Nudi Gal: Purdy Thirty

9/2/15

I woke up at 4am… I’m so excited to dive!

One of my goals this trip is to spend more time outside on the boat decks instead of inside in the salon.

So far so good: I witnessed an amazing sunrise from to top deck.

We are anchored in Wainilu which is where the Komodo dragons are on the beach. During the dives I kept looking up expecting to see a dragon swimming toward me!

This area is much colder than the area we dove yesterday. When I say colder, I mean 79 degrees Fahrenheit instead of 82.

After getting off the skiff from each dive, the crew lines up and says “Good Dive” and gives you a high five. I change it up and give them a fist bump… Chicago style.

Martha has this AWESOME electric heated vest. I am totally getting one. It is battery powered with a remote and several different levels. She let me feel her back at the end of the night dive and it was soooo warm.

Bernard presented at night about collecting and documenting species. He said that when you turn over a rock, you should put it back in the orientation which you found it because there are organisms on the bottom of the rock that need to stay covered in order to survive. He gave lots of info about different websites that can help identify nudibranchs.

I was really tired but I stayed up a bit to hear some talk about David Doubilet and how Graham was with him during the National Geographic shoot with the white boxes. I told him that I stalked him at Our World Underwater and got him to sign a print. I’ve got it framed and hanging on my wall.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/06/nudibranchs/doubilet-photography

Here are the new nudis I saw today:

12 - Thecacera sp. 8

Whenever I see a Thecacera, I think of the song "Que Sera Sera... Whatever Will Be Will Be".

13 - Thecacera pacifica

If you look at this one straight on, it looks like it has boobs!

14 - Thecacera sp. 5

This shows the nudi on its food source.

15 - Hypselodoris bullocki

16 - Glossidoris cincta

17 - Tritonia sp.

I am not sure which one this is. It doesn’t match any in the book. It may be a juvenile.

18 - Dermatobranchus sp.

I am not sure which one this is. It doesn’t match any in the book. I think Dermatobranchus are BORING but I did my best to try to match it to the 38 different ones in the book but none seem to fit. Anyone have any suggestions?

19 - Pteraeolidia ianthina