May 2026 Sea-gram

The May

Sea-gram

from MilaBooks.com

For ocean lovers, divers,

and "deep-thinkers."

A nurse shark cruising along a reef in Cozumel

Paul Mila photo, Cozumel, Mexico (c)

Welcome to the May 2026 Sea-gram

From MilaBooks.com

To the many recent Sea-gram subscribers, "Thank You!"

I hope you enjoy your May issue!

This month our Featured Creature is the nurse shark. Enjoy my video of an interesting encounter, and become a shark "sex-pert."

Our Story Behind the Photo this month is about my rather unpleasant meeting with a land cousin of our sea turtle friends.

There are a couple of upcoming events to check out, as well as a story about some recent past events.

We also have several fascinating short videos that our Sea-gram fans have sent in for your viewing pleaasure.

I hope you enjoy them!

In this month's Kids Korner, Scott Jones, editor of DiveNewsWire magazine, featured the fascinating backstory of how my young co-author & grandson, Luke, inspired Sally Stingray Finds Her Way Home.

Summer is almost here, so please visit the Tropical Authors' link and check out some entertaining beach reads for reading on the sand.

For more fun, search @paulmila5210 on YouTube and enjoy our many videos!

I hope you enjoy this Sea-gram, and share it with your friends and family.

Paul Mila

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Featured Creature

The Nurse Shark

(and also, a shark-sex tutorial!)

If you ever yearned to have a long, close up, safe encounter with a shark, then nurse sharks are for you!

They are commonly found in Florida, the Bahamas, most of the Caribbean, especially Mexico, and as far south as Brazil.

These beautiful fish swim swim in a graceful fashion, propelling themselves by sweeping their long, caudal (tail) fins.

They are large and robust, typically 5-10 feet long, and maxing out at about 15 feet.

They have two dorsal fins of almost equal size, and their small teeth are designed for grinding and crushing their favorite food: lobster and shell fish. But they will also consume other small fish. Their strong suction almost enables them to inhale their food.

We typically spot them resting on the sandy bottom, often under ledges or in small caves, like this nurse shark below:

A unique feature of nurse sharks is their ability to pump water over their gills, making them one of the only sharks that can breath while motionless. Other sharks must keep moving, or they drown.

Nurse sharks usually lie motionless, unless molested. They have been known to bite an aggressive (stupid) diver who insists on touching or grabbing them.

The dive master in this Cozumel video strokes the shark, and also has food that the shark is trying to get.

Not a good idea, because then the shark will associate a diver with food.

Is the shark in this video a boy shark or a girl shark?

I enjoy visiting the Jenkinson's Aquarium in Point Pleasant, NJ, between dive trips, and I was able to take the following photos below, easily:

All male sharks have two external sex organs called "claspers" between their ventral fins, as seen in the photo below.

During mating, the male shark inserts one of his clapsers into the female, and his sperm and seminal fluid travels along a channel in the clasper into the female.

The female shark has no external sex organs between her ventral fins, as in the photo below.

So, armed with this knowledge, is the shark in this photo below a male or female?

If you said "male" you are correct!

Now for your final test, go back and watch the video again, carefully. See if you can determine if this is a male or female nurse shark.

Scroll down to the bottom of the newsletter for the answer. NO PEEKING AHEAD PLEASE!

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STORY BEHIND THE PHOTOS

This ain't Harry Hawksbill!

One late afternoon driving to the community clubhouse, I spotted a gray "bump" on the gray roadway. I pulled over when I realized it was a turtle.

I realized this was not the usual turtle that I was used to seeing. When I tried to nudge it to safety, the beast lunged and snapped at me! And then it turned to challenge me, head-on.

This was not good old friendly, Harry Hawksbill. I decided to abandon my attempts to move it to safety, and left.

Hours later, the turtle was gone. There was no sign of any accident, so I assumed the turtle made it back to it's local creek or pond.

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Upcoming Events!

On Wednesday, June 3rd, I'll be joining two other diving authors, Gill Zeimer and Eric Douglas, along with producer & host Bonnie D. Graham, for a live-streaming event. Details below:

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On Friday, June 5th, I'll be signing books at the

Tom's River Book Show

Stop by, say "Hello," and pick up a good book!

(NOTE: The flyer says June 7th: they need a good editor!)

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Recent Events

Best Publishing Company

was represented at the annual meeting of the

Aerospace Medical Association & Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society,

in Denver Colorado.

(WOW, that's a mouthful!)

From the look of these happy parents & grandparents, it appears that the Harry Hawksbill Sea Turtle Adventure Series, published by Best, was a big hit (click on the photo for details), . . .

. . . along with author Paul Sieswerda's children's book, Sea In The Bathtub! (click on the photo for details)

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Some Very Cool Videos!

From Tom Helmke

Leave it to Sea-gram fan Tom Helmke to send us these two amazingly interesting videos.

This first YouTube short shows a strange fish that none of us has ever seen before. Enjoy!

Tom's second YouTube short shows how clever the Mimic Octopus is. We knew octopuses (not "octopi") were smart, but this is really amazing!

From Fulvio Cuccurullo

Cozumel diving legend Fulvio Of The Deep (FOTD, to us) sent in this entertaining 90 second video from a dive last week in Cozumel, Mexico, with dive buddy Steve Cruz, (Chupacabra, to us), led by dive master Ruben.

A great example of why we LOVE diving in Cozumel!

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The Authors' Corner

We authors never know where our books will travel!

Ben Davison, editor of Undercurrent Magazine, came across Killer In Paradise in a bookstore during a visit to Gualala, California.

Click on the photo below for information about KIP!

Where is Gualala, CA?

Ben wrote, "It's 100 miles north of San Francisco on the coast, and it was in a small used book store that raises money for the community center and came across this. You travel well."

Scroll down and check out the link to Ben Davison's Undercurrent Magazine in our Fun Things To Check Out section, below.

For Exciting Beach Reads, click:

PAUL'S TROPICAL AUTHOR PAGE

Click on the Tropical Authors logo below

and dive into adventures

from our other Tropical Authors!

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Kids Korner

DiveNewsWire Magazine

publishes the backstory

of Sally Stingray!

Scott Jones, Editor of DiveNewsWire Magazine, published the story of how my co-author and grandson, 10-year-old Luke Chiappetta, inspired the story of Sally Stingray.

Click on our photo to read the full story.

Also, scroll down and check out the DiveNewsWire link in the Fun Things to Check Out section, below.