More Wyland/Sylvia Earle Photos

It took quite a few hours to go through all the photos I took this week.  I usually don't like to post so much, otherwise you have to sit at your computer too long, but it was an interesting week.  If you get really bored, you're allowed to quit before the end.  It was great getting a chance to talk with Dr. Sylvia Earle.  She's an inspiring person who's done a lot in her life.  Look her up if you haven't heard of her before.  Aside from conservation issues, we talked a bit about submarines, but she gets to go exploring on the fun kind (the kind with windows).  It was also fun to spend some time with Wyland and get his artist's perspective on things.  They did a press conference with Honolulu TV if you'd like to watch it:

http://www.kitv.com/news/30201407/detail.html

(good, but they gave Andy Collins from NOAA credit for my photo)

I'll quit with the text right now, since I put up so many pics.

 This is the same shot of Charlie Barracks that I posted a few days ago.

Here's a better view of the lower albatross.

Wyland got the monk seal outline and general coloring done in about 10 minutes.  I took this photo about 3 minutes after he started.

 Wyland is just finishing up the seal.

Sylvia likes algae, so Wyland painted some really big algae under the turtles, since they like to eat that.  He used Susan Middleton's Archipelago book for an example.  Here's a photo break from painting with Michelle Jones (works for the State of Hawaii Division of Forestry and Wildlife), Sylvia Earle, Wyland, and Susan Middleton.

                               
Wyland sits on the bench outside of Charlie Barracks deciding what to paint.

 Sylvia is ready to dive.

After I took the group out diving, I took them to Reef Hotel for snorkeling.  Wyland had a really nice underwater camera and lighting system.  I'm sure he has a better picture of me than I have of him.

 I wish I was a little closer, but Wyland is getting a decent shot of a turtle swimming by.

I wish I was a little farther away.  It's really difficult to get a perfect underwater shot.  I guess I could just tell you that I was trying for a closeup of the front half of a surge wrasse.

This is Amanda Meyer.  She's the manager of Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.  She's also the Dive Safety Officer so she came out to assist with the SCUBA.  You can barely see Sylvia in the background taking a photo of Amanda.

The Chugach Band played on Saturday night.  Susan M., John Hannah, and Sylvia E. had a good time.

It's kind of a tradition for groups that are here to sign ceiling tiles for the All Hands Club.  This is the one that Wyland and Sylvia Earle made.

I took Sylvia, Amanda, and Susan to see the Short-tailed albatross on Sand Island.  As we were watching, it chased this Black-footed albatross off its nest and stole its egg.  It's kind of a bully sometimes and has done this before.  It loses interest in the nest after a while and goes away.  If the Black-footed albatross hangs around long enough, it can have its egg back.  Amanda saw this one back on the egg when she went jogging later in the evening.



I really liked how gold this one came out (without any photoshop work).  I showed up a little early for the dive boat last Saturday, so I got some sunrise photos.  Double click the pictures for a bit larger size.