Carcharhinus

Question: How many sharks can fit in a 5 gallon bucket? (Answer below)

Last night we did a night dive. No problemo, but upon returning to the bungalo, a massive headache decided to set it. Not sure if it was a hydration issues, or frustration, struggle, etc. It wasn't the best night dive (of course it was only my second ocean night dive, and the one in cozumel has pretty high standards to beat), camera issues, silt issues, lack of eye candy, it could have been better. That's not a complaint, just a critique. Despite the headache and issues, we were treated to a visit by the resident Moray under the wooden dock, in 3 feet of water. Loosely tucked away in the pile of rocks, he just hung out like he knew he was the star of the show. We did our best paparazzi on him, then off to bed... headache in tow.

This morning, it (the headache) was still there, i was still tired (as was everyone else). Next was breakfast, boat trip to our next dive, pre-dive lecture (DON'T PET THE MORAY), play with sharks, lunch, and 3 aspirin later... i'm still nursing a headache. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Check. Do absolutely nothing in the hammock. Check. I'm thinking about opening up shop here. I wonder how much Bluebell would charge me for shipping?



Answer:

I said 5 miles...

Not 5 dives, but that's what was on the adgenda. 2 morning dives, 2 afternoon dives, dinner, dancing, 1 night dive. i'm pooped. Hard to tell if the nitrox helped or not, i've never done 5 dives on just air, so i have no basis for comparison. Regardless... i'm tired. time for bed.

p.s. Thank you to whomever turned off the gale force winds down here, was nice today and much appreciated on the boat rides.



no editing, straight from the camera.

Sweetened condensed milk + key lime = Pie

Seriously, i need to run another 5 miles. Tired today, so it'll have to wait for story time. A little HDR testing, not the greatest, but it gets the idea across.



This is our setup area. The opening shows our dive boat, "Coco I".

Orientation?

So, you know how we couldn't dive the first day we arrived? Orientation. 8:30am, today, nothing major, just the in's and out's of CoCo View Resort and how the dive operation works. First dive after the meeting was our "backyard tour" of the shore diving here. Walk out from the beach to a small platform, show the dive master you don't sink like a rock, you can clear your mask, and you know what that thing the air comes out of is. Check. Off we went, nice chain trail (see the previous days images with Ham/Cheese swimming away) that leads to a bouy, past that a large cargo ship, past the ship a decent wall kept us midly entertained. Visibility, meh... not great, but the winds are strong still and we kicked up some sand waiting for the group.

Dive two. Boat dive. Dropped us off a 1/4 mile or so down the reef from the resort. Down quick, and off to a wall dive. Another mildly entertaining fin. Sea horse, check! Grouper under a rock, check. First one low on air... chec... damnit! Turns out, 2 others were needed to exit as well, not bad i guess, for the least experienced diver in the group.

I need to not eat for a week... and i need a 5 mile run.


This guy was at least 24"-30", he stood still like a good boy.


It was a pretty day today.


Have you ever seen a seahorse swim, i did today. He had a nice little hideout.

Insert Subject Here or Practice Makes Perfect

An hour in the passport checkin line + no diving on the first day = 7 irritable divers. Meh, we're over it, we went for a snorkel, after a beer, after a lunch.

So, my main "dood" let me borrow his strobe for this trip, and yah, i'm in love. Buying one. Practice makes perfect, and i need lots of practice to get my settings dialed in using the strobe. So after a few pics on the evening snorkel i "think" i know what i need to do. Somewhere, somehow, my camera housing has hidden the felt pad that lets me change modes on the fly. So, i'm stuck with whatever i decide to shoot with, in the snorkel episode i went with Tv (Shutter mode). Speeds i changed only twice, but the flash dial was all over the place. Good practice. Showered, "beer-veraged", stuffed. There is a pina colada with my name on it waiting for me at the bar, then the hammock over the water...

Enjoy some practice, just a few shots from the evening, nothing fabulous from strobe practice yet. Saving the rest for story time when we get back.


Good strobe, bad wave. Slight adjustment for blue and whites in Photoshop.
The waves lifted on me when i shot the little puffer (bottom of pic).


Strobe on, no adjustments, straight off the card.


Ham, or is it Cheese (a.k.a. Bud) swimming away. Auto Levels in Photoshop


uhm, nice backdrop, but the subject swam away... ;)

Roatan... in T-minus 2 days

Nitrox certified, and looking forward to caring about nothing but how to breathe.

image: Kent Sauter

Desktop wallpaper samples from work

stuff i do when work is slow.

testing again

There is no one who loves pain itself, who seeks after it and wants to have it, simply because it is pain...

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