Trip Report

[death_by_soy]

So I'm back from the cruise- the weather was terrible (the coldest on record!), and we had a very limited amount of time at each port, so I only got to dive five tanks :sadface: but the dives I did get to do were awesome and have totally ruined Florida diving for me. I got a new camera and strobe ( sadly, I didn't have a strobe on my last dive), so

Comments

[fuggler]

Goddamnit, I'm in the middle of nowhere right now and your pics are only loading halfway. Nice flamingo tongues!!! You'd probably get lectured on scubaboard if you posted about taking pics with a new rig after a year of not diving. Hope you didn't bang/kick some reefs, lol. A similar out of air situation happened to max when we were in hawaii, but before he went below 500psi, the guide buddy breathed with him. WTF was your guide thinking?
How was the vis in roatan?

[death_by_soy]

I have to say that shooting walls is much easier- or at least an area where bits of reef are surrounded by sand you can kneel in. It's so hard to get close and shoot b/c I end up holding my breath while I shoot so that I can see w/out bubbles in my face- but you sink when you hold you breath. I ended up having to take most pics really quickly while sinking and then pull up as soon as the strobe went off. This is going to take a lot of practice!!

The viz in Roatan was interesting because it was raining- and it was a mix of fresh water and salt water. The top ten feet was fresh water and you literally couldn't see 1ft in front of you- but once you got below ten feet the viz was about 80ft. or so.

My guide was less than perfect, not to mention that there was no dive flag or anything and four motorboats zoomed over us. I guess the guide pointed to them and my brother heard them- but apparently I'm deaf and blind because I didn't notice them. That kinda pissed me off too- don't really want to end up like a manatee...

[fuggler]

I thought I bought a gimmiky regulator until I used max's (he has aqualung's most expensive reg - the legend lx). I dive with an aqualung Kronos which has a side exhaust, meaning the bubbles get deflected to the side of my head. I immediately noticed the bubbles when I used his in Coronado Island; it's fucking annoying and reminds me of the crappy rentals we used for the first 10 dives we did. Some serious photographers use rebreathers. It's like recycling with no bubbles to distract you and scare fishes away.

I saw all your pics and I think you did an excellent job. Practice makes perfect and when you don't dive regularly, it's hard to fine tune everything while trying to enjoy the dive at the same time.

Oh, the best fish ID book is Reef Fish Identification: Florida, Carib, and Bahamas by Ned deloach and Ted humann, I think. We have both Caribbean and pacific guides; wonderful pics and on point descriptions.

Was the crappy guide in cocoview? I've read nothing but great things about that plAce.

[death_by_soy]

I'm only really happy w/ the first pic (another fish I can't identify), but I figure it will just take more practice, a lot more practice. Considering this is only dives 9-13 (thanks to living in nyc) I probably shouldn't be diving w/ a camera anyway, but it's hard to go anywhere without a camera, especially when everything is so pretty. I just need a week or two of intensive diving and shooting- it sucks though that Don doesn't dive and my brother isn't that into it. Everyone I meet is like "I used to dive until I got married because my SO doesn't dive".

The crappy guide was at Cocoview. I wouldn't let it deter you from going there- the place is quite charming and the shore dive is excellent- I just wouldn't do my certification there or anything of that sort!

[death_by_soy]

Don't be jealous- imagine being on a cruise in the Caribbean and not seeing the sun once. It was in the 60's and 70's- admittedly better than snow- but such a tease.
You can still take up diving- I just got certified at 25- and I've seen everyone dive from ten year olds to 70 year olds to obese pack-a-day smokers to paraplegics! Anyone can dive.

[dwaleberry]

.

[oncirx630]

Meet your perfect lover and Be Naughty today! Go Here welcomemyhomecat.blogspot.com