In celebration of World Turtle Day, I went deep into my archives to find this friend. Diving with turtles is always amazing, and this particular one seemed particularly happy to pose on the bottom of the ocean while I took this photo. Long live the turtles!
I can’t explain why these guys wanted to hang out together, but they were inseparable the whole time I snorkeled with them. I like to think they were just friends, but maybe it was a camouflage technique. I’ve been holding onto this image for awhile as there was a lot of nasty backscatter in the original. Now I’m benefitting from a friend’s new knowledge, and used some new to me techniques to really clean this image up so I could post it!
A picture cannot capture how large a whale shark is. To swim next to one of these animals is simply something else, and I’ve never experienced something else like it.
Like most things in the ocean, this guy doesn’t like to be touched. His stinging white bristles are flared out since he noticed me, but it wasn’t too difficult to avoid all 1.5 inches of him. I spent at least 10 minutes to get this shot and I’m pretty happy with the result. He was cooperative, but the current moved him around enough to make getting this shot a time-consuming process.
On a recent snorkeling trip I ran into this stingray. He looks menacing, but was more interested in hiding on the bottom than he was in messing with me.
The current can be strong, there is no use fighting it. Sometimes it is just best to grow with the flow.
I was focused on the spotted moray eel for this shot, but then a little cleaner shrimp popped into the frame. Maybe they had some kind of arrangement to share this little hole in the bottom of the sea.
I immediately forgot about the long, rough boat ride as soon as I spotted my first whale shark. A wide angle lens masks just how massive these guys really are. Despite their size, they weren’t very interested in me, and swam on by looking for more tiny bits of food to filter out of the Caribbean Sea.
