In a Coma in Cozumel

Okay I know you must all be up to your limits in flu bullshit but I just have to share this. In Cozumel we have been put into a coma and the plague of the century never even got here. Now this report from the big wigs?

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The swine flu virus that has sparked fear and precautions worldwide appears to be no more dangerous than the regular flu virus that makes its rounds each year, U.S. officials said Monday.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said swine flu is no more danerous than the regular flu virus.

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"What the epidemiologists are seeing now with this particular strain of U.N. is that the severity of the disease, the severity of the flu -- how sick you get -- is not stronger than regular seasonal flu," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Monday as the worldwide number of confirmed cases of swine flu -- technically known as 2009 H1N1 virus -- topped 1,080.

The flu has been blamed for 26 deaths: 25 in Mexico and one in the United States, according to the World Health Organization.

Still, Napolitano noted, the seasonal flu results in "hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations" and roughly 35,000 fatalities each year in the United States. There are still concerns that the virus could return in the fall, in the typical flu season, as a stronger strain.

"We are cautiously optimistic that this particular strain will not be more severe than a normal seasonal flu outbreak," Napolitano said.

So perhaps we can get on to bigger news stories now like the fact that the stock market seems to have turned up or the president is doing a good job so far or maybe Paris Hilton's dog is having hemroid surgery. You know something uplifting like that?

Nurse shark mania

Cruising across the top of Delila reef yesterday with Lyle, Izzy, Tanya and Taylor when I roll over an overhang. I spot the tail of a large grouper and move in closer to investigate. As I get closer I realize Mr grouper is voyeur. He is intently interested in two nurse sharks in front of him tucked into the reef. We can only see the tails of the sharks but one of them is slightly turned upwards. Their heads and upper bodies are stuck in a whole in the reef. There is not much movement at first. So all of us tuck in under the current to find a better vantage point. Like porn directors we all move in close. Undeterred the action begins. A little wiggle here and flick of the tail there and a sudden rush and flurry and it appears the deed is done. A cloud of sand and, for lake a better term, "White stuff" comes pouring out from under the ledge. Mr Grouper rushes in like a movie extra/Key grip and begins feeding on white stuff I think. The larger shark moves out of the overhang and does a slow steady figure eight near by. The other shark (smaller, possibly the female) keeps her head tucked under the ledge and Mr Grouper enjoys the moment basking in the afterglow that he was not part of. The larger male wanders around but does not go far or seem to care that we are there.
Unfortunately I did not have a camera with me to document the moment. These are some pix of what a nurse shark looks like. It was quite the show. I wonder if there is a market for Shark porn videos? Hum.. Lets search the net..
ciao 4 now

Tony

Feo Flies the coop

Well our little friend has up and left us without saying goodbye or leaving a note. I was diligently watching the little guy every day and even helped him out of a little jam.
You see Feo's parents (the ones that built the nest that fell out of the palm tree) were feeding him a lot. He was growing quickly and I was starting to get high hopes that I had actually done a good thing. Little Feo was active and hungry full time. Early each morning Feo would start to chirp. It was fairly loud and very consistent. Every 2-5 seconds he would chirp. He was almost like a clock. Then if he got a hint the mum was around he would go into a chirp frenzy. Not only was it 10 times the intensity but it was accompanied by a dance and feather russel that would make a flamingo dancer or Vegas show girl envious. So mum, being the caring lovin mum that she was would purposely land a few branches away and make Feo come to her. Stretching his wings and practicing his much needed motor skills was surely the lesson. And mum did it well. So Feo regularly had to work for his meal. Dancing about in a mad frenzy was surely the goal mum was after.
So I notice that Feo has his right leg stuck on something. At first I can't tell but on closer inspection, after mum has flown off for more chow, is that a piece of the nest material is stuck on his little toe nail. The trouble is that the it is an artificial material that mum used to make the nest. Most of the nest is made of dry grass woven intricately amidst stiffer sticks. However mum must have thought herself quite clever when she wove in a piece of white cotton string she found being unattended somewhere. It was this very bit of cleverness that has now entangled poor Feo and effectively chained him to one small area of the nest. It has also wrapped around his leg several times making it very unlikely that he would be able to get himself free.
So in steps the very unnatural human observer (Scubatony) to cut the string and save Feo from almost certain death once more.
The next day without note or fanfare Feo was gone. Nest was there but Feo was not. I checked Priva (Dad's dog) for guilty look on her face but she was clean. Parents were gone as well. So I assume it was a happy ending for the little guy however my mind has thought up a little glitch in the whole "come to the aid of wayward wildlife" scenario.
What if Feo's parents suffered from a genetic defect which caused them to not properly attach their nests. If that were the case Feo would also be a likely carrier of that detrimental gene. If that were the case then Feo was not meant to live and pass on his genes to his offspring. Now he is likely to also poorly attach nests requiring an unnatural human observer to come to the rescue of Feo's fallen offspring. And the cycle continues over and over again.
These are the things that plague my mind......
ciao 4 now

Feo update

Our little guy surviving well. Keeping his parents constantly on the run but they don't seem to mind. Here are a couple of pix to show ya the status of the Mr Ugliness

On a side note, watch out of the latest virus going around the internet. The file name is winpcdefender.exe and it actually looks like anti virus or anti spy ware software. It will throw pop ups at you trying to get to you to buy the product or reroute you to bogus websites. It disables your task manager and in some cases your registry editor which makes it particularly nasty to get rid of. some any virus software will spot it. My fathers Norton did not and I spent about 4 hours trying to get is sorted out. Luckily the net has lots of info on it and many programs like stopzilla and Avast will block it and get rid of it if you are already infected. It was delivered to my system as an email link from a friend of mine. Surely she had no idea she was infected. I did not click on it but my dad did. My friend Sandy got it too today. Just FYI.
Sunny and warm here. What else is new?
Ciao 4 now

Tony

Fallen Feo Lives!

Well I suppose nature is more compassionate than we might previously have thought. Fallen Feo has been struck vigorously with the lucky stick. Not only is he still alive but seems to have more feathers and putting on some weight.
Indeed he is actually being taken care of by what I assume are his parents. Who else would try and help something like Feo? I have seen the female sneaking up on the nest and dropping down to drop off a snack for Feo on many occasions. I also see a male around watching and shrieking out the danger call. He is usually a good distance (100 ft) away and up high in a safe place when he does this shrieking. It is pretty effective I suppose. This appears to be his sole function as a parent and I must say he does it well. But the female comes and goes with surprising regularity. She stops up on the roof next door first. Then she flies over to the fence on the West side. Then when the coast is clear moves to the ledge just above Feo. She then walks that ledge from tip to tip, all the way to the East then the West side. Once the ledge is secure she stops over the top of Feo's new position. She looks at him intently for about a minute. Feo , of course responds to this. He pokes his little head up and opens up a mouth that you would swear was from a different animal. It is as if his whole head turns inside out to make the mouth target big enough for mom to see. No sound, just a big gapping mouth that needs to be satisfied. Mom of course does the motherly duty. She darts down to the nest and feeds the little guy beak to beak. She is only there for a quick stop then off to gather more grub.

It seems the tree hugger in me is healthier than I thought. I actually find myself curious and protective. I don't want anyone to bother the nest. It is right next to my truck and in order to get past it you have to walk withing 2 feet of Feo's little nest. This concerns me and I have thought of other locations more suited but moving him again might be asking too much from the lucky stick powers. I should have found a better place for him at first but I was just sure he would be dead by morning so I didn't look too hard for a new site. So I find myself guarding the nest. I scold Priva (Dad's dog) if she gets too close. I stay clear as much as I can. Today when Sandy came over I actually thought to ask her to keep her voice down. I didn't ask her cuz for Sandy that is like telling her to shut up which in turn would be like cutting off one of her arms. Just rude so I refrained.
It appears Feo has a chance of survival here. The nest is still in place but I don't know whether it will hold up if he gets to be a great big fat guy. I didn't think to tie the thing down or anything. Maybe I should get some zip ties and secure it? Hate to seem him fall again. Then he would be the Fallen Fallen Feo. Not good.

The Saga lives on.
Update in 2 more days.

Good deeds

So we got this crazy ripen wind out of the South a few days ago. It was the super strong and out of the wrong direction. Our usual wind is from the East or Northeast. Any strong winds only come from the north or West. Diving conditions are still good as long as you don't too far offshore where it gets pretty choppy.
Anyway, I have this long skinny palm tree in my back yard which you would think could bend over and hit the ground if the wind blew hard enough. It is loaded with coconuts which make it sway even farther than normal. I try to park my truck as far away as possible to avoid insurance claims do to rogue coconut damage. I think the insurance company has an exemption and wouldn’t pay anyway.

This big wind apparently caught the local wildlife off guard as well because I found 6 inch bird nest on the ground next to my truck and a rogue coconut. It was a pretty nice nest and fully intact. I looked at it for a few minutes admiring the craftsmanship and detail of the weave thinking "I wonder if the birds had home owners insurance and would that be covered or exempt in the fine print of the policy?" Feeling sad for the birds which would need to start the construction anew I tossed the nest in a pile of leaves thinking they might use the materials to rebuild.
As I turn around to get in my truck I notice my Dad's dog Priva, licking something on the ground. Further investigation and my keen sense of curiosity revealed it to be a baby bird. The thing looked to be about 2 weeks old. It's eyes were not open, it was a little smaller than my fist and had a couple straggly indications of future feathers sticking out of its scrawny wings. It could not move itself much. Lying on the brick floor with a big dog licking it was surely not where it would have preferred to spend the afternoon. I picked it up and gave it the once over. Ugly thing, damn!!!! Mother birds are amazing to be able to look after a creature that nasty looking. Oh My God! If you were to create a horror movie villain from a nightmare it would have prettier features than this bird.
However being the tree hugger, nature lover, in a good mood kinda guy that I am I felt sorry for it. I was sure it was in dire condition. What do to? Leave on the ground to fend for itself (cruel), Feed it to Priva to end it's suffering? (she wouldn't eat it), smash it with a shovel to end its suffering? (maybe), find a shoe box take it in the house and learn to regurgitate partially digested worms to feed it? (not likely), search the net for baby bird rearing techniques? (probably have a lot there) climb up the palm tree of eternal peril to return said baby monster to its parents? (not going to happen).
In the end I picked up the discarded nest and put the little guy inside. I looked for a place off the ground yet close to the palm tree in hopes that the parents might find him. As I drove away I figured he would be dead in a few hours and it would not be a pleasant death. But nature is cruel and perhaps so am I.
Low and behold 2 days later the little beast is still alive. I have not seen anyone tending it and pretty sure Priva's worm regurgitation skills are lacking, so I assume the parents are in stealth mode taking care of him.
Hum... interesting nature story. Beats the hell out of caged camel at the front door stinking up the place. Why not do my first nature documentary.
So without further ado I humbly present to you The Fallen Feo.

Ill take pictures every couple days and keep you posted of Fallen Feo's progress.
If the story turns out sad it is not my fualt. Please don't aleart PETA and rat me out saying Scubatony is a torturer of ugly wildlife. I am but a humble observer now and nature will tell the tale from here.

test map

View Larger Map

I am hoping that this map shows up and I can use it to keep my locations plotted during my trip. Ill put my post up and include this Google image of where I am . I wish I could find a way to mark it with a pin or something but I will just zoom into the best spot on the map in order to mark my position during my trip.