there I made my way to the sea where I discovered MEGA Spider Crab! He was pretty enormous, and I managed to cut him off from the algae bed he was trying to escape to. I got him out into the open where I was able to get some pretty sweet shots. He kept trying to get around me to safety, and I kept having to stop my photo shoot to cut him back off. I cut my knee up and broke my new light reflector in the action, but I got my shots, and he escaped unharmed.
Anyways, I got some other pretty hard to find stuff as well. I got my second nudibranch in as many weeks. He was almost microscopic in size. I also got a shrimp, an eel, some nice spirograph shots, my first triptérygion jaune, and some nice algae shots. Take a peek below to check them out.
RSS readers click here for the gallery.
Caught my first eel on camera this weekend
My first eel, caught on camera
Well, it’s been a busy week, I’ve been working on a couple articles, I have lots of content on the way, just none of it quite finished! I’m working on a marine bestiary with identifications and photos of everything I have on file. It seems that is what people generally want, so I am going to give it to them. I added about 40 new photos this week, so stop by the photo galleries to check them out.
Now on to the fun stuff. Snorkeling at the Cap de Nice this weekend, I spotted my first eel, or Murenne, in french. It was awesome. He was pretty far away, and on the move. I followed him and watched him for about 2 minutes. The coolest part was watching him attack a little fish at one point. The speed at which he moved was incredible. I snapped a bunch of pics, and while none of them turned out super spectacular, I was happy with catching him at all, considering the circumstances.
Anyways ,I’ll have more info and articles later this week.
