Best of Mike #91

There is just something so haunting about seeing anything man made underwater. Even when the story is not one of death and destruction.

This ship started life as a Russian Frigate and was stationed in Cuba when the Russian government pulled funding for their overseas program and repatriated the entire crew to their homeland.

It sat abandoned in Cuba until the Cayman government bought it and sank it in 1996 as a marine reef, off Cayman Brac.

The ship, originally 330' long and 42' wide gained further notoriety when famed marine biologist and advocate of reef conservation, Jean-Michael Cousteau, wearing scuba gear rode the ship down as it slowly sank into place on the sandy bottom.

Originally, named Patrol Vessel 356, it was the Cayman government that renamed it, M/V Keith Tibbets, to honor a local politician and businessman.

If you dive it today, you will find it has broken into two pieces.... and is now the home of many corals and species of marine life.

Best of Mike #90

It's a well documented, really I should say undocumented, fact that I don't take a lot of underwater pixtures of people.

I find them to be interesting enough but I apparently I don't find them to be as interesting as fish and corals.

But every once in a while those divers align themselves with some of the pretty stuff and end up in one of my pixtures.

Do you see the gentleman, who I don't know, looking back at me through this hole in the coral?

Best of Mike #89

You know how much I like to make shapes and textures stand out by doing extreme close-ups.

Well here I go again.

While I often appreciate the beauty of the corals underwater, both soft and hard.... coral identification is my weakest area.

I am thinking that this is one of the Sea Rods (the purple part) with it's polyps (the white parts) extended to filter nutrients from the water.... but that is really just a big guess.

Best of Mike #88

Taking pixtures of Scorpionfish is a little bit like taking pixtures of sunsets.

What you see with your naked eye, in this case something that looks very much like the surrounding rocks and coral.... a dull grey.

Is never quite as exciting as what you get once the light hits it.

Scorpionfish are very, very comfortable in their environment.

Knowing I guess, that if you were to touch them you would be much worse for the experience than they.

As they are in a group of fish that includes many of the world's most venomous species.

All this comfort translates into a fish that is more than happy to lay right where he is, while you work around him to get the best possible pixture.... including some nice, very close-ups.

Best of Mike #87

So this is how it works when you are a fan of the little stuff, the "macro".

You're swimming along and maybe a riot of color catches your eye.

Then you notice perhaps the tiniest flash of movement, so you cruise in ever so slowly and gently.

And, there he is a Diamond Blenny.... hiding in plain sight.

They are a slender, bottom dwelling fish, usually only about 1.5 to 2.5 long.

Their markings are most often ringed with yellow and if look closely at the top of his dorsal fin, just behind his head and you will see the diamond shaped crown that gives him his name.

Best of Mike #86

Every year in October the Cayman Islands have a big celebration.

For a couple of weeks each year they offer some killer good deals on scuba packages that include airfare from Miami.

In 2002, my friend Steve Gadd and I made the trip to Cayman Brac.

A little bit off the beaten path, Cayman Brac offers two tank boat diving in the morning, with lots of opportunity to relax in the afternoon.... and some nice hammocks for that relaxing.

I saw a lot of this view during the week we were there.

Best of Mike #85

It's just that easy.

A short stroll down the path between the trees.... adventure awaits.

This particular path leads to Lac Bay, the windsurfing haven on Bonaire.

A waist deep bay of crystal clear, warm water, over a soft sandy bottom.... that seems to stretch all the way to the horizon.

That's it for this trip to Bonaire, you know we'll be back but for now we are off to.... Cayman Brac.

Best of Mike #84

We're back from our annual scuba trip.... this year the destination was Cozumel, Mexico.

We traveled with our friends Pat and Rick Dutton and had a marvelous time.

The diving was wonderful and the pixtures are good. But none of them are of things that you won't see if I continue with the Best of Mike series in order.... well except for this one.

On the last dive of the last day of the trip, we were visited by an Eagle Ray.

They are such magnificently graceful creatures and this one favored us with three passes.

Our group of 14 divers was spread out along the reef when he made his first visit.... with Linda and I were swimming near the back of the group.

He came in close to have a good look at us and actually swam straight at Linda before dipping at the last minute to swim under her.

There was a coral head that was between he and I and he chose a route that would take him around the other side.

I was swimming like a fiend, hoping to put myself in a good position for a pixture.... when he came around the other side of that coral head.

I made it, but he had risen in the water column by the time I got there. So, my picture is from a lower angle that I would have planned.

But I think pretty dramatic all the same.... and easily the best shot I have ever gotten of an Eagle Ray.