fstopandsee

This shot reminded me of a garden, although it is like nothing you would see above sea level. I captured this in Cozumel. The combination of soft corals with the light reflecting off the surface made this trip very memorable.

This was the first thing I saw after emerging from a cave dive in Mexico. The cave was called Kukulkan. True, it was the way we came in, but from this vantage point I was still in the water after swimming through caves, and it looked quite different. I can’t say I was in a hurry to get out of this place, but the effect of the light at the end of the tunnel got my attention.

I was surrounded by these little fish diving in Cozumel. OK, I might have scared a few off by swimming by and bursting a few flashes from my camera!

A diver in front of me on a cave dive in Mexico. This isn’t a technically great shot, it is a little blurry and funky, but I really like the effect that it has. It represents what scuba diving through this part of the the cave was like. It was dark and cold, and it felt like you just had to keep focusing on the one light in front of you and keep going.

This was taken while scuba diving in a cenote in Mexico. A cenote is an underground cave with fresh water flowing through it. They can continue on for miles and miles underground with occasional rocky cave like openings. There isn’t much in the way of wildlife down here, but cenote diving makes up for that with the interesting rock formations and effects from the light that you get from diving in a dark cave. This was my first time diving in a cenote and I was very impressed! What you see in the top of the frame is the surface of the water sending light ripples down into the water below.

I live in Northern California where there are plenty of scuba diving opportunities available, only they all involve very cold water. When I go somewhere warm I try to dive whenever I can. With that in mind I made sure I took the short ferry ride from Playa del Carmen to Cozumel to get a day of diving in. I was rewarded with these beautiful soft corals.

This jellyfish in Monterey Bay was not alone. While diving here I was surrounded by tons of jellyfish. I have to admit it was a little intimidating at first. After I remembered I was in a thick wet suit due to the cold water, and figured out that I was able to swim around most of them, I became a little more comfortable and was able to get a few shots of these huge animals. They were literally everywhere I turned. Thankfully I didn’t directly encounter any of their stinging tentacles!

This was taken in Monterey California, but not at the aquarium.  It was taken close to the breakwater in the ocean.  This was my first dive with a new camera setup, and it was a test dive for an upcoming trip.  I didn’t get a lot of great shots due to conditions, but this one was particularly clear and I really like the way the wavy tentacles turned out.

Our trusty captain after a day of diving in Thailand, taking us safely back to shore.

There weren’t too many of these fish on my dives, and the ones that I did see were more skittish than I was expecting. These three stayed in one spot long enough for me to get a shot.