Saturday, February 06, 2010

Paddle boarding on the Sea of Cortez and Pufferfish photos

If you're reading this on a facebook note, please click here to go to my blog. The photos are larger and look much better against a dark background! Feel free to comment here if you wish though. :)

Today Bethany and I went stand up paddle-boarding (SUP) here in La Ventana Mexico before the afternoon winds picked up and kiteboarding started. SUP is so much fun, especially here in the Sea of Cortez! The water is so clear and calm in the morning... the feeling of silently and effortlessly gliding over coral reefs and thousands of fish is quite fulfilling. :)
This was Bethany's first time trying it out and she did great, loved it too.

I brought my snorkel stuff and underwater housing along... here are some of my pics-

Bethany getting used to the balancing act-

Beautiful clouds-

Bethany looking like a pro already-

I went for a snorkel and caught this absolutely amazing and adorable pufferfish called the "Guineafowl Puffer". They are really slow fish and catching them isn't very difficult. They look a little bit boxy and funny at first, then you bother them, and they'll instantly start rapidly sucking water through their mouth to entirely fill their rubbery body, then, hundreds of small quills come out of their skin. It's FASCINATING! As you can see, these things are freaking comical when in this mode... I love it.
Video would be even better because the action of their tiny little flippers trying to move about is hilarious. For a size comparison, this one is almost basketball size and weighs like 10 pounds with the water inside.



Onto the next puffer! This one is a Barred Porcupine Fish an is equally adorable... but what's crazy is that puffers are the earths most deadly fish, as the ovaries, liver and intestines contain a tetrodotoxin that is known to be at least 1,200 times more potent than cyanide!! A poison that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says can “produce rapid and violent death.” The spikes don't contain the toxin so it's ok to gently handle them, but if you eat one of these guys you'd be lucky to live for 24 hours. In Japan it's considered a delicacy and can be ordered at special high end restaurants for $100-$200 per serving, but people die every year from it being prepared incorrectly... thanks but I'll pass and have the tuna please.

Size comparison to my hand. Some were much larger but harder to catch the big guys!



Back to paddle-boarding-


Bethany is feeling great and looking beautiful at 24 weeks preggy! Our baby enjoyed the ride too. :)
On the way back the wind started to pick up, luckily it was at our back though.

Hoping to go again tomorrow!

15 Comments:

Anonymous Allison Crawford said...

Incredible photos, love them

2/08/2010 10:53 AM  
Blogger La Boite A truc said...

Wonderfull photos !
Congratulations from Corsica in France

2/09/2010 7:38 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

WOW....Absolutely amazing photos....breathtaking! Thank you for sharing. Looking forward to your next blog post :)

2/09/2010 1:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nice blog as for me. I'd like to read more about this topic. Thanx for sharing that material.

2/10/2010 6:28 AM  
Blogger Bethanymarie said...

Hi Blaine, amazing photos.
First time i've seen your blog& have to say i'm incredibly impressed :)
Love how cute the pufferfish looks in you hand :)

Bethany.

5/13/2010 1:27 AM  
Blogger Callie said...

you're incredible! definitely hooked.

5/13/2010 2:12 PM  
Blogger Nick's Blog n@ said...

Every time I see one of those pufferfish in an aquarium it is never"puffed" How do you get them to puff up?

5/13/2010 3:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The photos are amazing! I never had seen nothing like that! Congratulations :)

5/17/2010 7:25 AM  
Anonymous dxaniel said...

O yea is beautifull and fantastic..... look my blogger is "reserv ecologic YASUNY" enter in my blogger is "crazywowsheen@hotmail.com"

5/17/2010 3:08 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

What a nice photos and blog, so amazing...:) keep a good shoots...:)

5/18/2010 3:04 AM  
Anonymous Jahangir Zehri said...

VERY NICE YAAR

5/20/2010 9:03 AM  
Anonymous Holly said...

These are amazing!

5/20/2010 9:21 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

really amazing! I loved it ..,, I do not know about fotographytapi so see your blog, I want to learn, yes that's what was in my mind. if I could?

5/24/2010 2:02 AM  
Blogger Cindy Jasmine said...

i found you on blogs of note... your photography is absolutely beautiful. I was pondering the thought of backing out of getting my first camara (slr) beacuse of the $$$ but your posts are so amazing that they've awakened the reasons why I wanted one in the first place! :)

5/24/2010 7:26 PM  
Blogger Ashley said...

The puffer fish is absolutely amazing. What great tones, color, and everything. I can't get over how sharp the image is. Nice work with all the photos.

6/04/2010 9:58 PM  

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