Funny cabezon behavior - with video

[alaity47]

We dived oil rig Eureka on Monday, and had an interesting experience on our last dive. Puttering around in 60' of water, enjoying the sea lion and baitball show, I accidentally scared up a cabezon hiding in the rig structure. But instead of swimming away to hide, he turned around and headed right for Jeff - and settled comfortably onto his camera! Carol and I came close to get shots of the little guy, while Jeff hovered with a slightly confused expression on his face.

Eventually he started gently trying to shake the fish off his camera - but the cabezon wasn’t interested in leaving. He was finally dislodged - and immediately turned around to nip at the strobe, swim at Jeff’s face…. and then settled back on the camera again! Every now and then he’d move off long enough for Jeff to take his photo, but he kept coming back to his new home.

When Jeff finally thought he’d gotten rid of him for good, he moved on to other photo subjects while I kept an eye on the lonely fish. He didn’t disappoint: as soon as Carol got into range with HER camera, he tried to settle onto her rig! She fended him off with the lens, spinning around in circles while I completely cracked up.

We didn’t completely shake off the cabezon until we started our ascent: he constantly swum around us looking for a chance to sit on someone. Except me - for some reason, he had zero interest in my video rig. Which means I got lots of video!

I’ve edited together the highlights of our friendly cabezon encounter: enjoy!

“Why Can’t We Be Friends” - 1:43 Quicktime movie
Medium Quality - 14.7 MB
Low Quality - 4.7 MB

And some photos from Jeff:
9/3/2007 Sea Bass Trip

 

[sarita75]

For some reason, I can't see the videos (probably work settings or something) but the photos are great! Especially the 2nd photo of the cabezon - truly does have an adoring look in his eyes .... (how's that for personification!?!!)

 

[alaity47]

You might need a fairly recent version of Quicktime to watch them - I'll upload a version to YouTube later. It won't look as good, though.

 

[MissyP]

rofl !! That was great- especially when they were going in circles
That was one determined fish !

 

[ertes]

Your videos are just amazing!

 

[bvmjethead]

The video is fantastic!

How do you like the hydro optics mask?

 

[sarita75]

Ha! I finally saw it - what a way to start the morning! That was a GREAT video and good music to boot!

I am curious about your take on the mask too!

 

[alaity47]

I love the mask for boat diving. For beach diving, I prefer a flat mask so I can still see even above water (to make out surf, for example!) It's really amazing on clear days or in tropical water, when you can see EVERYTHING just as if you weren't looking through a mask at all - awesome.

It's especially handy since my husband's a photographer and I'm shooting video.. getting our peripheral vision back helps us keep tabs on each other a lot more easily, instead of losing each other constantly.

Neither of us requires contacts to use them, though, since we're both nearsighted.

Our dive buddy Carol also has one, but doesn't like to use it when she's got her camera since it puts her face farther away from the viewfinder.

 

[drbill]

It's obvious... that fish wants to be a Hollywierd star. Send him Dr. Bill's way and I'll give him (her?) a starring role in my Tv show!

Funny stuff Anastasia and Jeff!

 

[sarita75]

I love the mask for boat diving. For beach diving, I prefer a flat mask so I can still see even above water (to make out surf, for example!) It's really amazing on clear days or in tropical water, when you can see EVERYTHING just as if you weren't looking through a mask at all - awesome.

It's especially handy since my husband's a photographer and I'm shooting video.. getting our peripheral vision back helps us keep tabs on each other a lot more easily, instead of losing each other constantly.

Neither of us requires contacts to use them, though, since we're both nearsighted.

Our dive buddy Carol also has one, but doesn't like to use it when she's got her camera since it puts her face farther away from the viewfinder.

Thanks for the update. I know that my current mask, which I love because the front side of it is superwide, is horrible in photos. I know, vain but I definitely resemble someone from the 80s in (minus all the neon colored dive gear!). :14: However, it does lack the peripheral vision, which would be great to get.