Best of Mike #40

You hear so much about the decline of the coral reefs and I'm sure there is truth to it.
I had heard, when I first started diving, that no matter when you began you would look back in 10 years and lament what was no more.

But there are exceptions.

In Bonaire, at a dive site called Karpata, there is an anchor from the days of sailing ships. From the buoy, swim South at a depth of 35 ft and you are bound to find it.

10 years ago, this is what you would see when you arrived at the anchor.

Today, if you look carefully, you will see but one end of one fluke extended from the coral that has grown up around and over it.

Bonaire is a marine park and well guarded against the things that are harming so many reefs. It is nice to know that there are some success stories still happening under the sea.

Best of Mike #39

One of my favorite pixtures, of one of my favorite places (1000 Steps) on my favorite island Bonaire.

These steps take you down from the road and parking lot to a broken coral beach that is the entry point for this dive site.

There aren't really a thousand steps, the exact count is 63 or 64. But when you are climbing up with all your scuba gear (about 40 or 50 lbs worth) still on your back, the name seems really right.

As you can see from the sky it was a cloudy day when I took this pixture. That happens alot on Bonaire but seldom for a full day.

Blue sky might have made this pixture prettier. But the almost white light seems to me to be representative of heaven and more than once on this climb I have been sure I would see God.

Best of Mike #38

I'm pretty sure I've told this story before. But this is a way better pixture to illustrate it.

So, I'm going to tell it again, the abridged version.

When they first started diving Bonaire, the Staghorn coral was so thick, that Capt Don Stewart and those other early dive pioneers would carry a length of lead pipe.

They needed it to it break a path, through this kind of coral, from the shoreline to the point where the water was deep enough to swim above it.

Best of Mike #37

The Regal Slipper Lobster normally hides out in protective crevices during the day and forage in the open at night.

So, I was pretty excited when I found this guy in the open near the end of our dive one morning.

They are really much more colorful, than you see here. A tan body with red and blue coloring. Although, I remember this guy being pretty well covered in sand.

When startled they will flee, using thrust of their powerful tail to swim backwards.

This is the only time that I have ever seen one.... and wouldn't you know it, my flash didn't fire.

The moral of that story being, charge the strobes every night even if you don't think they need it.

You could have a hot dive with the best of the action, coming at the very end of your dive.... and find yourself with a depleted battery.

Best of Mike #36

We were diving under the Salt Pier, on Bonaire, when I took this pixture.

Having made our way down the length of the pier we had arrived at the point where the reef drops away. The deep water side where the ships tie up to take on their cargo of salt.

At some point in the past, this length of rope had been dropped had fallen off one of those ships.

One end had become entangled in some of the debris that litters the bottom.

But the coiled end was trying to make it's way back to the surface.... and return to work.

The color, the shape and the texture, all caught my eye.

Best of Mike #35

Underwater, I have always shot with a digital camera.

Which is the same as saying I have always shot with a very smart camera.

It records information that I sometimes don't even know what to do with.

That's how I know that when I took this shot that the strobe did not fire.

As you go deeper in depth, colors disappear from the light spectrum, reds being the first to go and then I believe yellows.

The strobe (flash) provides light comparable to daylight, so when that doesn't happen you often end up with a decidedly blue/green color cast.

Most times that makes for a bad pixture.... that gets deleted.

But every once in awhile, you end up with one that is obviously wrong but still pretty enough to be a keep.

Best of Mike #34

Salt us a big deal on Bonaire.

For over three centuries salt was at the heart of it's culture and driven it's prosperity.

European nations were sailing the 7 Seas far from home and needed salt to preserve the meat they carried onboard their ships.

Bonaire, supplied that, along with salt for export.... as it was and is one of the world's most valuable spices.

In these times, much of the salt produced on Bonaire is used to keep the roads clear in winter, in America.

But the salt works here is owned by Cargill.... a big name in the worldwide business of salt. So I'm thinking that some of it must end up on a table somewhere.

The salt produced in Bonaire is the bi-product of a natural process, using sea water, wind and sunshine, all of which are available in abundance on this Caribbean island.

This pixture is the Salt Pier. It's really just the end of a conveyor belt that moves the mountains of salt (no I mean that literally) to the hold of a ship.

When there is no ship present this is a great dive spot.

There are some cement slabs on the shoreline just out of the frame at the bottom left corner of this pixture.

On this particular day, I decided to use that as my entry point and do what amounted to a back-flop into the water.

As luck would have it, I landed right in the middle of a huge, huge school of Silver Sides (small minnow like fish).... that were on the run from a pair of Jacks that were hunting for a meal.

There were thousands of them all around me in every direction. Spinning, turning and flashing in the sunlight of the very shallow water.

Just a great way to start a dive.... but not something that I was ready to take a pixture of.

This is the last pixture from our September 2000 trip to Bonaire.

But as you know it is pretty much our favorite place to dive ..... so by March 2001, we were right back there again.

Those are the pixtures and stories that will be coming your way next.

Best of Mike #33

There is always something magical about finding a man-made object underwater.

Even if it's an ordinary boat anchor, just off the dock at your resort.

You swim past it outbound and inbound on every dive, that you make from that dock.

And every time it calls to you ..... take my pixture.

It so obviously doesn't belong here that your mind has no trouble at all conjuring up an adventure to explain it's presence.

Best of Mike #32

I thought I would do an extra post this week, in honor of the holiday.

This pixture is some Orange Cup Coral that I took during a night dive under the Town Pier, right in the heart of downtown Kralendijk.

Kind of looks like fireworks, don't you think?

Night dives there are always a busy adventure.... as there are typically a lot (in this case 24 divers) in a pretty small area.

Making for a kaleidoscope of flashlights and strobes.

Linda and I are not big fans of night dives, so we don't do that many. And, I get good pixtures even more infrequently, on night dives.

This pixture, was taken at the stage of my photo career, before I used strobes. I had a video light, attached to my housing, that was on all the time.

This actually, made it a little easier to take night pixtures. But, had a tendency to spoke the critters making for less opportunities.

Best of Mike #31

This really was the trip where small eels seemed to put themselves in picturesque locations and then wait for a photographer.

Can't you just imagine this eel, swimming in thru the hole in the top left corner of the frame and then tucking himself in behind the coral plate.

I thought the Christmas Tree Worm at the bottom of the frame added a nice touch of extra detail to the pixture.

The Chain Moray has heavy body, brown or black, with yellow markings that resemble the links of a chain.

They prefer shallow clear water reefs or rocky shores.

They will hide in recesses during the day, maybe with a head poked out to see what's going on around them.

At night, they are out in the open, to forage, occasionally in the tidal zones where they feed on crabs.