Robert’s Ramblings

The Wordsworx website has finally gone LIVE.

…Robert 🙂

This week’s photo, a juvenile (baby) Leafy Seadragon, Phycodurus eques, was taken yesterday under the jetty at Rapid Bay. Many thanks to my dive buddy Serdar for spotting this little guy. Very embarrassing, as I was supposed to be the dive guide.

I regularly take international guests on ‘Leafy Tours’. Even though Rapid Bay is a ‘sure bet’ I still breathe a sigh of relief when we find our first one. The rest are a bonus. Thanks to Julius (South Africa), Rick (USA) and Serdar (Sweden) for a great day’s diving. Looking forward to seeing you all back again.

Until the next post, take care out there and keep diving ( if that’s what you do! ) …Robert 🙂

This week’s photo, a Polyclad Flatworm, Pseudobiceros bedfordi, was taken during a recent trip to Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea. These beautiful worms are one of the most sought after creatures by both photographers and genetic biologists alike.

Not to be mistaken for nudibranchs, flatworms do not posses external gills. They are however just as diverse and beautiful and posses the astounding property of full regeneration.

Cut of any body part and a new creature will grow and the worm will repair itself. Cut it into ten and you will get ten new worms. In addition, Polyclad Flatworms are hermaphrodites possessing both male and female reproductive organs.

Here is an excellent website to find out much, much more about these amazing creatures Wolfgang Seifarth’s Flatworm Site

Until the next post, take care out there and keep diving ( if that’s what you do! ) …Robert 🙂

The Inceptu website is getting a bit of life breathed back into it. The old discussion forum was a great idea at the time but without a bit of coaxing it did not really take off.

Enter ‘The Blog’! I don’t like the word but blogs have really hit it off as a medium for sharing with like minded communities. So welcome to the Inceptu blog.

I will regularly post articles, insights, thoughts, observations and general musing on creativity and innovation. Feel free to visit and subscribe (RSS) if you want to hear more.

…Robert 🙂

This week’s photo, as promised from last time, Mantis Shrimps in China.

Now as you might imagine, Shenzhen is not a dive travel destination on anyone’s ‘top 10’. However, it was here that I found the most amazing collection of marine life I have ever encountered in one location. At around 2am one morning while out strolling after a long working day I encountered a street absolutely alive and buzzing with people, stalls and restaurants. This was just an ordinary weekday!

There were eels, snakes, shrimp and prawns. There were dozens of varieties of molluscs, crabs, lobsters and octopus. There were reef fish and pelagics. There were fresh water species and salt water species. There were very eager Chinese ladies gesturing me to come in and partake of this diverse marine gastronomic offering!

Hungry as I may have been I simply satisfied my curiosity with a handful of photographs and made my way back to my hotel were I new that in the morning I could satisfy myself on toast, jam, orange juice and coffee.

Later that week I got to try deep friend Mantis Shrimps and they were delicious so maybe next time I’ll be a little more adventurous.

Until the next post, take care out there and keep diving ( if that’s what you do! ) …Robert 🙂

This week’s photo, Mantis Shrimp, order stomatopoda, again from Milne Bay. Not the best photo in terms of “negative space” but a good example of matching the environment.

Mantis shrimps are in a class all of their own with two stunning claims to fame in the animal kingdom. The first is that the strike from a Mantis Shrimp is at least twice as fast as any other creature on the planet. The second is that some species have the most complex eye structures of any animal featuring up to 10 different pigment sensing types (compared to our three).

This little guy is the first and only one I have ever seen in the wild. One month later I encountered them again in the back streets of a Chinese city but that’s a story for another post. 😉

Until the next post, take care out there and keep diving ( if that’s what you do! ) …Robert 🙂

This week’s photo, Lionfish or Red Firefish, Pterois volitans, was taken during our recent trip to Milne Bay.

Common to the Indo-Pacific region, the Lionfish is considered every bit a part of our tropical waters as any other. Its new arrival in the U.S.A. however is not welcome at all since being introduced by the aquarium trade back in 1992. Having no natural predators in other parts of the world means this beautiful creature has become an introduced pest to our friends across the Pacific.

As for local photo’s, well teaching again is leaving little time to get the camera wet so you will all have to put up with PNG photos for a little while longer. Sorry… 😉

Until the next post, take care out there and keep diving ( if that’s what you do! ) …Robert 🙂

Today being the last Sunday in October heralds the beginning of “Daylight Savings Time” for us. With it brings all the mucking about in moving forward all things which have clocks in them. Once this used to be a bedside clock and a couple of watches but now includes all manner of gadgets and gear such as camera’s, ovens, VCR’s, radios, toys and so on and so on! At least with modern computers we are spared the angst as they mostly do this automatically.

As in the past I set the time on my new phone one hour forward before I went to bed last night. I also set the alarm for 7am as I needed to be up early. So it transpired that my new “Smart Phone” had come of age becoming “Daylight Savings Aware”. It diligently moved itself one hour forward of its own accord in the wee small hours. A 6am Sunday morning rude awakening heralded the fact that my phone was now an hour ahead and smarter than I expected.

Being woken an hour early was no big deal really, but I wonder how many meetings, plane flights, appointments and deadlines will be missed 5 months from now when these new “Smart Phones” catch out the unaware by moving the time back again! At least I’ll be ready. 😉

This week’s photo, Jennifer, Homo sapien extraordinarious, was taken during a recent trip to Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea. This would have to be one of those classic cliche silhouette shots that you will find in almost any underwater photography book. Here the clear water and the bright sunlight allow for a small aperture giving a beautiful crispness to all of the image. Those observant Underwater Hockey players out there might even recognise the classic Technisub fins just from the outline!

Sorry for the long break but work got the better of me and a couple weeks in China distracted me for a while. I promise that I’m back and the photo’s will just keep coming!

Until the next post, take care out there and keep diving ( if that’s what you do! ) …Robert 🙂

This week’s photo, a pregnant male Leafy Seadragon, Phycodurus eques, was taken yesterday under the jetty at Rapid Bay. I’ve not been too spoiled by the warm northern waters of P.N.G. to jump back into the cold water again. of course, these magnificent creatures make it all worthwhile.

Notice that this guy has a clutch of eggs attached to his tail and is diligently looking after them as any good father would! That being said he will totally ignore them the moment they are born.

Until the next post, take care out there and keep diving ( if that’s what you do! ) …Robert 🙂