Underwater Photography

[Kenomac]

When on an organized dive earlier today, and took this photo at 20 meters.

Ten minutes later.... I needed to be rescued. Reminded today about what I already knew.... always dive with a buddy or group.

Enlarge the picture, I haven't had a chance to edit it.

[Prairie Chicken]

Nice teeth!

What sort of trouble did you get into this time Ken?

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Ten minutes later.... I needed to be rescued. Reminded today about what I already knew.... always dive with a buddy or group.

What happened Ken?

That's an impressive looking moray!

SWL

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Prairie Chicken

Nice teeth!

What sort of trouble did you get into this time Ken?

Not really sure of the cause, when I surfaced I was unable to take in a deep breath probably because my weight belt and BCD were on too tight around my stomach. Unable to take a deep breath, I didn't have the strength to swim, then... my fin fell off. Rather than panic and struggle, I decided instead to float face up and await rescue. The dive team was great. Poop happens.

They even recovered my lost fin.

[Kenomac]

Fish in the Mediterranean, taken earlier today.

[Kenomac]

Here's the cropped version of my underwater friend. It's amazing how much of a difference underwater lighting makes. This image was not color enhanced in any way. Just SeaLife Dragon 1200 lighting 4000 lumens and a red filter on the Gopro.

[LakeSuperior]

Got blown off Lake Superior over the weekend so dove in the 25 mile long Portage Ship Canal created for steamers shipping copper.

The Sailor Boy is a 110 ft long excursion steamer that burned to the deck.

We found the horse drawn buggy wheel swimming along the drop-off. It is a reminder of an alien (to me) world or the parallel universes. I have reason to believe it is the remains of a small snow packing rig or dirt roller.

[Muckle Flugga]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

Cute video!

Intelligence in any creature, human or otherwise is an irresistible characteristic . I don't think octopuses would hold nearly the same appeal for me if they lacked this. Anyone know if they have a sense of humour as well?

This youngster instantly slid below the anchor fluke when he spotted me, but after I had dived a dozen times he must have decided I was not a threat and he cautiously emerged and endearingly posed on top of the fluke. A perfect photo opportunity .

Freediving @ 5m, Sporades, NW Aegean, Greece, August 2015:

Wonderful shots! Anchor AND Octopus… you win!

[Ocean Girl]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

Beautiful markings! How large was he?

I often have long dives with not one creature snapped (the fish are all too elusive) so I get excited seeing anything here that moves, starfish included .

This red one was spotted not far from the hermit crabs today. The colour was a muddy brown from the surface, but just sang when photographed up close. He moved about half a metre over about 10 minutes. Barely a grain of sand was kicked up. The slightest of scrape marks was made at about 10 o'clock:

My guy was easily dinner plate size..? He looked almost hairy!! He moved pretty fast too. I love your beautiful starfish. Funny how you mentioned scrape marks in the sand. Later that same anchorage ( black point settlement) there was a perfect indentation of a starfish in the sand in about 14 feet of water. It would of made a killer pic but was having too much fun to swim back to the boat to get my camera :-). Anyways, won't have any more pretty pics till we get the TS/hurricane out of our way. Ugh.

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

Anyways, won't have any more pretty pics till we get the TS/hurricane out of our way. Ugh.

Hope it skirts around you!

[Reach]

There are some amazing wreck dive photos here! Love seeing all of the underwater scenery.

Good luck in the Bahamas with Erika moving through. I'm looking forward to getting wet there soon, so keep the underwater pics coming Oceangirl.

I was looking through some old photos to share to get in the spirit

Here is a circle-marked brittle star & flamingo tongue snail from Panama:

[Reach]

As for fish being elusive, eventually you'll get to know how they behave. Pelagic fish are usually "fly-by", but many reef fish inevitably stop and turn around for a look if you're very still while hovering nearby. That turns out to be a good time to snap the photo...

I like to think it's their curiosity. It just may be for some like dog snappers, hogfish or trunkfish. Groupers are shy, but often perch on the bottom to watch you, sitting so still that they're hard to see.

Others turn to make themselves bigger with fins out to look like undesirable prey, like hamlets and lionfish.

Still others come close as cleaner fish when juveniles like angelfish, territorial like drums, or will nip your camera if you're on their reef like damselfish!

Here are a few from the S Carib~

[Seaworthy Lass]

Reach, lovely images. You make me nostalgic for the fish back home.
A bit of bread and I would be swamped . I didn't have a camera then, but great memories remain.

I have finally managed to snap a shot of the elusive Ornate wrasse (Thalassoma pavo). These are the most colourful fish I have seen here of significant size (around 20cm or 8"). Also the fish I think of as having ADHD . They zip around at unbelievable speed. I have spent many an hour trying to photograph one. I have lots of fuzzy images and partial shots of head and tails and ones without the fish even being in frame.

They are also fascinating in that they begin life as females with numerous vertical aqua stripes (I have observed five) and mature to become males (I know, this sounds decidedly irregular ) with all but one of the stripes disappearing.

[Kenomac]

Sea urchin.

[Seaworthy Lass]

Ken, sea urchins are one of the few creatures found in any great number here. I photographed this black one mainly because it had several rusty red, pink, white, minty green and black clusters of Coralline algae (order Corallinales) seemingly splattered around it. These algae have calcium carbonate in their cell walls and are rock hard (nearly as hard as the gingernuts I have been making lately ).

Does anyone know what the little holes of contrasting colour are in this algae? There were similar black holes in the white coralline algae in my earlier photo of a sea urchin.