Yellow-bellied Sea Snake coins are now available...

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Fieldnotes
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Yellow-bellied Sea Snake coins are now available...

Post by Fieldnotes »

Yellow-bellied Sea Snake coins are here:

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http://www.downies.com/?gclid=CIr555TCz ... Qgod0jwA3A


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As we depart from shore, picture of crew member of the chartered boat

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Taking turns on the bow looking for sea snakes.

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Departing the boat and crew with ice chest containing 2 snakes

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As an anglers would hold up their prized catch I am here showing off my idea of a proud catch. My wife took this picture as I exclaimed, “Thousands come to Costa Rica for its world class fishing, but as for me, I travel for the bizarre and potentially deadly Sea snakes!”

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Photo session site with nice pools of calm water.

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This picture is currently being turned into an Australian coin made of silver with a value of over $100, Should be available in spring of 2013. They will be sending me a few. It is so nice when an adventure such as charting a boat pays off with dividends

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Both snakes were returned safely to sea.
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Soopaman
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Re: Costa Rica Sea Snake Adventure

Post by Soopaman »

So, how exactly does one hunt for sea snakes? Do you just go a short ways from shore and motor around until you find one? Clearly we're not flipping rocks/logs for the these guys.

BTW, cool photos, and very awesome that your photo is going to be immortalized on an Australian coin!
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DracoRJC
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Re: Costa Rica Sea Snake Adventure

Post by DracoRJC »

Awesome stuff man, and a species very high up on my to-do list!

Ryan
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Antonsrkn
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Re: Costa Rica Sea Snake Adventure

Post by Antonsrkn »

Fantastic post! I bet you got some weird looks explaining why you wanted to charter the boat. Well worth it, those snakes are amazing and rarely photographed! Make sure to post some pics of the coin when you get it! And just because I'm curious to see if I'm right, looks like you were in the guanacaste/Nicoya peninsula region? Maybe in Tamarindo or near santa rosa?
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Mike VanValen
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Re: Costa Rica Sea Snake Adventure

Post by Mike VanValen »

Very cool. Seasnakes are an amazing, and largely unstudied, group of herps. A silver coin featuring this species? That's a definite buy.
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monklet
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Re: Costa Rica Sea Snake Adventure

Post by monklet »

Your pics really show off how wierd looking those snakes are.
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dery
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Re: Costa Rica Sea Snake Adventure

Post by dery »

Soopaman wrote:So, how exactly does one hunt for sea snakes? Do you just go a short ways from shore and motor around until you find one? Clearly we're not flipping rocks/logs for the these guys.

BTW, cool photos, and very awesome that your photo is going to be immortalized on an Australian coin!
Roughly when will the coin be available in the US? I'll definately be looking for one at the local shop.
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Fieldnotes
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Re: Costa Rica Sea Snake Adventure

Post by Fieldnotes »

Anton: You are right it was Guanacaste and we stayed at the Ocotal Hotel along the beach. Matter fact, you can almost see our room in the rocky shore picture. It is located to the right where the rocky shore joins the water in the picture, you can barely see a orange kayak on the beach. Very cool place to stay. Also, found a tropical Lyre Snake nearby. Costa Rica is known for its world class fishing, so when I said to the Charter boss that I wanted to catch a sea snake his replay was in disbelief … ”what in the world! They are rare so no guarantees. It’s your money… okay we’ll get you a boat.”

Soopaman: I did some research before heading out, so I had an understanding that the Sea Snakes would not be by shore. They are poor swimmers and fear being thrust ashore by any change in current or abrupt stormy seas. I was paying the boat by the hour so to make more money I think the crew puttered around the shore, because I had to persuade them to move out to sea. While near shore we saw plenty of sea turtles but no snakes. Once we got to the mouth of the bay the snakes started to appear.

As any herper knows, you may not see another specimen so when the first snake appeared we took extreme caution netting it. Once I had one for a photo shot, I could relax and the further we puttered around the more snakes we spotted. To find snakes, we did try to find debris slicks streaking through the water because it is popularly know that these snakes, being the poor swimmer that they are, float with the currents. However, most snakes where spotted on the surface much like the picture Tim shows in the original sea snake post.

I would say that these snakes are not a rare and that they are actually common in Costa Rica. A person just needs to put time in to it. We saw nearly a half dozen in the one-hour or so that I chartered the boat.

Mike and Dery: Here is the manufacturer's Website at Downies:

http://www.downies.com/Year-of-the-Snak ... tmenu.aspx

*Please note. I am not affiliated with Downies or anything to do with them, they are just using my picture to develop a coin. They have paid me and promised to ship me coins once they are ready and that is the extent of my dealings with them. They have informed me the coin will be available sometime in the spring of next year, so the Yellow-bellied Sea Snake is probably not listed on their website yet.
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dery
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Re: Costa Rica Sea Snake Adventure

Post by dery »

:thumb: cool.
MuayThaipan
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Re: Costa Rica Sea Snake Adventure

Post by MuayThaipan »

It took my a while to find the nasal openings on that Pelamis . It seems the openings are actually on the internasal scales, that's a pretty cool adaptation for an incredible animal. Hard to believe there's a snake that lives a totally pelagic life in the open ocean, it would be awesome to do a telemetry survey on these guys. This species lives an amazing life if you just think about how and where they live out there lives. Absolutely mind blowing.

P.s. if this post seems a bit incoherent its my birthday and I've had a few drinks so forgive me if that post made no sense it sounded good in my mind.
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Ruxs
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Re: Costa Rica Sea Snake Adventure

Post by Ruxs »

Is there an antivenin for these guys?
Reptiluvr
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Re: Costa Rica Sea Snake Adventure

Post by Reptiluvr »

This post was too freaking awesome! That sounds like a blast. This is the first time I've seen a detailed, up-close photo of a sea snake that did a good job of showing details on the head. Did the captain charge you the same rate as for fishing?
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reptilist
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Re: Costa Rica Sea Snake Adventure

Post by reptilist »

Nice post!

A coin! How special!

Did you take them back out to sea for the release?
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Fieldnotes
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Re: Costa Rica Sea Snake Adventure

Post by Fieldnotes »

Rux: Not sure about the antivenin. It is said that the YB Sea Snakes rarely bite, and when they do seldom inject venom. However, I would not take any chances with that statement, and the ones that I caught attempted to bite and would even latch hold of the Styrofoam ice chest I temporarily housed them in.

Reptilvr: I got a small boat, whereas the anglers were on much larger boats. I would say that I did in fact get charged the same rate as everyone else that would charter the smaller boats (I was somewhat special by requesting my own boat). I did charter the boat via a diving/fish charter so I paid top dollar. However, if I asked around for a local fishermen to escort me out, I’m sure I would have paid considerably less. The charter was around $60 an hour and I had the boat for about an hour-and-a half. I paid the guys a clean $100 bucks, plus hefty tip and all the beer they wanted. However, if a person was in a rush, they could probably get the snake and back to shore in a half hour, the snakes seem that common and easy to find.

Replist: My release came from shore in very calm, almost pool-like, bay water.
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Robyn@TRR
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Re: Costa Rica Sea Snake Adventure

Post by Robyn@TRR »

Odd snakes, but these are beauties, and great to see!
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Rich in Reptiles
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Re: Costa Rica Sea Snake Adventure

Post by Rich in Reptiles »

Wow, herpers dream catch! The way sea snakes are made for the aquatic life is so awesome. These are some of my favorite snakes!
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dery
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Re: Costa Rica Sea Snake Adventure

Post by dery »

Rich in Reptiles wrote:Wow, herpers dream catch! The way sea snakes are made for the aquatic life is so awesome. These are some of my favorite snakes!
Some of mine too. Possibly my #1 favorate kind of elapids.
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Fieldherper
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Re: Costa Rica Sea Snake Adventure

Post by Fieldherper »

Awesome. Just awesome. Pelamis are on the LOOONG list of herping goals that I have. When I make to to CR, I plan to give this a try.

Great stuff,

FH
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Fieldnotes
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Re: Costa Rica Sea Snake Adventure

Post by Fieldnotes »

Yellow-bellied Sea Snake coins are here:

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http://www.downies.com/?gclid=CIr555TCz ... Qgod0jwA3A
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