Collecting angelfish west of Key West with a legend
- Thread starter copps
- Start date
Treg
Premium Member
Next came Sunset Key, a developed island only accessible by boat full of cheap real estate"¦
I've had dinner on Sunset Key. Nothing on that island is cheap! :lol:
He must know the spot for Queens, I'm not sure I have seen that many Queens in all of my trips to the Keys combinded.
Great Pics, as always John! :thumbsup:
Absolutely amazing John!!
copps
Premium Member
That is excellent! Hopefully I could do some collecting in your neck of the woods if I get on board the IMACSA train!
Eric dives seven days a week... which over the decades adds up to I think 10 billion hours... combine that with dual 300s that give you some range and Eric has some spots! I was amazed by the population density. Yet, in the summer when the water is calmer Eric has some honey holes that are incredible he's told me about... that will be another trip... although it's tough to go to South Florida in the summer...
As to the pics they were all taken with a Fujifilm XP10... a waterproof and shockproof camera that is now just $100. Much easier than lugging my DSLR rig around and a great family proof camera in addition to it all...
As to the pics these were all taken
Thank you Korrine... our lives are what we make of them... we should all follow out passions... and having lived in a third world country, I could say that anyone reading this right now is way better off than most of the world...:spin3:
Copps
Korrine
You could get a ticket!!
I'm still trying to find out what to do with mine
I like it, but what job do I want to do forever is what I'm trying to figure out. What country did you live in?
copps
Premium Member
I lived and studied in Ecuador in South America... I mainly lived in Quito (second highest capital in the world) but also studied in the Amazon at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station and at the Charles Darwin Foundation in the Galapagos Islands (and spent time on a liveaboard traveling to different islands)... simply put we take too much for granted being Americans... or living in any first world country really... Ecuador is an amazing country... small but so biodiverse... when I was 20 I first went there as a crazy frat guy... I met a girl after I was there a few days that blew me away and settled me down... incredibly beautiful and more intelligent than she was beautiful! I spent about two years in total there... three years later at 23 we were married and next month we celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary!:celeb1: We travel back yearly...
From then...
... to now... as passionate as I am about fish I am more passionate about my family... and when my wife gets frustrated by my fish passion I remind her that were it not for that we would have never met!:spin2: My passion for biology, fish, and evolution was what originally brought me to Ecuador... and it changed my life in so many ways...:spin3: Well sorry for derailing the thread but I believe we could do that if it's our own thread! :beer:
Copps
I spent about two years in total there... three years later at 23 we were married and next month we celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary!:celeb1: We travel back yearly...From then...
... to now... as passionate as I am about fish I am more passionate about my family... and when my wife gets frustrated by my fish passion I remind her that were it not for that we would have never met!:spin2: My passion for biology, fish, and evolution was what originally brought me to Ecuador... and it changed my life in so many ways...:spin3: Well sorry for derailing the thread but I believe we could do that if it's our own thread! :beer:
Copps
AfricaOffroad
New member
You dont want to be diving down Shawn's way in Cape Town - the water is freezing !!!:fish2:
If however you venture to the warm Indian Ocean waters on the East Coast up Durban side, please do let me know and I'll put a little local collection expedition together.
:beer:
copps
Premium Member
You have a beautiful family! Thanks for sharing a blip of your story. That's a very good way to remind her of your fishy habits! She can't deny that one
Congrats on your upcoming 10 year anniversary!
Hey, my sister is in Norfolk, VA. That's her dog in my avatar.
Thanks so much... I was just working on the Navy Base in Norfolk and travel there regularly, although it's about four hours from where I'm at in Northern VA.
Well... I'd prefer taking my chances your way at Aliwal Shoals with the tiger sharks... there are a few angelfish I'd like to see there... here's a shot of me chasing down a tiger shark in Hawaii...
As you could see I generally don't have a fear of sharks... but up Shawn's way it's the only place in the world they do this... so I may have to think twice... besides I look like this poor fella when I have my black 7 mil wetsuit on...:hmm2:
Thank you... it's so nice to have an audience that appreciates it... many of you could understand that feeling when you try and explain this hobby to people that are not in it... sometimes it feels like you're speaking another language... you guys could understand why I drove eight hours round trip in a day... I already forgot about the LONG drive, yet the fish memories will be in me forever!
Again thank you... and thanks to your club! Without it I would not have had this excursion...
Anyone who has a passion for something so much could give a good lecture...:fish1:Copps
Nice pictures of Eric on the water. For the record, I named Lysmata pederseni after Eric, the shrimp is a common symbiont living in tube sponges throughout the Caribbean, reaching up to Florida. The Pederson cleaner shrimp, a common symbiont in anemones was described by Fenner Chace in 1958.
Lysmata pederseni
Lysmata pederseni
copps
Premium Member
Thank you so much Andrew"¦ Eric and I have spoken about so much, in addition to a few different shrimp he's been involved with"¦ I confused Pederson's cleaner shrimp with Pedersen's peppermint shrimp! Thanks for the clarification and thanks for tipping your cap to Eric"¦ he deserves it. I had to fight with him like my Japanese friends do just to buy waters for the day! He doesn't let me pay for anything! Fortunately I gave him some fish!
kinlayan
New member
Heh nice pics Copps, i do think the diving Africaoffroad(Craig) could offer up Durban ways would definitely appeal to you as would our Kingi Angelfish among others! The bull sharks /zambezi's we call them here, are also to be respected in those waters, but you are an accomplished diver and i would love to join you and Craig on a collecting expedition if you do get on the Imacsa train it, would be awesome!
You are a brave man to swim with Tigers they can be very dangerous too as they eat almost anything, i have dived only once on purpose with Great White Sharks and that was over 15 years ago at the very place they breach in Gansbaai about 5kms out at seal island in 8 metres of water and we were doing what was to become a regular tourist event called cage diving, although back then it was the first prototype cage and it was essentially chicken wire and wasnt going to stop the sharks if they really wanted in.
The one thing you quickly realize is that you aren't on top of the food chain anymore when you see them in their home environment ,an awe inspiring fish(can you imagine what its ancestor must have been like, i have a couple of Megalodon teeth as big as my hand) and not something i really want to see without some form of protection, quite a few attacks have happened the last couple of years and i think at least 4 people have been killed and eaten in the last 5 years if i am not mistaken around Cape Town.In December i dived the Seal colony around Robberg in Plettenberg bay and the Dive boat skipper gave us some interesting info about how the seals react When a great white approaches the colony , generally the seals will actually mob the shark in an attempt to drive it away from the colony and their pups. The sharks therefore prefer to ambush lone seals which have to run the guantlet between the colony and the open ocean to feed, It gave us only some comfort on the seal dive knowing we were diving with the food
Our waters are pretty chilly around 12-14 celsius on the Atlantic side an around 18-22 celsius on the Indian side. Durban and Aliwal shoal areas are more likely close to 22-25 celsius on average depending on the season.
I would love to dive the places you have though and to catch your own fish , the only place i have done that and caught my own fish was years ago in Mauritius and Comoros.
You are a brave man to swim with Tigers they can be very dangerous too as they eat almost anything, i have dived only once on purpose with Great White Sharks and that was over 15 years ago at the very place they breach in Gansbaai about 5kms out at seal island in 8 metres of water and we were doing what was to become a regular tourist event called cage diving, although back then it was the first prototype cage and it was essentially chicken wire and wasnt going to stop the sharks if they really wanted in.
The one thing you quickly realize is that you aren't on top of the food chain anymore when you see them in their home environment ,an awe inspiring fish(can you imagine what its ancestor must have been like, i have a couple of Megalodon teeth as big as my hand) and not something i really want to see without some form of protection, quite a few attacks have happened the last couple of years and i think at least 4 people have been killed and eaten in the last 5 years if i am not mistaken around Cape Town.In December i dived the Seal colony around Robberg in Plettenberg bay and the Dive boat skipper gave us some interesting info about how the seals react When a great white approaches the colony , generally the seals will actually mob the shark in an attempt to drive it away from the colony and their pups. The sharks therefore prefer to ambush lone seals which have to run the guantlet between the colony and the open ocean to feed, It gave us only some comfort on the seal dive knowing we were diving with the food
Our waters are pretty chilly around 12-14 celsius on the Atlantic side an around 18-22 celsius on the Indian side. Durban and Aliwal shoal areas are more likely close to 22-25 celsius on average depending on the season.
I would love to dive the places you have though and to catch your own fish , the only place i have done that and caught my own fish was years ago in Mauritius and Comoros.
Similar threads
