I got nothing.....except some weird dolphins!

So, you may have noticed a lack of underwater photos of late. Truth is I haven't managed to get properly underwater since November for reasons of excessive business. I managed to rectify this with a little snorkelling yesterday but broke my own cardinal rule ("Always, always, always take a camera in the water with you in case you see something awesome") suffice it to say I saw something awesome. Imagine if you will a photograph of 2 huge eagle rays circling a 7 foot nurse shark here:

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fig. 1: Tai Haku is kicking himself this is blank space and not an awesome eagle ray and/or shark photo.

To try and make up for this here are some old photos, topside but of a very interesting sea beasty.




These are Risso's dolphin, Grampus griseus, which for literature fans amongst you is the origin of the phrase "puffing like a grampus". This was a huge pod of Risso's, that's a juvenile at the bottom right. Risso's are a weird dolphin - funny coloured, beakless, pretty big. Heaven knows what this big pod was up to.

Note the baby is darker, smoother grey whereas the adults are mottled and much lighter - this image shows this strange colour scheme better.

This image is the best I have of the Risso's melon-headed, beakless face. Risso's weren't the only dolphins in the region though, that's a common dolphin in front I believe.