Princess Bay pic.

[parafins]

This is for Nothintolose or anyone who would like to visit Princess Bay. If you want to "sea-stars" go to Princess Bay!Princess Bay is located between Coral Bay and Haulover.It is home to the mangroves. P.S.I brought this star out of the water just long enough to take a pic and then returned him back to his underwater home.

[California Girl]

That's a great picture of you with your mask & snorkel and the sea star! You should frame it and put it on your desk at work so you can stare at it and drift away on those "not-so-great" days.

[Beached n KS]

Can someone tell me just how safe it is to pick one of these little guys up? Not only for myself but for that little creature?

Great picture!

[liamsaunt]

Hi Beached n KS, it is OK to pick up the sea stars. They are one of the only things it is OK to touch! If you do pick them up, it is important to place them gently back down on the sand facing up. They can turn themselves over, but it's nicer to put them back the way they were.

FYI, it is also OK to pick up conch. Again put them back the way you found them.

Great picture parafins! My favorite pricess bay picture is of a sea star eating a sea cucumber! It was one of the weirdest things I've seen.

[California Girl]

My favorite pricess bay picture is of a sea star eating a sea cucumber! It was one of the weirdest things I've seen.

Oh... you must post that one!

[liamsaunt]

Here it is! I felt bad for the cucumber!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/738427881/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1185/738 ... 18f87c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="starfish and sea cucumber"></a>

[California Girl]

With an appetite like that, no wonder he's so big! Survival of the fittest... or biggest in this case! LOL!

[MarkR]

WOW Liamsaunt,

That picture is so cool. Like something you would see in National Geographic.

[parafins]

O.K. I have to ask,Has anyone picked up a Sea Cucumber? I have and thought it would do no harm to them. At the time I had someone there with me that knew what it was and how to handle it. It's a sticky critter with a hard top and a soft underbelly.It's kind of gross to handle I learned how to handle Seastars at Coral World back in 2000. They have small suckers under them and if it sticks to your hand,just turn him upside down and swish your hand gently back and fourth untill he falls off.Then place him upside in the water.I don't think it would be a good idea to just pull him off you hand,do you? This is a fun topic. Love the pic of the Seastar lunch!! Parafins....

[chrisn]

I don't know about the Sea Stars. I kind of always thought they were ok to touch and I know some things are probably ok but some things are not. I've taught my little man to "just look & don't touch" anything in the water. It may be good to have a healthy respect for the ocean's inhabitants because you never know when something that you think may be harmless can really hurt you or them. Jelly's, Sharks, Barracuda, Blue Ringed Octopus, Scorpian Fish, Stone Fish, Cone Snails, etc (Yes, I watch too much Discovery Channel).

I saw some pics of a family in the BVI on a sail charter with these REALLY great pics of them holding sharks, Puffer Fish, and turtles. Several turtles of the entire family grabbing the turtles out of the ocean and taking pics with them. All the responses were "wow, great pics!" Yeah they were but I just cringed in knowing that it's not healthy for the turtles if we touch them. The oils on our skin are not good for them. Not one person asked about this and I found it really odd. I didn't reply even though I wanted to because I didn't want to get flamed. I felt really sorry for the poor little turtles! When we vacationed in Maui, we swam with many giant Green Sea Turtles. They are federally protected and there is like a $20,000 fine if you are caught touching one. This is probably because they are endangered (I don't know, maybe not), but I asked several locals about this and they all told me that touching them is bad for them. Our oils are unhealthy to them.

Sorry for the schpeel (sp?). I feel better now that I've bi*ched to someone about this. It just didn't sit well with me.

Moral of the story though is be careful and have a healthy respect for the ocean and it's fragile inhabitants.

[California Girl]

chrisn - I know there's a huge fine for touching turtles in Hawaii, but doen't that protection extend worldwide, or is it just a state-by-state, country-by-country thing? I also watch too much Discovery Channel (is there such a thing as too much Discovery Channel??) and I know that our oils do harm the turtles.

[chrisn]

For any of you interested, here is the report with the pics in question. Not saying they aren't great. They definitely are. I went back and read the comments. There was ONE that called their ocean romps into question, but in a very tactful way. Anywhoo, here you are...

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~mcdermid/BVI2007/

[nothintolose]

Parafins - GREAT pic - thanks!!!

Do you have any pics of the path or the entrance to the path???

nothintolose

[brenda]

liamsaunt, That is one cool picture! Great color.

[Dave-a-roni]

Great pics Parafins and Liamsaunt, this is a neat thread!

Liamsaunt, did you sit there and watch the cumcumber get eaten, or was it like watching paint dry?

And, I had no idea you could pic starfish up, and besides... I would be afraid too (up till now). Liamsaunt's info about what you can touch and can't is interesting, is there anything else you can? I just decided not to really touch anything while snokeling, except a HUGE pastel purple "snail" (the huge shell was purple, I didn't see the rest of it) in Cinnamon... it wouldn't move, she was plastered to that huge island-rock out there.

Also, on the subject of sea life getting touched. I was watching some snorklers at Trunk "standing up" in the water futzing with there goggles while keeping upright by flapping wildly underneath them with there fins. They were getting MUCH TO CLOSE (or grazing) the corals under them, and found that a bit disterbing. Yikes! It's sad to speculate how much damage has been done when people aren't watching what they're doing. I know that's unintentional, but still sad.