So Good We Came Back - And Were AMAZED Even More!!!

We brought the kids to the Bass Pro Shop. We took a closer look around and the Fish Bowl at the Tacoma BSP is really a bowling alley - UNBELIEVABLE!!! It doesn't get any cooler than this! These paintings are at the Fish Bowl entrance. I bought some Malin Malon wire - I hope this is the stuff you can make bite tippet with by twisting and using a lighter to melt the end holding the fly... I'll let ya'll know in a couple of weeks (I've got an appointment with some kaku out at Pearl Harbor). More pictures from around the shop If you find yourself on I-5 driving through Tacoma Washington, do yourself a favor and stop in.

Turtle Food

Ulva lactuca - Sea Lettuce.

This is the staple food of the Green Sea Turtles that hang out at Lani's.

Iridescent Smiling Coral-Clams

I saw this boring clam today for the first time - I have a ton of reference books but this is the first time I have seen a clam like this. It did not have a 'reaching' mantle so I don't think it is photosynthetic.

Wouldn't it be funny if this is a new species to science and I got to name it?

Well - with my sense of humor, the placement of the clams make it look like the coral has sprouted mouths and is singing a disco song.

So here it is - the Singing (or Iridescent) Coral Boring Clam!

Brother from another Mother

I have only bestowed this title to a few -

Fellow Naval Service Members of mine I worked with while in Iraq (for the Army, which is why I wrote the comment the way I did);

People I studies long and hard with to get through my formal schooling (you know who you are);

And most notably, the very few that I have surfed waves, dove or kited with not just in one place, but in several spots around this small planet of ours.

This guy is one of the later -

Ladies and gentlemen, Nick Yamodis.

Here's the quote he sent me with the pictures:
Got a fun session on Sunday in the bay on the
crossbow 12. The waves wrapped into a perfect set up where it was
actually side off on the rights - which gets no better for me. I got
a few completely satisfying snaps that produced a beautiful fan of
water in the sky. I love kiting in the waves.

Spoken like a true Homo amphibian!

Aerodynamics, Bernoullis and Feathers

Seabirds in flight have always fascinated me, especially when they have enough wind to carry them without having the flap.

High aspect ratios, ways of flexing joints, muscle and feathers in ways man has yet to mimic to ride the wind (or steal food - check out the pic with just the two seagulls). And effortless -

Next time you're at the beach, slow down and watch what's going on around you. You may not be as geeky as I am and see the low pressure suction named after an old Italian manifesting itself as laughing seabirds waiting to drop target practice packages of digested fish and garbage on the hapless humans walking around (which I do think is funny, unless I am said human), but undoubtedly there is something (tiny waves breaking, dunes built up in the sand, seashells half buried in the sand, clouds sailing by) that will catch your eye.

Sea World

And since we were down in San Diego, La and I decided our kids deserved a special treat - Sea World!!!

Fun weekend!!!!

Greenland Scallops

I'm finally getting around to mounting some shells I collected a while back. I was up in Northern Greenland helping to prepare an area for dredging and identifying the existing condition of a very old pier. When we pulled debris up from the seafloor, all kinds of life was stuck to it - anemones, tube worms, bristle worms and mmmmmmm.. Scallops!!!

There's another story stuck to the scallops, but you'll have to ask one of the other folks that went up with me - sorry.