fstopandsee

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.

This is the liveaboard dive boat I was on while in the Similan Islands. It was awesome coming back to the ship after a late afternoon dive when the sun was starting to set. This trip had some of the best diving I had ever seen.

Your friend and mine, the lionfish. Just don’t touch him, he is quite poisonous. These guys were everywhere when I was scuba diving by the Similan Islands off Thailand.

Diving in Monterey can be pretty dark and cold. I was able to light up this starfish just right to make him pop out from the sandy bottom and seaweed. This was my first dive with a new underwater setup and I was happy with the results