WHALE WATCHING IN BAJA, MEXICO

NATHAB : WHALE WATCHING MEXICO - BAJA

I try not to post commercial sites such as this, but I thought the photos and the information was good, so take a look.

EXCERPT:  Every winter, hundreds of Pacific gray whales return to their traditional breeding and birthing grounds in sheltered San Ignacio Lagoon on Mexico's Baja Peninsula.  Their migration from Alaska's Bering Sea to the warm water sof Baja's Pacific lagoons is the longest mammal migration on Earth.

SEA SHELL MANDALA

OUT OF THE ROLLING OCEAN THE CROWD by WALT WHITMAN

POETRY FOUNDATION : Out of the Rolling Ocean by Walt Whitman

TRIPLE MERMAIDS

THE OCEAN BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE

POETRY FOUNDATION : the Ocean by Nathaniel Hawthorne

LOBSTER

SEA LIFE THREE FISH

TSUNAMI ALARM SYSTEM

TSUNAMI ALARM SYSTEM  ?!

EXCERPT: Tsunamis occur most frequently in the Pacific, particularly along the "Pacific Ring of Fire."  This zone is found at the northern edge of the Pacific Plate and refers to the geologically most active fields of the earth. Several times a year, strong earth quakes of at least 7 on the Richter scale result in tsunamis.

SHARKS CAN YOU IDENTIFY THEM?

RHINE MAIDENS - MERMAIDS OF THE RIVERS

LORELEI MERMAIDS - MYTHOLOGY?

MY FAIRY LAND - MERMAID - THE LORELEI MYTHOLOGY - GREAT PAINTINGS

EXCERPT : Lorelei was immortal creature, but even her wasn't imune to Cupid's arrows. She saw a fisherman, felt in love, he returned the feelings and they had a romance for several weeks. Lorelei even helped him at fishing. But happiness lasted only until she heard about a young girl who also liked the handsome youngster.

One evening Lorelei grabbed her lover and dragged him into her underwater palace so he, drowned, could stay with her forever. This wasn't enough. She continued with her lurking singing and many men lost their lives until Prince Palatine's only son Count Ludwig heard about Lorelie.

He wanted to see her by his own eyes. Like others, he was spellbound, he lost a ship, his crew and his life. When his father found out, he immediately decided to end Lorelei's games.

RHINE MAIDENS UNDER THE RAINBOW

AMERICAN CETACEAN SOCIETY - GRAY WHALE BEHAVIOR PROJECT - SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

ACS- LA WHALE CENSUS PROJECT 2018 American Cetacean Society

ACS/LA GRAY WHALE CENSUS AND BEHAVIOR PROJECT

EXCERPT:

Spotters also detail migratory behaviors observed, including breaching, spyhopping, rolling, courtship, apparent nursing, possible feeding, and interaction with kelp and with other marine mammals. Participants also note possible human impacts on gray whales, including boat interactions, possible harassment incidents, and entanglements. In addition, we identify and record behaviors of any other marine mammals that utilize these waters, including common dolphin, Pacific bottlenose dolphin, Pacific white-sided dolphin, Risso's dolphin, northern right whale dolphin, killer whales, false killer whales, pilot whales, Dall's porpoise, sperm whales, minke whales, humpback whales, blue whales, fin whales, California sea lions, harbor seals, northern elephant seals, and southern sea otters. When possible, attempts are made to cross-check and augment notes on individually identifiable cetaceans with photos and behavior data collected from commercial and private whalewatching boats.

....  December though may volunteers are whale watching!

PALMS

CRUSTACEAN SOCIETY ORG

THE CRUSTACEAN SOCIETY ORG

Academics meeting all over the world...

MERMAID and FISHY FRIENDS

NINE PEOPLE WHO SURVIVED BEING LOST AT SEA

POPULAR MECHANICS ADVENTURE - 9 LOST AT SEA  Interesting true stories from around the sea...

MALIBU SEA CLIFFS SOON GONE?

MALIBU TIMES - SEA CLIFFS TO REDUCE BY 130 FEET by 2100

Using a computer modeling system that incorporates existing data, scientists predict that with limited human intervention, 31 to 67 percent of Southern California beaches may become completely eroded (up to existing coastal infrastructure or sea-cliffs) in just 80 years under scenarios of sea-level rise of one to two meters. The forecast predicts severe erosion on highways serving cliffside areas such as Palos Verdes Peninsula and suggests coastal cities such as Malibu could be affected with the loss of homes, businesses and parks—cliffside coastal properties—as rising sea levels batter and chip away at land mass.

SAIL SHIP WITH FLAG

VERY SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE on ARTIC MELTING and SEA LEVEL CHANGE

WOODS HOLE OCEAN : ARTIC MELTING and SEA LEVEL CHANGE

This one is very scientific but you can read it...

EXCERPT: Sea level is a natural integral indicator of climate variability. It reflects changes in practically all dynamic and thermodynamic processes of terrestrial, oceanic, atmospheric, and cryospheric origin. The use of estimates of sea level rise as an indicator of climate change therefore incurs the difficulty that the inferred sea level change is the net result of many individual effects of environmental forcing. Since some of these effects may offset others, the cause of the sea level response to climate change remains somewhat uncertain. This project is focused on an attempt to provide first order answers to two questions, namely:

1) What is the rate of sea level change in the Arctic Ocean? and 2) What is the role of each of the individual contributing factors to observed Arctic Ocean sea level change? 

TALL SAIL SHIP SAILING - YOUTH PROGRAMS - LA MARITIME INSTITUTE

LOS ANGELES MARITIME INSTITUTE - TALL SAIL SHIPS - VOLUNTEER!

Excerpt: In the 23 years since the Los Angeles Maritime Institute was founded, more than 60,000 young people from throughout Southern California have had the opportunity to directly benefit from participation in hands-on learning experiences through the TopSail Youth Program.  LAMI continues to give "real life" context to subjects like science, mathematics, engineering, history, and literature, and to raise awareness about environmental impacts to our oceans and local waters.

SERENE SIREN

STARBUCKS TO ELIMINATE PLASTIC STRAWS by 2010

NPR: STARBUCKS GOODBYE PLASTIC STRAWS

EXCERPT: The company says the move, when fully implemented, could mean a billion fewer plastic straws across its stores each year. And it's a part of Starbucks' $10 million investment in creating recyclable and compostable cups around the world.

STARFISH WALKING ON THE BEACH

SAIL SHIP

NAZARE PORTUGAL OFF SHORE CANYON THREE TIMES DEEPER THAN THE GRAND - TOTAL MONSTER WAVES

EPIC QUEST TO CONQUER WORLDS BIGGEST WAVES by Paul Thuroux

Link to the full article from this month's Smithsonian Magazine.  The waves that are driven by encountering this extreme trench produce death defying waves for surfers brave or crazy enough to try them.  100 feet or more!

WHAT IS A REEF BALL?

REEF BALL FOUNDATION: RENEWING REEFS

EXCERPT: The Reef Ball Foundation is an international non-profit foundation whose mission is to rehabilitate and to protect our world's ocean ecosystems through the development and use of ecologically sound designed reefs and related systems. We emphasize on-going research, public education, community involvement, and reefs that promote and support natural species diversity and population density designed reefs and related ecosystems...

Lots of good pictures at the site!

SANDY NELSON : LET THERE BE DRUMS

CORAL TRIANGLE BIDIVERSITY THE MOST AMAZING ON EARTH - 75% KNOWN SPECIES

THE CORAL TRIANGLE MOST IMPORTANT : NHM

The Coral Triangle is a part of ocean spanning six million square kilometres, over Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste.

Although it's far less well-known than other places with abundant corals, like the Great Barrier Reef, the Coral Triangle is home to 30% of the world's reefs. In fact, when it comes to biodiversity, it is like nowhere else on Earth. More than 75% of the known coral species live there, as well as 37% of the world's coral reef fish.

It is home to six of the world's seven species of marine turtle, as well as blue whales, sperm whales, dolphins and dugongs.

SHORELINE MODELING REVEALS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BEACHES DISAPPEARING

USGS - SHORELINE MODELING REVEALS DISAPPEARING BEACHES

EXCERPT: Release Date: MARCH 27, 2017

Using a newly-developed computer model called “CoSMoS-COAST” (Coastal Storm Modeling System – Coastal One-line Assimilated Simulation Tool) scientists predict that with limited human intervention, 31 to 67 percent of Southern California beaches may become completely eroded (up to existing coastal infrastructure or sea-cliffs) by the year 2100 under scenarios of sea-level rise of one to two meters.

THE ATLANTICS : REEF BREAK

video replaced April 2021

WHALE- DOLPHIN HYBRID EXTREMELY UNUSUAL

YAHOO NEWS - DOLPHIN WHALE HYBRID

EXCERPT: The hybrid was especially rare because of its melon-headed genes: The toothed-whales are rarely seen in these Hawaiian waters, the researchers wrote. Both species belong to the Delphinidae (oceanic dolphin) family, but the report notes that cross-species unions between them are unusual: It's only the third recorded example in the Delphinidae family, and the first between these two species.

The hybrid, however strange, certainly wasn't treated as an outcast. The marine scientists tagged the hybrid with satellite tracking GPS, along with a companion, to see where they might go. And it appears they stayed together, travelling some 475 miles over eight days, and diving thousands of feet beneath the surface.

SHELLS and CORAL

LISTEN TO THE BOWHEAD WHALE MAKE JAZZ MUSIC UNDER THE SEA!

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC : BOWHEAD WHALE JAZZ MUSICIAN OF SEA  by Carrie Arnold

EXCERPT:  New recordings of the little - studied bowhead whale show that the mammals sing intricate and variable songs - more like jazz musicians than Beethoven or Bach.

Other whale songs are predictable and simple ditties repeated over and over throughout seasons or years, says study leader Kate Stafford, a marine biologist at the University of Washington.

"With bowheads, there are lots of different songs.  Every year, it's just completely different."

SEA FOOD WATCH - MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM

SEAFOOD WATCH ORG

"This month we bring you new recommendations for pollock and sardinella and updated recommendations for cod, octopus, and pompano." 

This site included restaurants that serve "sustainable" seafood.  This is controversial because I met a professional fisherman who warned me against eating farmed salmon. He said, "You don't want to know what they do to it."   - Siren

CHANNING CARLISLE's MERMAID MAKEUP GOES VIRAL

DAILY MAIL - MERMAID MAKEUP GOES VIRAL

Take a look and decide for yourself.  Is this beautiful or gross?

SHELLS and SEA HORSES

THE ELIMINATORS SURF BAND : DAWN PATROL

ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON PUTS GREEN ALGAE HAIRED TURTLE on ENDANGERED LIST

NEW YORK TIMES GREEN HAIRED TURTLE BREATHS THROUGH GENITALS

EXCERPT The one with the green “mohawk” hair (actually algae), formally known as the Mary River turtle, is an Australian species that split from other living species about 40 million years ago. It has special organs in its cloaca that allow it to draw oxygen from the water. It can stay underwater for up to three days.

No. 1 on the list is the Madagascar big-headed turtle, according to the Edge site, “sits alone at the end of a branch of the tree of life which stretches back more than 80 million years to the age of the dinosaurs.”

SHELLS AND FISH

UNDERWATER NOISE POLLUTION CAUSES ACOUSTIC TRAUMA and DEATH

EARTH SKY ORG - UNDERWATER NOISE POLLUTION STRESSES FISH  by  Adam Crane and Maud Ferrari - University of Saskatchewan.  

EXCERPT: Nowadays, the underwater soundscape includes the roar of motors, the ping of military sonar and the bangs and blasts from offshore development.

Communication breakdown...

For fish, whales and other marine animals, intense underwater noises from blasts can cause acoustic trauma and even death. More common quieter noise, such as construction or shipping noise, may not kill the animals directly, but can disrupt their ability to find food and mates, or avoid predators.

WASHINGTON POST - RARE WHALE CAUGHT ON VIDEO

EXCERPT - link has video

Natacha Aguilar de Soto has studied beaked whales for 15 years. She has spent dozens of months at sea, floating above the deepest parts of the ocean, straining her eyes and ears to detect whatever might be moving in the fathoms below.

She rarely finds anything. Beaked whales — a family of 22 cetacean species characterized by dolphinlike noses and missile-shaped bodies — are some of the most elusive animals on Earth. They dive deeper and longer than any other marine mammal and spend an estimated 92 percent of their lives far beneath the ocean surface. One species, the True's beaked whale, is so rare that only a handful of people have ever seen it alive.

“Imagine,” Aguilar de Soto said, “these are animals the size of elephants that we just can't find. They're a mystery.” ...

THE GREAT SELKIE OF SULE SKERRY

Many thanks to those who participated in making the clip; Eleanor Evans, Ben Warner and Rodney Clancy.

This song and animation is an accompaniment to my novel for readers of 10 to 100, Sealskin Coast, released May 2014 by IFWG Publishing Australia www.ifwgaustralia.com, which is a depiction of the selkie myth in a modern, southern hemisphere setting." Illustrator Rowena Evans

CABRILLO MARINE AQUARIUM

CABRILLO MARINE AQUARIUM

EXCERPT:  Since 1935, we have been exhibiting Southern California's rich diversity and adaptations of our local sea life through a combination of aquaria, interpretive displays and museum collections.

SHELLS and CRABS

WORLD OCEAN DAY IS TODAY

WORLD OCEAN DAY

Will you stop using single use plastic bags, bottles and straws to help our ocean?

Plastic trash is a serious problem for our ocean, and especially all the animals that call it home, but together we can be part of the solution.

SEA OF PLASTIC - WORSE THAN EVER - BENOIT LECOMTE

WASHINGTON POST - SEA OF PLASTIC PACIFIC OCEAN SWIM

BEN LECOMTE has decided to make himself and his swim into a scientific experiment.

EXCERPT: Before French marathon swimmer Benoit Lecomte began his six-month long attempt Tuesday to become the first to swim across the Pacific Ocean, he prepared for a number of possible challenges such as sharks, extremely cold water — and “plastic smog.”

That’s the term scientists use to describe billions of pieces of microplastic in the sea.

On his way from eastern Japan to San Francisco — a distance of 5,600 miles — the 51-year-old swimmer will encounter a lot of those microplastic particles, most of which have broken down from larger plastic items or deliberately included by manufacturers in body wash or toothpaste. In the Pacific, the biggest accumulation of plastic smog is about the size of Germany, France and Britain combined and Lecomte will swim right through it.

SHELLS and TURTLES

1.5 ADELIE PENGUINS in ANTARCTICA - DISCOVERY FROM SPACE

GIZMONDO - 1.5 MILLION ANTARTICA PENGUINS - DISCOVERY FROM SPACE by George Dvorsky

Poo Stains seen from space!?  NO KIDDING!

ICEBERG ANTARTICA - MYSTERIOUS SEA FLOOR EXPOSED

GIZMONDO - MYSTERIOUS SEA FLOOR EXPOSED - ANTARTICA

EXCERPT:
Iceberg A-68, as it’s called, calved from Antarctica’s Larsen C Ice Shelf on July 12, 2017. Weighing about a trillion tons and featuring a surface area of 2,240 square miles (5,800 square kilometers), the iceberg is about the size of Delaware, or about four times the size of London, England. It’s been drifting away from the area for months now, slowly disintegrating into smaller and smaller bits (and spawning treacherous many icebergs in the process). For thousands of years, this chunk of ice rested above the seafloor, but it’s gone now, and scientists are eager to explore the mysterious world underneath.

SEA STAR VALENTINES

VALENTINE OCTOPUS

  

BACTERIA IN THE LOCAL OCEAN

A recent stroll along a Pacific Ocean path used by local surfers...
A big sign warning that levels of bacteria in the ocean was at high levels and humans should avoid contact with the water.
The sight of surfers in wet suits down below surfing anyway.


A few days earlier we had walked along the rocks and sand about a mile or so north of this location.  While not actually swimming in the water, bacteria is bacteria.  I'd worn shoes, but others had gone barefoot.


How does the sea life - the creatures in the tide pools - withstand this bacteria?
What about the freshly caught fish being served at the restaurant on the pier?


We can stop eating ocean fish.
We can make a recommitment to putting trash in the proper cans, taking electronics and batteries and light bulbs to recycling centers, and to doing a little beach clean up every time we go...