Best of Mike #453

On our 2nd dive today we came across a patch of Staghorn Coral that was big enough (30ft wide, 5ft high, 20ft across) that I am going to call it a forest.

I really like the Staghorn Coral and we don’t often see big healthy patches like this on our dives.

It made me think of a story that I heard about Capt. Don and the other pioneers of diving here on Bonaire.

When they first began to dive here this type of coral was so common and so thick that they carried a length of pipe… so that they could break a path from shore to reef.

All of those early guys later became advocates for environmentally friendly diving… and advocates for the marine park that exists here now.

So… it must really have been something for them to take that kind of drastic action to enable their diving.

Best of Mike #452

 

Big excitement on our first dive this morning… when we saw an Eagle Ray.

He was a small one… and as is usually the case he was too far away for me to get a good picture.

But then, a few minutes later he was back… also not an uncommon thing when Eagle Rays visit. 

Seems like they might be as curious about as we are about them.

When he came back… he was closer than I ever thought I would be to an Eagle Ray in my life.

He was rooting for food in the sand along the bottom… coming straight at me. 

Seemingly unbothered by my presence… making for a great picture! 

Best of Mike #451

Underwater photography, at least for me, is like riding a bike.

Once you’ve learned how you don’t really forget… but if you haven’t done it for a while you are a little wobbly at the start.

Typically, as a trip goes on, I become familiar w/ my camera gear again… and both the creativity and the quality of my shots improves.

But right off the bat on this trip, I am ahead of the curve.

Literally as soon as we made the descent on our “checkout dive” we saw this very cool, ship’s anchor. Looks very old to me… from the days of sailing ship days I would think.

And then, we got the bonus… a pair of Banded Butterflyfish that were cavorting in the to add even more interest to the shot.

One of them is right there for all to plainly see the other will make you hunt a bit… but he is there, I promise.