mntlblok
Contributor
survival
My vision doesn't allow for the finding of dwarfies. And, if I didn't try to photograph stuff that plummets into holes, I'd have very little to take pitchers of down yonder.
Looks like my long post about the southern stargazer got lost in the ether, so here goes, again. Whist checking out and photo-ing what I thought might be one of the rarer jawfish - due to the pretty, white spots on his body (but apparently wasn't, as there was no big spot on the dorsal nor and facial hair) - I went over to change cameras for some wider angle shots, and noticed some white spots in the sand. Got all excited about it possibly being a stargazer, but then recalled that I'd been fooled a couple of times by having them end up belonging yellow stingrays. However, this guy *did* turn out to be a stargazer. So, I reached into my BC pocket and pulled out my bottom grabber tool and tried to gently lever the thing up a bit for a better pose. He still wasn't very exciting, so I got my camera ready for his exit and prepared myself for following him to wherever ended up digging in again. I was *not* prepared for what he did, though. Once he exited his hole, he came straight for me - and he was *pissed*. I felt like a matador with my camera housing as my cape, but my reduced peripheral vision allowed him to keep after me without my being able to see him the whole time. I was juking and spinning and screaming like a little girl, trying to figure out if he was trying to shock me or bite me or just ram me or trying to remove a body part. I was so panicked that I was unable to get any good shots of the attack off with the camera until he finally headed off for the west channel. He *did* seem to be trailing a few feet of fishing line behind, so maybe *that's* why he was pissed. I was on tenterhooks the whole rest of the dive, and every little thing that brushed against me sent me back into a panic. Those dern things are *fast*!
My vision doesn't allow for the finding of dwarfies. And, if I didn't try to photograph stuff that plummets into holes, I'd have very little to take pitchers of down yonder.
Looks like my long post about the southern stargazer got lost in the ether, so here goes, again. Whist checking out and photo-ing what I thought might be one of the rarer jawfish - due to the pretty, white spots on his body (but apparently wasn't, as there was no big spot on the dorsal nor and facial hair) - I went over to change cameras for some wider angle shots, and noticed some white spots in the sand. Got all excited about it possibly being a stargazer, but then recalled that I'd been fooled a couple of times by having them end up belonging yellow stingrays. However, this guy *did* turn out to be a stargazer. So, I reached into my BC pocket and pulled out my bottom grabber tool and tried to gently lever the thing up a bit for a better pose. He still wasn't very exciting, so I got my camera ready for his exit and prepared myself for following him to wherever ended up digging in again. I was *not* prepared for what he did, though. Once he exited his hole, he came straight for me - and he was *pissed*. I felt like a matador with my camera housing as my cape, but my reduced peripheral vision allowed him to keep after me without my being able to see him the whole time. I was juking and spinning and screaming like a little girl, trying to figure out if he was trying to shock me or bite me or just ram me or trying to remove a body part. I was so panicked that I was unable to get any good shots of the attack off with the camera until he finally headed off for the west channel. He *did* seem to be trailing a few feet of fishing line behind, so maybe *that's* why he was pissed. I was on tenterhooks the whole rest of the dive, and every little thing that brushed against me sent me back into a panic. Those dern things are *fast*!
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