The Observer Effect?

[KeithG]

I will chime in with an observation about "the observer effect".

We have stayed at the Divi in Bonaire many times. The dock area sees 3 to 5 dive boats coming and going 3 times a day. There is also a steady stream of dock divers all day long. The dive site sees lots of traffic. Continuosly.

Yet there is lots of life to be found within a few feet of the dock and even under the dock itself. The dive traffic (boat and human) has not scared everything (anything?) away.

I am unsure of what effect scuba divers are having in this situation.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I figure we shouldnt feed a Grizzly in Yosemite, so we shouldn't feed a shark in the ocean either. I'll make a better effort to avoid all wildlife feeding situations from now on.

I had an interesting encounter with a grizzly in Denali several years ago, while touring with a group of people. I was working at the time for a company that used a rubber chicken similar to how ScubaBoard uses Moonie ... as a mascot. I was carrying the chicken in my backpack .. it was all dressed up with a straw hat, red sneakers, and a cape with the company logo on it. When we spotted a grizz foraging off a reasonably safe distance away, I pulled out the chicken, hoping to get someone to take a pic of me and the chicken with the bear in the background. Being a basic dufus ... and before anybody could get a single photo ... I waggled the chicken in the direction of the bear and said, "Hey señor bear, yo quiero Taco Bell?" The stupid thing looked at me waggling the chicken and ran away. I was the least popular guy in the group for the rest of the day ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Bob DBF]

I was the least popular guy in the group for the rest of the day ...

As you would have been if the bear decided on having chicken McNuggets, or hikers on the halfshell.


Bob

 

[Michael Guerrero]

Life is a hardscrabble affair, not some delicate and fragile thing.