Scuba Diving Pics & Images » blogs

Spotted Eagle Ray Kills Keys Tourist

DiveBuddy.com — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 06:42:14 +0000

Reprinted from the Miami Herald We don’t usually add non-diving related stories, but I’m sure a lot of folks will want clarification about this one. This was NOT a diving death and the woman was NOT stung by the eagle ray. The eagle ray happened to jump out of the water while the boat was going by and it happened to run into her and knock her head against the boat. Obviously, this was a freak accident that no one could have either predicted or prevented. MARATHON Eagle ray’s leap into boat kills tourist in Keys A Michigan tourist died Thursday when a ray flew out of the water, knocking her head against the side of the boat. Posted on Fri, Mar. 21, 2008 BY CAMMY CLARK cclark@MiamiHerald.com MARATHON A morning fishing outing ended in tragedy Thursday for a family of Michigan tourists when a 75-pound spotted eagle ray leaped into their boat and caused the death of a 55-year-old woman. Judy Kay Zagorski, 55, of Pigeon, Mich., who was fishing with her sister and parents, died Thursday morning of apparent blunt force trauma. The exact cause won’t be known until her autopsy is performed Friday. Officials of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission say they can’t remember a similar accident in the Keys happening in at least 20 years. ’’It’s so unusual, so rare, so bizarre,’’ FWC spokesman Jorge Pino said. “We see them jump out of the water all the time, but [have] never seen them impact a human being or cause a death. “She was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.’’ Spotted eagle rays are capable of leaping completely out of the water when pursued or trying to shake off scavenger fish that attach themselves to the ray. This ray, which died from being out of the water too long, had a remora known as a suckerfish attached to its fin. The rays swim gracefully through the water via the undulation of the pectoral fins. NORMAL TO JUMP ’’They naturally jump out of the water, like porpoises do,’’ Dube said. “It’s natural to them and quite spectacular to watch.’’ Investigators said Zagorski had injuries to her face and head. They did not find evidence she was pierced by the ray’s toxic barb. ’’To lose a child just leaves the parents numb,’’ said neighbor Marcia Corcoran, who knew the family from their annual visits to Marathon. “I can hardly believe it myself.’’ The Michigan family left the dock of their pink rented house on Fifth Avenue Ocean in Marathon just before 10 a.m. They were traveling on a rented 25-foot fishing boat to the deeper waters of the Atlantic Ocean via the Key Colony Beach Channel near Vaca Cut. The boat was traveling about 25 miles an hour when the ray jumped into the air and on board. The ray struck both sisters, who were sitting in front of the console. Zagorski’s sister suffered a bad bruise, and she was treated and released from Fishermen’s Hospital. Investigators say the force of the ray likely caused Zagorski to hit her head, possibly on a metal rail on the side of the boat. ’’There was a lot of blood on the boat,’’ FWC spokesperson Bobby Dube said. CPR was performed while Zagorski’s father drove the boat to a dock just a block from their vacation rental. Neighbor Jim Corcoran called 911 and said rescue emergency personnel arrived within minutes. But it was too late. Zagorski, wearing a bathing suit and her wedding ring, was already dead. Her husband, Steve, had died in 2005 at age 53. At the time of the accident, a third sister was on a plane to join the family, unaware of what had happened. Corcoran said the spotted eagle ray was so big it took up about half of the front of the boat. It’s not the first time a ray has caused injury in South Florida. In October 2006, a spotted eagle ray stung a Broward County man, piercing his chest with its toxic barb. IMPALED The 30-pound stingray leapt into James Bertakis’ boat while he was near Lighthouse Point with his granddaughter and one of her friends. The foot-long barb stuck into Bertakis’ chest and entered his heart chamber. Bertakis, now 83, has made an almost full recovery, according to son Jim Bertakis. After several weeks in intensive care followed by in-patient rehabilitation, the elder Bertakis is ’’90 percent’’ better, his son said. He even has been back on the water in his 16-foot boat. ’’Dad’s doing great. I just saw…

Big Fish Big Fun!

DiveBuddy.com — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 06:41:48 +0000

Did a couple of boat dives up to South Whidbey island in Puget Sound yesterday. Had perfect conditions and quite good viz. Site is called “Big Fish”, I’d tell you where it is, but I’d have to kill you. We’re keeping it under wraps so the hunters can’t find it. OK, it’s our favorite scalloping site as well. Lots of large rockfish, schools of rare blacks; “Old School” Puget Sound. Of course we had perfect wide angle conditions with 35’ viz, and I’m loaded for macro with my 60mm and Woody’s… I tried to work on getting black backgrounds with varying success. What’s easy on a digicam with 1/2000th shutter sync is much harder on a DSLR with 1/200th. Lighting placement is critical, and I’m beginning to think about a shade or something to keep light off the background…anyone have ideas? I also tried shooting at my normal f/14-f/16 and then at f/20. I’ve noticed there is a noticeable lack of sharpness above about f/18 with the Nikkor 60mm macro. We had a great day, my friend Steve tried an exploration dive off of Foul Weather Bluff to no avail. Then we went over to dive the ferry wreck, except i missed the wreck and swam around on the sand and concrete rip-rap that’s there. WSDFG has put up a new “Artificial Reef” buoy, but it looks to be under construction; you can’t tie up to it. Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

[ This is an external blog. Read complete blog here... ]…

No Spark of the Low-heeled Boy

DiveBuddy.com — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 06:41:55 +0000

AT4 Marine engine Originally uploaded by Pixel Letch. Gees, I think there ought to be a weekly award for dumb-aed mistakes, weird problems and frustration for the Atomic 4 marine engine community. We’re a weird bunch of boaters who like these old gas engines, which for their size have lots of power, are quiet and generally fairly dependable if kept up. Don Moyer at Moyer Marine is a great resource and have bought stuff from him for years now. I have his original newsletters for 1994! What a nice guy, happy to talk to his customers and help them, he has an on-line forum as well. Anyway, I humbly submit myself for this week’s dumb a award. I’ve been busy this winter doing a bit of an overhaul on my AT4 in my Islander 28 sailboat. Replaced a cracked head, head studs, put in studs on the water jacket plate, r/r the carb, etc. Still need to replace the rear seal. The engine was running fine prior to my work. I replaced the coil as part of the process, even thought the old one was working fine. I have an Ignitor magnetic ignition and consider it probably the best engine upgrade I’ve put in. After replacing the wiring, I couldn’t get it to start. Checked the plugs and have lots of fuel. Found that I had inadvertently put the main ignition + source on the neg terminal of the coil. Switched it and still wouldn’t start. Checked the spark and there wasn’t any at the plug, nor from the coil to ground or distributor cap. Hmm, must of fried the $60 magnetic ignition. Drove home to buy part. (I keep it in Blaine, WA, about 120 miles north of my home in Seattle.) To continue the above saga of woe. I drove back up to the boat. Jump on the boat with a new Ignitor part. Pull off the distributor cap and install it. Replace the rotor, but didn’t put it FIRMLY into the camshaft. Tried to start, but of course the rotor was free spinning. Scratched my head for 1/2 hours, then found the rotor problem. Ha! Except that in replacing the cap I managed to get the @#& red wire stuck under it and shorted out another Ignitor. Poof, smoke, $60 gone. OK, I’m gonna get this beast going one way or another. I pull out the old (like 10 years) distributor plate with points and condenser. Install it. Cannot get it to start. Move wires around on the distributor clockwise one hole, and she starts!! Whoohoo happy dance! Runs great, idles great. Warm it it up, stop it, torque the head bolts. Restart and warm up agian. Shift into power and it stalls. Restart, apply some gas, shift and she runs, but it has a rhythmic power up and down, doesn’t change when I adjust timing, etc. Shut it down and re-torque bolts again. Pour whiskey and scratch head. Next morning I put in some new fuel and dryer. Check carb bowl, gas very clean, no problems (the carb was just cleaned). Check compression, and its fine (95-110). Plugs look ok, except #3 has some dirt on it. Call Don. He thinks I have the distributor in wrong. OK, tells me how to make a TDC timing mark, align the distributor, etc. I do so, find that it’s 90 degrees off, makes sense, even find an old timing mark. All’s good. Go to start and nada. Nada damn spark. Nada off coil wire, etc. Numerous calls to Don, VU meter tests, try to trace it down, etc. I show juice to coil, from coil, juice and continuity at the distributor, good ground everywhere, etc. I even tried another coil and replaced the condenser. I get juice up to the points, can even get a spark from them to the breaker plate, but no spark when I push the points apart, with ignition on, or when I crank. No spark from main coil wire either when I crank while holding the wire to the head (although I did get a spark from neg terminal to head when cranked). I worked on it for hours yesterday, wore poor Don’s ear off and gave up. I have no idea why it would run one time and not the next, again all wires are fine, new coil, new plugs, new condenser, points (they looked ok, and I got continuity). Wires checked for continuity. I guess my plan is to go back up with yet another Ignitor system and install it. But I’m not sure why I’m still not getting a spark from the coil. Some little thing is not making contact or acting intermittent, I think, but damned if I can find it. Your humbled mechanic of sorts…

Got a Light?

DiveBuddy.com — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 18:42:25 +0000

New underwater lighting packages offered by OpticalOceansales.com include a line of reasonably priced modular trays, handles, arms and clamps. Unique, thin but strong, “bar-bell” style arms are available in two styles; ball-to-ball and ball-to-strobe YS mount in 3.3, 4, 6 and 8” sizes. Handles feature rubber grips with a ball mount that allows for precise control of the camera system. Made from high quality, black anodized aluminum, these lighting parts can be purchased separately or together in many different single or dual lighting packages. Choices include Fantasea or Sea & Sea strobes, sync cord, focus lights and more. Shown at left is the OpticalOcean Ultimate Lighting System with the Sea & Sea YS-110 strobe. Adapters are available for other strobe brands. They can also be optionally bundled with a choice of Fantasea Nikon CoolPix housings, including the popular FP5000 housing (shown) for the CoolPix P5100 camera at attractive savings. OpticalOceanSales.com is a Fantasea Line dealer and ships worldwide. More information: Lighting Packages CoolPix Housing Systems Trays and Arms

[ This is an external blog. Read complete blog here... ]…

ExperienceWA – Scuba Diving in Washington State

DiveBuddy.com — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 06:42:37 +0000

Sunset at Three Tree Originally uploaded by Pixel Letch. Last summer I was hired to write, photograph and organize the Scuba section of Washington State Tourism’s ExperienceWA website. I had previously licensed photos to them through their advertising agency EverybodyWeKnow, and they became aware of my writing the Optical Ocean blog. So it was a perfect fit! The site is at ExperienceWA/Activities/ScubaDiving. I wrote and took photos for 15 shore diving sites as a start. They were selected for their accessibility and user-friendliness for visiting divers, as well as trying to cover a fairly broad area from South Puget Sound to the San Juans. I also tried to have a selection of sites that appealed to different interests and experience levels. Everyone has their favorite site, but not all of them are accessible easily, nor are they places for divers who are new to the area. Site locations are described, as well as a dive briefing included, so that a diver can find important geographic features, as well as look for the usual marine animals inhabiting the sites. Hazards and conditions, and on many sites tidal conditions and weather, were discussed. Nearby facilities are also listed. Obviously in the space available on a web page, the information is brief, and is not a substitute for divers researching and developing their own dive plans. But the website should prove to be a good place to plan a trip, or visit new locations within the state. This is just a fraction of the diving available in Puget Sound, specifically boat dives are not covered, but it is a start, and divers should be able to make a few dives and explore more on their own. We are now working on expanding the web area, possibly adding more sites, boat dives, linking from it to video, photos, marine animal information, safe diving practices, state, city and private facilities and other points of interest like Aquariums, charters and more. This should prove of interest not only to divers, but also to the general public, so that everyone can learn more about the waters beneath Washington State. I have many more photos available ExperienceWA dive sites (and others) Diving in Puget Sound

[ This is an external blog. Read complete blog here... ]…