I was asked to share Fred’s status, and that of his new friend, Wilma, on this blog because of the wide interest. As some of you already know, Fred is a purple urchin that stowed away on the Aquarium of the Pacific’s boat last Monday following our kelp project dives. I felt sorry for him and took him home to live in my boat dock in Huntington Harbor. He seemed to be doing OK, but yesterday he was a bit lethargic, and I thought he might be lonely. Well, wouldn’t you know it, we had another stowaway today. On the way back to port today I found another purple urchin and decided to hook her up with Fred. BTW, her name is Wilma. I couldn’t have been happier with the outcome. Fred actually climbed on the dock to greet her, showed her how to clean my kayak bottom, and led her to the dock edge where they both dove into their new home. Gosh I love it when things work out so well. Here is a link to Fred and Wilma’s pictures:
http://www.ocdiving.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=31449 You will probably notice that Wilma is bigger and therefore older than Fred, but Fred doesn’t seem to mind.
I will provide updates from time to time to let you know how they are doing.
Safe diving,
Wayne