sharks cove in april.. lobsters, cowries, & trumpets

[VBlueV]

'dove sharks cove three times over the weekend.. with a diversion to the firehouse too.. viz was great.. 100+ft on saturday.. 70+ft on sunday..
to quote our buddy pedro, "t'was flat as an english #%$@&'s 455"

there were a couple lobsters waaay back within' the elevator shaft..

and then some large tiger cowries..

we also saw a couple triton trumpets.. this one was big..

and of course.. lots of turtles..
my buds even removed a bunch of fishing line tangled 'round the neck and front flippers of a baby green turtle..
this one was sooo clean it was amazing..

as always.. tons o'fish and caverns..

back to 20+ft sets on the north shore later this week.. maybe again in may

 

[justleesa]

Wow....lots of fish Glad you had a good time!!

PS: Good job on saving the turtle

 

[Tom Winters]

Nice trumpet. I used to coax the critters out of the shell and up my arm for the clients. They loved it and so did I. Beautiful animals.
Whenever I found trumpet shells in shallow water though, I either took them into deeper water or chopped the lip of the shell so people would leave them and not kill them. When you find a tiger cowry, look around for a Burgess cowry - a member of the Hawaii Malacological Society paid $600 for one that a guy found at an HCDC picnic back in the early '80's that popped at Haleiwa Beach Park.
I bet that sucker would go for $2,500 now.

 

[justleesa]

it is a curse to have a beautiful shell, isn't it?

now how did you coax the critters out of their shell? and how big was that burgess cowry (think we have one)?

 

[VBlueV]

$2500 !!!

dang.. i usually just throw the little ones in the flower garden..

 

[Tom Winters]

Put the trumpet on the back of your hand - pull up your wetsuit sleeve if you're wearing one. After a minute or so, you'll see the horns start to come out. Don't move. Then as the critter relaxes, it will distend and slide out and start walking up your arm - beautiful yellow and blue coloration.
If you have a light touch, you can stroke the animal and it won't mind. It is one of those sublime experiences of diving. I also had octopi come up and walk in my fingers as well. That was pretty cool too.
I stopped doing shells after I took the 5 1/4" tiger cowry off Manana Island, but I never could have taken one of these.
The Burgess cowry is pretty small - like a checkerboard cowry, only worth as much as a used car. When I saw it, I sure couldn't figger out the appeal. Shell people... ooops, malacologists get pretty worked up over stuff I wouldn't give a raton's derriere for.

 

[justleesa]

Thanks Tom, I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for a trumpet now

Someone once placed one on the deck of the Sea Tiger and I was able to take a whole bunch of pictures....they are very beautiful.

 

[VBlueV]

Put the trumpet on the back of your hand - pull up your wetsuit sleeve... After a minute or so, you'll see the horns start to come out. Don't move. Then as the critter relaxes, it will distend and slide out and start walking up your arm...
If you have a light touch, you can stroke the animal and it won't mind. It is one of those sublime experiences of diving...

jimbo tried this with a crown-of-thorns.. didn't work so well

and since shore-diving's gonna be iffy this weekend.. a couple more pics from sunday..

here's some purple crabs..

and this dude was guarding the entrance to one of the caves..

 

[justleesa]

those flat crabs are sooo cool!

 

[VBlueV]

woohoo, it's the month of may !
pool's open at sharks' cove !

check out today's surf forecast from SNN..

gotta luv those three awesome words listed in the surf conditions.. "diving, paddling, and fishin'"

and you hardly ever see.. "0 to flat" across the board for the north shore

soooo.. after work, i had to go do 2 x 70minute dives

this time i found several more of these lobsters in the caves under the shore-line..
anyone know the name of 'em?..
they have what looks to be these bright-lime-green accu-puncture needles all over 'em..