Kelpscape

Senorita Wrasse Cleans Sardines

Once sardines realize that a senorita wrasse is grooming one of their school, they descend en masse to have their own parasites removed. It seems to hurt: they flinch when the senorita nips at their gill covers. IAfter a few, the senorita becomes overwhelmed and swims off, eager sardines in pursuit. For some reason, a senorita swimming across the reef is usually left alone. n this photo, the senorita is the dark fish near center. She still seems interested in the work. She has a black halfmoon on her tail, not too visible here.

Cleaner wrasse in the tropics appear to hang out in particular spots, and to eagerly tend their customers. These cleaners seem more rushed and less interested in cleaning as their main activity.

Conditions have been great lately; despite high surf on Saturday, the visibility on the West side of Refugio Beach was better than some swimming pools I've been in, and the water was 66F at depth; 71F on the surface. 

Kelp Maze at Tajiguas

Thick kelp at Tajiguas, before the Refugio Oil Spill, in January 2015.  Tajiguas is just to the west of the spill site, and the beach is still blocked off. If it's similar to Refugio, the ocean creatures and plants may be enjoying the respite from human visitors!

 

Nikonos V OK! Cat Yawns.

Here's an image of Lily: the test roll is such a drag!  The Nikonos V seems to be OK. Many thanks to Color Services for their quick turnaround.  Let's see how it does underwater.  It will be a little over a week before I can post photos -- so stay tuned!

Nikonos V Flood

My Nikonos V flooded -- or maybe it was just a gradual rise in the level of salt water. I'd noticed that the shutter button didn't alway trigger -- usually it would get better if I waited awhile, and maybe turned the camera upside-down. Then the shutter speed knob got harder to turn, until I couldn't turn it at all. That's a problem because the shutter speed has to be changed from "Automatic" (or any shooting setting) to "Rewind" after every roll of film. And, I am planning to head to Cabo Pulmo for a week of diving in a couple of days, and don't want to use my housed DSLR. It's way to late to send it out for service.

 So, I used the exploded-parts diagrams and terse sequence for disassembly I found online to take the camera apart. (Well, to take knobs off and the camera mechanism out of the case). It didn't require any specialized tools, as I'd heard: just some small Phillips screwdrivers, good light, and magnifiers to see what was going on. When I took it out of its case, lots of white and gray dust came out, particularly from around the axis of the shutter-speed knob, but really from throughout the camera -- with the exceptions of the optics and electronics -- and the user-accessible spaces.  Metal parts were corroded and plastic parts were covered with white deposits. O-rings were dry and caked. I figure a little water must have been getting in for quite a while. The picture isn't very good but it tells the story.

 

I scraped off the deposits where they were thick, and cleaned up the dust with some Q-tips and water. I greased the O-rings and sealed it back up.  Everything seems to work. Thanks to Color Services, I'll see the test rolls tomorrow.

The camera is an old one, bought from ebay. It had annual service 7 months ago, and I put 24 dives into it since. I mentioned to the tech that the shutter wouldn't trigger, and the film advance was having problems; he attributed these to wear. I'm not sure if the problem predated his work, or started just after it. Neither is good. 

The Nik V is a mighty tough little machine. But, I'm suspecting this one won't last much longer.