Gull Cove -- Portsmouth, RI

I had originally planned to dive Doliber's Cove in Marblehead this morning, but then Andy Martinez called and said he had just dived there and kicked up so much silt that viz was a mere 2-3 feet.  Oi.

Okay, he didn't actually pinpoint himself as the cause for all the silt floating through the water column but I've spent enough time in his slipstream to put two and two together once he said he had been in the water and that viz was bad!

Plan B was to head south to Gull Cove (aka Blue Bell Cove) in Rhode Island.  I love this little site, mainly because of the snake blennies, most of which are still a half-inch or less and very quick.  But every now and then you come across a curious one that evolution has yet to cull from the herd, and I did my best to shoot them.

It was also nice to spend some time in 75-degree water, although it's probably not a good idea to get too used to that with a Quebec trip just a few weeks away.

Eat Or Be Eaten

Every time we go underwater, life and death struggles happen all around us, whether we see them or not. Usually when we think of predators, we think only of sharks.  But that’s just the tip of the food chain iceberg. Everything down there is feeding on something else.  And the vast majority of these life and death struggles happen on a scale so small that it’s easy to swim right by them without even noticing.  Here are a few shots of animals a little further down on the food chain caught in the act of making a meal of one another.