Editors Gallery

Flying Gurnard<br />
-I have never seen a Gurnard fly until this one off instance. <br />
Critters often behave quite differently on a night dive then they do during the day. Such was the case with this flying Gurnard. On a sandy slope at about 30m/90 feet i found this little guy, sitting in the sand. I attempted to shoot him face on but my lights annoyed him enough to move away. These guys are usually asleep and easy to approach in the evening but not this guy. He was definitely subdued but hunting. I tried moving around in front of it but it kept rotating. I finally sat there, frustrated trying to let this anxious critter relax. Looking upslope i could se the strobes of my friends flashing and almost left to join them. Then i noticed the full moon, all the way from down there. I turned off my strobes and sat there in the dark, amazed at how black it was. About a minute passed and i decided to give it another whirl, by this time my little buddy had to be relaxed. When i turned my light on, he was gone....i looked up and there he was, hovering before me at mask level. Seconds later he glided back down to the sand. I repeated the process until finally on the third try it took off downslope, i chased it as far as i could before turning back, i never looked away from my viewfinder as i kept shooting and firing photo's. My computer began beeping like mad and as i turned away all i could think of is, thats why the call them "Flying Gurnards"...

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Flying Gurnard
-I have never seen a Gurnard fly until this one off instance.
Critters often behave quite differently on a night dive then they do during the day. Such was the case with this flying Gurnard. On a sandy slope at about 30m/90 feet i found this little guy, sitting in the sand. I attempted to shoot him face on but my lights annoyed him enough to move away. These guys are usually asleep and easy to approach in the evening but not this guy. He was definitely subdued but hunting. I tried moving around in front of it but it kept rotating. I finally sat there, frustrated trying to let this anxious critter relax. Looking upslope i could se the strobes of my friends flashing and almost left to join them. Then i noticed the full moon, all the way from down there. I turned off my strobes and sat there in the dark, amazed at how black it was. About a minute passed and i decided to give it another whirl, by this time my little buddy had to be relaxed. When i turned my light on, he was gone....i looked up and there he was, hovering before me at mask level. Seconds later he glided back down to the sand. I repeated the process until finally on the third try it took off downslope, i chased it as far as i could before turning back, i never looked away from my viewfinder as i kept shooting and firing photo's. My computer began beeping like mad and as i turned away all i could think of is, thats why the call them "Flying Gurnards"...

Gurnard flying helmut