Fort Lauderdale Moray Eel Dive Video

I finally got around to starting to edit my Fort Lauderdale dive video from
late June. Here is the first one, a three minute video. We were doing a
reef drift dive when my buddy saw this big green moray eel in the crevice.
When we got on the boat, she said it looked to be 8 to 10 feet, but it
looked more like 6 to 8 feet to me.

www.marshallkarp.com
or
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...74173065619657

By the way, just to head off the question that I have been getting: Why
didn't you get closer? Because I didn't want to.

The whole time I was hovering over him, I was thinking, don't come up here,
just don't come up here.

Marshall Karp wrote

>I finally got around to starting to edit my Fort Lauderdale dive video from
>late June. Here is the first one, a three minute video. We were doing a
>reef drift dive when my buddy saw this big green moray eel in the crevice.
>When we got on the boat, she said it looked to be 8 to 10 feet, but it
>looked more like 6 to 8 feet to me.

> http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...74173065619657

You need to get some lights for that camera.

> By the way, just to head off the question that I have been getting: Why
> didn't you get closer? Because I didn't want to.

There's no better reason.

> The whole time I was hovering over him, I was thinking, don't come up
> here, just don't come up here.

Be glad you didn't see the one on the Spirit of Washington, in the Keys.
He's used to being hand fed and often comes out to visit with divers, as in
nuzzling them. Talk about increased heartbeat.

Lee

On Sep 10, 12:29 pm, "Lee Bell" <pleeb...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
> Marshall Karp wrote
>
> >I finally got around to starting to edit my Fort Lauderdale dive video from
> >late June. Here is the first one, a three minute video. We were doing a
> >reef drift dive when my buddy saw this big green moray eel in the crevice.
> >When we got on the boat, she said it looked to be 8 to 10 feet, but it
> >looked more like 6 to 8 feet to me.
> >http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...74173065619657
>
> You need to get some lights for that camera.
>
> > By the way, just to head off the question that I have been getting: Why
> > didn't you get closer? Because I didn't want to.
>
> There's no better reason.
>
> > The whole time I was hovering over him, I was thinking, don't come up
> > here, just don't come up here.
>
> Be glad you didn't see the one on the Spirit of Washington, in the Keys.
> He's used to being hand fed and often comes out to visit with divers, as in
> nuzzling them. Talk about increased heartbeat.
>
> Lee

I got up close and personal with the City of Washington eel several
years ago. I was using a Sealife Reefmaster camera at the time, with
the attachable macro lens things that come with those cameras dangling
below the yellow housing. I spotted the eel under a deck plate, and he
was not shy at all. He came out and swam toward me. I started firing
pictures as fast as I could, and he was looking right into the lens. I
was able to back off at about the same speed he was swimming, which
never felt threatening to me, but I wanted to keep my distance. I do
think he was interested in the little dangly lenses hanging below the
camera. He eventually lost interest and went a different direction.

At the time, I was pretty excited about the photos, but I wouldn't
even show them now. I've gotten much better moray pictures since then,
mostly by getting closer and closer.

I saw another eel on one of the wrecks off Pompano Beach in April that
was similarly conditioned by having been fed. I got some nice photos
of him:

http://picasaweb.google.com/george.c...95869378533314
http://picasaweb.google.com/george.c...95895148337106
http://picasaweb.google.com/george.c...95920918140898

After I took those, with a w/a lens, so I was pretty darn close, I
backed off so others could shoot him. I have a shot of him swimming
through the other divers as they lean back, except for one older guy
who was just laughing as the eel rubbed up against his housing.

And then there's Oscar, the eel at the National Aquarium in Baltimore.
I love feeding him, even though he usually doesn't even take food. Two
weeks ago when I was feeding him, he stuck his nose in the feed bag
for a long time, just sniffing, not eating anything, then came out,
looked at me and swam off slowly, very deliberately rubbing his body
against my hands as he went. We're not allowed to reach out and touch
him, but apparently nobody told him he couldn't reach out.

gc

On Sep 10, 9:29 am, "Lee Bell" <pleeb...@bellsouth.net> wrote:

> You need to get some lights for that camera.

And white balance and focus would help too. Not as shaky as the last
attempts, though, so the anti-Parkinsons medication must be kicking
in.

I'll try to post some eel footage from my last trip in the next couple
days. I got plenty of free swimmers and on my last dive managed to
catch two eels "fencing". Hopefully I can track down which tape that
was as there are about 25 to weed through.

> > By the way, just to head off the question that I have been getting: Why
> > didn't you get closer? Because I didn't want to.
>
> There's no better reason.

Usually I'd scoff at that, but I've now been around two vicious eel
injuries in the space of four months: Janna's attack in April, and a
diver on our panga in the Galapagos last month. The latter was truly
vicious as the poor lady didn't even see the eel that got her - she
was busy photographing a nearby fish, apparently pissed off the eel,
and chomped down on her hand. She had to shake it off as it wouldn't
let go. They doctored her up pretty good on the boat and she
continued to make the next day of diving (it was fortunately toward
the end of the trip), but she e-mailed to report that after she
returned home, the docs started her on some real serious antibiotics
and told her she'd probably have some permanent nerve damage. Eels
are no joke.

> Be glad you didn't see the one on the Spirit of Washington, in the Keys.
> He's used to being hand fed and often comes out to visit with divers, as in
> nuzzling them. Talk about increased heartbeat.

There's a big fellow on the wreck in Roatan that came out to play. I
put my hand out in a C-shape and he swam right through. Nothing more
velvety than the feel of a big green moray.

On Sep 10, 2:56 pm, Greg Mossman <moss...@qnet.com> wrote:

>
> There's a big fellow on the wreck in Roatan that came out to play. I
> put my hand out in a C-shape and he swam right through. Nothing more
> velvety than the feel of a big green moray.

Oh, the belly of a cownose stingray is right up there...

On Sep 10, 12:19 pm, George Cathcart <george.cathc...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> On Sep 10, 2:56 pm, Greg Mossman <moss...@qnet.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > There's a big fellow on the wreck in Roatan that came out to play. I
> > put my hand out in a C-shape and he swam right through. Nothing more
> > velvety than the feel of a big green moray.
>
> Oh, the belly of a cownose stingray is right up there...

I've manhandled plenty of southerns and even a tame eagle ray, but
never a cownose. I'll put that on my to-do list.

(BTW, for those who were wondering, though I'll never tell how I know,
whale sharks are just as rough skinned as any other shark - for some
weird reason I thought they would feel smooth)

Actually Greg, that "shaky video" feedback you gave from my last video
really stuck with me. I consciously made an effort to hold steady.

Obviously, the original AVI file and DVD video looks much better. This
flash video compression is really pixelizing the video. However, flash is
what they show, so it is what it is.

"Greg Mossman" <mossman@qnet.com> wrote in message
news:1189450587.168403.61680@50g2000hsm.googlegrou ps.com...
> On Sep 10, 9:29 am, "Lee Bell" <pleeb...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
>> You need to get some lights for that camera.
>
> And white balance and focus would help too. Not as shaky as the last
> attempts, though, so the anti-Parkinsons medication must be kicking
> in.
>
> I'll try to post some eel footage from my last trip in the next couple
> days. I got plenty of free swimmers and on my last dive managed to
> catch two eels "fencing". Hopefully I can track down which tape that
> was as there are about 25 to weed through.
>
>> > By the way, just to head off the question that I have been getting: Why
>> > didn't you get closer? Because I didn't want to.
>>
>> There's no better reason.
>
> Usually I'd scoff at that, but I've now been around two vicious eel
> injuries in the space of four months: Janna's attack in April, and a
> diver on our panga in the Galapagos last month. The latter was truly
> vicious as the poor lady didn't even see the eel that got her - she
> was busy photographing a nearby fish, apparently pissed off the eel,
> and chomped down on her hand. She had to shake it off as it wouldn't
> let go. They doctored her up pretty good on the boat and she
> continued to make the next day of diving (it was fortunately toward
> the end of the trip), but she e-mailed to report that after she
> returned home, the docs started her on some real serious antibiotics
> and told her she'd probably have some permanent nerve damage. Eels
> are no joke.
>
>> Be glad you didn't see the one on the Spirit of Washington, in the Keys.
>> He's used to being hand fed and often comes out to visit with divers, as
>> in
>> nuzzling them. Talk about increased heartbeat.
>
> There's a big fellow on the wreck in Roatan that came out to play. I
> put my hand out in a C-shape and he swam right through. Nothing more
> velvety than the feel of a big green moray.
>
>

On Sep 10, 2:15 pm, "Marshall Karp" <marshallk...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Actually Greg, that "shaky video" feedback you gave from my last video
> really stuck with me. I consciously made an effort to hold steady.

Definitely much better. I was able to watch the entire video this
time. The others, I closed after a few seconds lest they give me
motion sickness. Now you just need to fine tune.

> Obviously, the original AVI file and DVD video looks much better. This
> flash video compression is really pixelizing the video. However, flash is
> what they show, so it is what it is.

I really couldn't make out the eel at all. It's too dark in the
crevice, so you'd need lights to illuminate it. You'll likely be OK
getting closer to your subject since it will bite the camera first if
it goes for anything, as long as you haven't been handling fish (they
mainly go for smell).

The focus part referred to some early portions, where you had a near-
distance bare rocky reef in focus and all the fish in the background
out of focus, so I don't think it's entirely the fault of the flash
compression. I'm not able to manually focus in my housing, so I tend
to leave it focused between about 2 feet to infinity, then override
that with autofocus if I need to get in close to something.

There was another part where the white balance changed from OK to bad
midscene. Whatever it was that you did that changed it to bad, don't
do. Otherwise, you're coming along. Now you need to go somewhere
with blue water and better subject matter, maybe a shark dive in the
Bahamas?

"Greg Mossman" <mossman@qnet.com> wrote in message
news:1189450587.168403.61680@50g2000hsm.googlegrou ps.com...
> On Sep 10, 9:29 am, "Lee Bell" <pleeb...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
(snip)> Usually I'd scoff at that, but I've now been around two vicious eel
> injuries in the space of four months: Janna's attack in April, and a
> diver on our panga in the Galapagos last month. The latter was truly
> vicious as the poor lady didn't even see the eel that got her - she
> was busy photographing a nearby fish, apparently pissed off the eel,
> and chomped down on her hand. She had to shake it off as it wouldn't
> let go. They doctored her up pretty good on the boat and she
> continued to make the next day of diving (it was fortunately toward
> the end of the trip), but she e-mailed to report that after she
> returned home, the docs started her on some real serious antibiotics
> and told her she'd probably have some permanent nerve damage. Eels
> are no joke.

A friend of mine in Belize, had an eel chase him back to the boat and bite
him on his upper arm. He very nearly lost his arm and has a couple of deep
and nasty scars. No one in the area had ever heard the like of it before.
Now I'm hearing too much of it.

But then again, maybe Greg, Janna and the people he dives with are using up
the quota.

> > Be glad you didn't see the one on the Spirit of Washington, in the Keys.
> > He's used to being hand fed and often comes out to visit with divers, as
in
> > nuzzling them. Talk about increased heartbeat.
>
> There's a big fellow on the wreck in Roatan that came out to play. I
> put my hand out in a C-shape and he swam right through. Nothing more
> velvety than the feel of a big green moray.

Have to admit . . . there is nothing like it.

"Greg Mossman" <mossman@qnet.com> wrote in message
news:1189456756.662000.45750@k79g2000hse.googlegro ups.com...
> On Sep 10, 12:19 pm, George Cathcart <george.cathc...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > On Sep 10, 2:56 pm, Greg Mossman <moss...@qnet.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > > There's a big fellow on the wreck in Roatan that came out to play. I
> > > put my hand out in a C-shape and he swam right through. Nothing more
> > > velvety than the feel of a big green moray.
> >
> > Oh, the belly of a cownose stingray is right up there...
>
> I've manhandled plenty of southerns and even a tame eagle ray, but
> never a cownose. I'll put that on my to-do list.
>
> (BTW, for those who were wondering, though I'll never tell how I know,
> whale sharks are just as rough skinned as any other shark - for some
> weird reason I thought they would feel smooth)

You are soooo bad. No wonder you get bit all the time.