BajaNomad

For Ken Bondy (video)

Oso - 3-10-2007 at 09:39 AM

Why it's not a good idea to feed the eels:

http://emuse.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/16097

Ken Bondy - 3-10-2007 at 10:04 AM

Ohmygod...what an incredible video. I sensed that it was leading to something bad, had no idea how bad. The toe/thumb surgery and recovery was fascinating. Looks like the guy was really lucky, he grabbed that beer pretty well! Thanks for posting this Oso, anyone who plays around with feeding eels, or touching marine animals in general, should watch this VERY carefully!

Bob H - 3-10-2007 at 10:11 AM

Eeee Gads! At least the guy still has a new thumb to hit the space bar on the keyboard.... or can he still play the piano with that rig?
Never mess with an eel... wow!
Bob H

Ken Bondy - 3-10-2007 at 10:15 AM

I've caught my breath now after watching that, and on reflection I can't believe that those divers would be feeding what looked like a roll of string cheese to eels. Looks way too much like a finger or a thumb. In spite of how docile and friendly the eels appeared (that is, right up to the point that one took off the guy's thumb), that is really asking for it.

[Edited on 3-10-2007 by Ken Bondy]

Diver - 3-10-2007 at 10:56 AM

Hot dogs, Ken.
We like to powder hot dogs in your hand to attract large schools of trops for pictures, not to feed eels.
We like to feed eels frozen squid although they seem to like wahoo the best.

Last time to Stingray city in the Caymans, a bald fellow diver was constantly harrassed as the rays tried to feed on his head !!
The resident eels ate the same squid we offered the rays.
.

Ken Bondy - 3-10-2007 at 11:12 AM

Thanks Diver. OK, hot dogs. Even more like a finger. Here's my daughter Coleen at Stingray City. Thought about that place a lot since the incident with Steve Irwin:

Diver - 3-10-2007 at 11:19 AM

Unfortunately, some people don't always use the best sense.
Irwin was brazenly placing his body closely above the ray while he harassed it for the camera. His luck had finally run out.

Ken Bondy - 3-10-2007 at 11:22 AM

That's kind of what I suspected but nobody (except you) has ever said that. That's about the only circumstance where I could imagine the ray nailing that barb into his heart. I have interacted with a LOT of rays over the years, including big southern sting rays like the one that got Irwin, and I have never seen any aggressive behavior (except at Stingray City when they tried to eat my bald spot). He MUST have been harassing the animal.

Diver - 3-10-2007 at 11:29 AM

I have been surprised through all the commentary that no-one said anything.
The original film showed him in shallow water, suspended with his body about 1 foot above the ray. He was touching the ray's wing-tips when he turned to the camera, taking his focus off the ray, and allowed his chest to pass directly over the ray at less than a foot above and WAP !
Very sad for his family.
.

Skipjack Joe - 3-12-2007 at 12:31 PM

My son and I had an interesting experience with eels a couple of years ago in baja.

I was sitting on those rocks you're all familiar with, under the Puerto Escondido pier, cleaning fish caught earlier in the morning. While bent over rinsing the fillets I felt a sharp pain in my left hand. "Those damn crabs", I thought to myself and continued til the job was finished.

A few moments later Alex noticed something in the water and asked me what it is. Sure enough, a couple of moray heads are poking out of the rocks right where I was cleaning. Moving their heads from side to side they had that yawning expression. I then turn my attention to my hand and see the crab bite. There was a perfect semicircle of tiny holes in the flesh between thumb and index finger. I mean tiny. But there's blood oozing out of each one. I became concerned a bit about infection but nothing came out of that.

Meanwhile Alex decided he was going to catch those morays. He asked for the backbone that still had some meat left on it and went back to our spot. The plan was to pull the eel right out of it's hole onto the bank. Well, the eel did take a hold of the carcass and a tug of war ensued but Alex came back to the camper with neither the eel nor the fish. The eel won that contest also.

P.S. I'm interested in the lighting involved in your picture Ken. It looks like the shadows go in 2 directions. You probably used flashes on either side of the camera. I imagine it must take a fair amount of equipment to take those underwater shots.

Ken Bondy - 3-12-2007 at 12:42 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Skipjack Joe
P.S. I'm interested in the lighting involved in your picture Ken. It looks like the shadows go in 2 directions. You probably used flashes on either side of the camera. I imagine it must take a fair amount of equipment to take those underwater shots.


Skipjack: That picture was taken with a Nikonos RS camera, Nikonos 13mm fisheye lens (very wide, almost 180 degree angle of acceptance), and two large Nikon SB104 strobes on arms extending out about 3 feet to each side of the camera. That's the reason that you see shadows in both directions, each strobe causes some shadows. I am VERY close to the subject (mija), no more than 3 feet from her and the ray. It was a sunny day and the water depth was only about 15 feet.