Diving the Kona Coast: Green Sea Turtle

Showing posts with label Green Sea Turtle. Show all posts

Friday, June 6, 2014

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Friday, April 4, 2014

A few years ago, I encountered a large male green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) swimming through Honaunau Bay with white masses on his shell. Initially, I thought these might have been fibropapillomas that sometimes afflict sea turtles. Upon closer inspection, I saw that the masses were gooseneck barnacles (Pollicipes polymers) a type of sessile crustacean that can often be seen attached to pilings, docks and boat hulls.

George Balazs, NOAA's sea turtle biologist in Hawai'i, explained that barnacles tend to grow on green sea turtles that remain out in the open sea for prolonged periods of time. Most greens spend their time near shore except when traveling to and from their mating grounds.

After the turtle came to rest, I found another creature hitching a ride - this slender remora (Echineis naucrates).

Over the years I've seen a lot of turtles but this was the first I've ever seen with barnacles and one of only a handful I've seen with a remora. I guess this turtle continued his seafaring ways because I never saw him again.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Underside

green sea turtle Chelonia mydas

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Big Sky

green sea turtle Chelonia mydas

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Uprising

green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas)

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Dark Reef

green sea turtle Chelonia mydas

Friday, February 14, 2014

At the Shorebreak

Hawaiian green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas

Monday, February 3, 2014

Bunkmates

This photo shows a green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) sharing its resting spot with a whitetip reef shark (Triaenodon obesus). As mismatched as this arrangement may seem, I've actually seen it several times and I imagine it must be fairly common. Both species like to shelter under ledges or in lava tubes during the day and, since such places are in short supply, inter-species co-habitation sometimes occurs. This type of shark has small teeth and feeds on small reef fishes and invertebrates so the turtle is not in peril.

These species like to shelter in tight spaces so getting a pleasing photo of both creatures is difficult. Hence, the shark's face being obscured.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Photo Mashup

Betty & I spent last weekend at the volcano celebrating our wedding anniversary so there was no diving. However, there were TWO state holidays that week (Prince Kuhio Day & Good Friday) which afforded some wonderful photo ops. Here's a smattering...

Longnose Butterflyfish (Forcipiger flavissimus)

Day Octopus (Octopus cyanea)

Haig's Hermit Crab (Calcinus haigae)

Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas)

That's all for now! Aloha!

Friday, March 15, 2013

Randomness

Aloha All,

Not much on my mind today so I thought I'd share some random photos that didn't require a lot of commentary or a separate post. Hope you like them!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Turtle Bedtime

This green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) is entering an underwater cave for a nap. When sleeping or resting, a green sea turtle can stay submerged for several hours on a single breath. However, when active or stressed, time submerged is greatly reduced. Greens can reach up to five feet in length and weigh up to 700 pounds. So now you know!

Monday, February 18, 2013

I Won! I Won! I Won!

The Photo above won the SeaLife Camera Photo of the Month contest. My prize is a SeaLife Mini II camera. I'm pretty happy because I don't usually win contests. Just thought I'd share. Have a nice day!

Monday, January 28, 2013

Strange Bedfellows

In my last post, I shared photos of a hawksbill turtle that was, presumably, injured by a tiger shark. Today I have something completely different to share with you. In the photo above, a green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) and a whitetip reef shark (Triaenodon obesus) are sheltering together in a small cave in Honaunau Bay. This is not the first time I have witnessed such a pairing, but it is the first time I was able to get close enough to get a photo (albeit grainy and poor quality).
The whitetip shark has very small teeth and poses no serious threat to the turtle. Whitetip reef sharks feed mostly on small fish and crustaceans and are nocturnal. Green sea turtles subsist primarily on seaweed and forage during the day. Consequently, they are bunkmates for only a short time. As you may be able to see, the turtle is quite awake and may be considering swimming around his companion to start her day. The little orange streaks in the photo are tiny juvenile fish hovering close to the camera.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

A Couple of Photos I Really Like

Obviously, I take a lot of photos and I'm pleased enough with many of them to share them on the internet with you. While they may be technically "good" usually they're not anything particularly special to me. This past weekend, however, I got a couple captures I really like...

For over a month I've been regularly visiting a group of six juvenile moorish idols that remain in the same general spot on the reef. Like many fish, they get skittish when approached and scatter and disappear within the coral. Over several dives, I've taken hundreds of photos of this group with only a few decent results. But on Saturday, I got this image of three of the idols in good position over the coral with gentle early morning sunlight filtering into the frame from directly behind. Maybe it's not high art, but it's a pleasant enough image.

Near the end of that same dive, I happened upon a green sea turtle swimming along near my exit point. I followed and caught this image at the moment she surfaced for air. Although I have several photos of turtles taking a breath, most of them are from almost directly below. Here, I was swimming alongside and only slightly below allowing for a nice reflection of the turtle on the surface and nicer blues and greens. Also, the strobes didn't fire as I had taken a shot only seconds earlier. This was good as there was plenty of ambient light and flash would have just caused a lot of backscatter.

Anyway, hope you like the photos. Barry

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Barry Fackler In the News

Recently, a couple of my photos were featured in the "Island Life" section of our local newspaper, West Hawai'i Today. For me, a small but pleasant thrill knowing that a photo editor out there likes an image I took with my dinky little point-and-shoot camera. For those of you who don't receive WHT, here are the photos.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Just Some Nice Turtle Shots I Got Recently

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Thursday 8/26/10

First Dive of the Day...

...Second Dive of the Day!

Life (and diving) is good in Hawai'i!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Turtle Portraits

I got a new camera recently and am still having trouble getting the "feel" for it. What I'm learning is that it is pretty poor at focusing on anything that happens to be moving! Not a good thing for underwater photography. Anyway, to get some decent photos, I've been going to the turtle beds early in the morning to get some close-ups of the honu while they're still being still. I've gotten a few good results, these being the best.