It's World Turtle Day, so here's my favorite turtle picture I've taken to date! It's always fun to see a turtle on a dive, especially when they are chill or even curious about us. This individual in Bonaire was not bothered as I snapped some pictures against the backdrop of the beautiful blue water.
Clownfish of the day: OK, one more clownfish to share. This time we have tomato clownfish in the beautiful reefs of Apo Island. Wide angle photography is not my specialty, but I really like this reef scene with the clownfish moving through the huge anemone arcing across the surface, giant clam in the foreground, and soft corals in the background.
Picture of the day: You all seemed to enjoy the Ocellaris clownfish, so I figured I would share another anemonefish! This beauty is a Clark's Anemonefish, differentiated by the neon blue highlights.
Picture of the day: An ocellaris clownfish dancing among the tentacles of its anemone host. These fish were everywhere in Dumaguete, Philippines but they are in constant motion, so they are not easy to capture.
Picture of the day: Following up on yesterday's picture of the Jellyfish Nebula, I have a picture of a Lion's Mane Jellyfish. This species can get very large, but this one was small.
Just published a blog post about how to replace your fiber optic cables on your underwater photography rig on the cheap! Underwater photography is expensive, so let's save a few bucks where we can. I have been shooting with these cables for awhile and they are very reliable.
I haven't quite landed on what platform I want to use for my blog, but here's a new post giving a rundown of my underwater photography gear! Happy to chat about it and answer any questions - drop a comment if you've got one: https://blog.briangweber.com/2024-05-01-underwater-photo-rig/
We finally got another break in the weather and jumped on it. Surface conditions were great with small waves and comfortable air temperatures, but once we got down, viz was just OK and there was significant surge. Maybe the weather is going to turn soon? Maybe? Please?
I presented some photos at our local Photo Society meeting last week! The theme was The Philippines, so we had several presenters show images from different places around the country.
The link starts off at the beginning of my presentation, but the other presenters also showed some awesome photos and techniques so definitely check out the rest of the video too. Enjoy!
Throwing it back to my visit to Oslob in The Philiippines! This place was crazy with huge crowds and a long wait, but wow was it worth it. When it was our turn, we boarded a long boat and they paddled us out to take our place in the long line. I hopped over the side and in 3 seconds was nose to nose with a whale shark! SO FUN!
I was photographing something else when this large Nassau grouper darted right in front of me. In a split second, I pulled the camera up and snapped a single frame as I followed the motion. I was shooting with my TG-5, which chose a shutter speed of 1/30 resulting in a (mostly) sharp grouper with a blurry background to showcase the motion. Very cool! Now to try a similar shot on purpose...
I've seen Queen Angelfish on every trip to the Caribbean, but this is my best picture to date. They are quite large and have an amazing collection of colors and patterns. Sometimes they follow feeding turtles around and munch on whatever the turtle stirs up that doesn't make it into its mouth.
I was taking a picture of a turtle scratching on a rock when our dive guide came over to me and made some very emphatic hand signals at me and motioned for me to follow. When we arrived, I figured out what his hand signals meant - this pair of colorful lettuce were mating! The photo was tricky to capture because they were in a cut between the rocks with quite a bit of surge.
Peacock flounders are a colorful variety of flounder found all over the Caribbean, particularly in sandy areas. They are left-eyed flounders, meaning their right eye moved over to the left side of their body. When flounders hatch, their eyes are on opposite sides like any other fish, but as they mature, they shift. Nature is wild!
This is my favorite picture from the St. Kitts/Saba trip! We saw many sea turtles over the course of the week, but a few of them were super relaxed and went about their business even as a big group of bubble blowers approached. This beautiful green turtle came right up to me to check me out and I managed to get this lovely image. I hope you like it as much as I do!
I always love when I spot a new creature for the first time and this one was an instant favorite. I bring you the Cryptic Teardrop Crab! I spotted these on numerous night dives once they were pointed out to me. I like how their carapace and legs are camouflaged to look like a sponge!
I recently took a trip to St. Kitts and Saba aboard the Caribbean Explorer II. This week long adventure was a ton of fun and I took lots of pictures! I briefly shared a preview, but here goes the sharing!
Kicking things off with a small spotted moray! There were eels on every dive, but I like this view of the sharp teeth on the upper jaw. Glad I'm not on the menu!
Some highlights from my first 2 days here in St. Kitts on the Caribbean Explorer II! We're doing 5 dives a day, so I definitely can't keep up with the photos 😀
75 dives
81h45m underwater
1h27m longest dive
83 ft max depth
Water temperatures: 38F to 86F
25 different dive sites
Most frequent dive sites: Folly Cove (17) and Old Garden Beach (8)
17 different dive buddies!
I did 1 dive in Iceland, 32 in Dumaguete, Philippines, and 42 around New England. Shout out to all my awesome buddies and can't wait to get back to it in 2024!
Every anemone in Dumaguete is filled with interesting critters. The Harlequin Crab is among the cutest, with its little cartoonish eyes and flashy colors.