A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 98

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are heading back over to Hawaii to my favorite dive in the world. The turtle cleaning station. This picture is of a Green Sea Turtle being cleaned by reef fish at the cleaning station.

This picture was taken with a Nikon D-100 camera with a 12-24 mm lens in a Light and Motion housing

See you tomorrow

A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 97

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are heading down to The British Virgin Islands. This picture is of a Leatherback sea turtle hatchling as it makes its way down the beach towards the ocean.

This picture was taken with a Nikon D-100 camera with a 60mm lens

See you tomorrow.

3 days until the great turtle adventure starts. Follow along as I and 2 Green Sea Turtles make our way from Vancouver Canada to Tumon Bay Guam

A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 96

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are heading up to Vancouver Canada. I am going to be taking 2 Green sea Turtles from Vancouver to Guam next weekend. A condition of the permit to allow then to travel to Guam is that they are both female. In sea turtles that are this young there is no way to outwardly tell the sex of the animal. But there is a way surgically to tell.
This picture is of Chris Harvey Clark the director of the animal care center at The University Of British Columbia performing a Laparoscopy. This is a surgical procedure where a small incision is made into the turtle and a small tube with a camera is inserted into the turtle. He is then able to locate and verify if the immature turtle has testis(male) or ovary(female).
We had to test 6 of the turtles at the animal care center to find our 2 females.

I am going back up to Vancouver on Thursday with the shipping crates to transport then to Seattle where they will go on a plane for that long trip to Guam.

I am sure that the trip down thru 2 border crossings will be a real treat.I will post pictures and details of this adventure.

This picture was taken with a Nikon D-90 camera with a 12-24 mm lens

See you tomorrow

A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 95

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day Today we are heading up to Vancouver Canada. I was up at the lab getting 2 Green Sea turtles ready for a big trip to Guam.
I will be posting the pictures as we make progress with the journey.

This picture is of the turtles as they swim in the holding tank.

This picture was taken with a Nikon D-90 camera with a 28-200 mm lens

See you tomorrow

A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 94

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are heading back over to Hawaii to go diving with a Green Sea Turtle. On this particular dive we are at a turtle cleaning station. The turtles go here to be cleaned by reef fish.

This picture was taken with a Nikon D-100 camera with a 12-24 mm lens in a Light and Motion housing

See you tomorrow

A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 93

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Todays picture is of the rarest sea turtle of them all. The Leatherback. The Leatherback is a soft shelled sea turtle and the only of the sea turtles that has a soft shell. They are the least understood of all of the turtles and the most elusive. They spend most of their lives on the high seas in search of their favorite food Jellyfish.
They can grow to be over 8 feet long and weigh up to 2000 lbs. This turtle weighed close to 100 lbs and was just over 2 years when this picture was taken.

This picture was taken with a Nikon D-100 camera with a 60mm lens

See you tomorrow

A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 92

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are going back over to the Big Island Of Hawaii. This is a picture of a green sea turtle as it rests on the coral reef.

This picture was taken with a Nikon D-100 camera with a 12-24mm lens in a Light and Motion housing.

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A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 91

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today when I was looking thru my sea turtle pictures I came across this one.It is of a Green Sea turtle that is swimming directly under the sun and it was totally overexposed.In photoshop I was able to make it so the turtle was recognizable. I really like the way it turned out in a crazy kinda way.

What do you think?

This picture was taken with a D-100 camera with a 12-24 mm lens in a Light and Motion housing

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A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 90

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are heading back underwater and over to the Big Island of Hawaii. This is a picture of a diver taking a picture of a Green Sea Turtle. This little turtle hung out with us the entire dive. It was like a little puppy dog following us around. We had alot of good opportunities to get some really good shots of it.

This picture was taken with a Nikon D-100 with a 12-24mm lens in a Light and Motion underwater housing

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A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 89

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are heading down to Colima Mexico to a nesting beach. This is a picture of a Green Sea turtle hatchling as it is heading down to the water line.

This picture was taken with a Nikon D-100 with a 60 mm macro lens

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A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 88

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are heading back to Hawaii and underwater. This is a picture of a Green Sea turtle as it was swimming over me.

This picture was taken with a Nikon D100 camera with a 12-24 mm lens in a Light and Motion housing

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A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 87

Welcome back to aA Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are heading back to Hawaii. This is a picture of a green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas) It was basking in the mid day sun. There were a group of them that had crawled out and that were clustered together. This turtle had its head resting on the shell of another turtle.

This picture was taken with a Nikon D-100 camera with a 70-200 mm lens

See you tomorrow

A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 86

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are heading back underwater and over to Hawaii. This is a picture of a Green Sea Turtle that was resting on the bottom on the reef. This turtle didn't mind that I was here taking its picture it swam up to the surface for a breath and came back to this very spot and went to sleep right after this picture was taken.

This picture was taken with a Nikon D100 in a Light and Motion Housing with a 12-25 mm lens

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A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 85

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are heading down to Rocky Point Mexico. This picture is of a Hawksbill sea turtle that has a satellite transponder attached to its shell.

This Female Hawksbill was held in captivity here for 8 years after being caught in a fisherman's net. She is the first adult Hawksbill to have a satellite transponder attached to her in the Eastern Pacific.

This picture was taken with a Nikon D-100 camera using a 28-200 mm lens

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A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 84

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are heading back down to the British Virgin Islands. This picture is of a Leatherback Sea Turtle Hatchling that is just about to get swept out into the ocean. My only hope is that this hatchling will return to this beach in 13-15 years and lay her own nests.

This picture was taken with a Nikon D100 camera with a 60 mm lens

See you tomorrow

A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 83

Welcome back to a Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are heading back over to the Big Island of Hawaii. This is a picture of a Green Sea Turtle(Chelonia mydas) Resting on the lava. That little device that is attached to its shell is a TDR or time depth recorder. And it does just that it records the depth that the turtle goes down and also the amount of time that it spent at those depths. This data is used to study the diving behaviour of the turtle.

This picture was taken with a Nikon D-100 camera with a 70-300mm lens

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A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 82

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are heading back down to Tortolla British Virgin Islands to witness a Leatherback Sea Turtle Hatchling make its way towards the ocean.

I hope that you enjoy this clip

A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 81

Welcome back to a Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today I am going to attempt to upload a short 10 second video clip. This clip was shot down on the beach in Colima Mexico. It is of a Olive Ridley Sea Turtle as she is heading back out into the ocean after she has laid a nest. It was taken at night using night shot on the camera.

See you tomorrow

A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 80

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are heading back down to Mexico. This picture is of a group of a few hundred Green Sea Turtles (Chelonia mydas) that have just hatched and are starting to move down the beach.

This Picture was taken with a Nikon D100 with a 60 mm macro lens

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A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 79

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are heading back to the Big Island of Hawaii. I was walking along the tide pools and came across this Green Sea Turtle that had just crawled onto the lava rocks in search of algae. I sat there for a while observing it and taking pictures. After a while it went back into the water.

This picture was taken with a Nikon D100 camera with a 70-200 mm lens

See you tomorrow

A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 78

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are heading up to Vancouver British Colombia Canada. Today's picture is of a leatherback Sea Turtles head.

The reason for my choice of this picture is because my niece's are studying salmon in school.And how the salmon navigate. I bet that they didn't know that salmon and sea turtles have the same mineral compound in their brains that allows them to navigate.

The earth has a magnetic field best described as:Lines of magnetic force that flow around the planet from the magnetic south pole to the north pole. Both salmon and sea turtles have a mineral called magnetite in their brains that they use for detection and orientation as the travel in the worlds oceans.

This picture was taken with a Nikon D100 camera with a 60 mm macro lens

A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 77

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle picture A Day. Today we are back at my house in the Pacific Northwest. The Leatherback Sea Turtle mold is totally finished and the head of the research team stopped by to pick it up.He is going to bring it up to Vancouver Canada and they are going to use it to calibrate the wind tunnel. Sometime next week we are going to be heading down to Wildlife Computers to pick up some sample computers to be used in the study.

This picture is of Ttodd Jones holding our fiberglass mold of a 55kg Leatherback sea turtle.

This picture was taken with a Nikon D90 camera with a 28-200 mm lens

See you tomorrow

A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 76

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are heading back to the beaches of the British Virgin Islands. This is a picture we can see the umbilical scar on this Leatherback Sea Turtle Hatchling. The umbilical scar is the residual yolk sac that is drawn into the hatchling and continues to nourish the turtle for a few days after hatching. I just think nature is so cool.Mother nature has packed these hatchlings a yolk lunch so on the first days of their journey they don't have to worry about looking for food.

This picture was taken with a Nikon D100 camera with a 60 mm lens

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A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 75

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today I have been trying almost all day to post short videos that I have.I am not able to get any of them to upload, So rather than admit defeat I am posting a picture instead.
I have a call into a video guru and promise that as soon as I figure it out I will post away.

Todays picture is of a good dive partner of mine and a very candid Sea Turtle. This Turtle loves to come close to divers and is not bothered by the strobes from our camera systems.

This picture was taken with a Nikon D100 camera with a 12-24 mm lens

See you tomorrow

A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 74

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. We have some very exciting things that are coming up. Tomorrow I am going to upload a short video clip of sea turtles. Every Sunday I am going to do this. So lets hope that You will like this new little feature.

The research project (How has science effected the turtle) is moving right along. I am sorry to bore you with these pictures of me making the mold. On Monday we have a meeting at Wildlife Computers to meet with them and to pick up a bunch of computers to use in the study. I will keep you posted on that.

I want to welcome Bella who just found us and hopefully is enjoying the journey of the Sea Turtle Photographer.

Today's picture is of the Leatherback sea turtle mold with the electronics probe installed and ready to get fiberglass together. In this metal tube the motherboards will slide into it. They will measure any movements that the turtle makes as it is in the wind tunnel.

This picture was taken with a Nikon D90 camera with a 28-200 mm lens.

See you tomorrow

A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 73

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are back in my garage continuing to work on the fiberglass mold of a Leatherback Sea Turtle that we will be using in the research project. Here is a picture of me with the 2 halves of the mold after the excess fiberglass was cut off from around the edges the next step is to insert the sensing rod in the center of the turtle then both pieces are fiber glassed together.

This picture was taken with a Nikon d-90 camera using a 70-300 mm lens

See you tomorrow

A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 72

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are heading into my garage to continue work on a project that I am involved with that asked the question How has science effected the turtle? Here we are building a fiberglass mold that will be put into a wind tunnel to figure out the drag of this turtle.We then are going to be attaching the various tags that are currently being used. Satellite and time depth recorders and sonic tags to the turtle to figure out how much drag they are causing and then where is the best place to attach these tags that causes the least amount of drag.
the mold that we are building here is of a Leatherback sea turtle. As this project moves along I will post pictures of its progress.

This picture was taken with a 12-24 mm lens

See you tomorrow

A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 71

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are heading back underwater. This picture is of my diving partner as she is setting up to take a picture of a Green Sea Turtle. This turtle was just being cleaned by the cleaner fish that are moving away from the turtle.
This picture was taken with a 12-24 mm lens

See you tomorrow

A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 70

Welcome back to aA Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are heading back underwater and over to Hawaii. This picture is of a Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas) that is gliding thru the turtle cleaning station. You can see by the picture how dirty the turtle is. This is one my favorite things to watch underwater.

This picture was taken with a 12-24 mm lens

Welcome Amy our newest follower to the blog.

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A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 69

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today I have decided to show a picture that shows the struggle of being a Sea Turtle hatchling on the beach. There are many predators that are waiting on an easy meal and the common beach crab is no exception they wait for the hatchlings to emerge and then grab them by their flippers and drag them down into their burrows buried in the sand.
This picture was taken with a 70-200 mm lens

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A Sea Turtle Picture A day # 68

Welcome back to A Sea Turtle Picture A Day. Today we are heading back to the Big Island of Hawaii. This picture is of a Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas) basking along the beach.
This picture was taken with a 70-200 mm zoom lens
See you tomorrow