Diving Report with Pictures

[Dabaras]

I just got back from my B2B where diving was going to be a big part of it, but everything went wrong. I got on board the Dream on 4/19. While unpacking, I decided to put my underwater camera together. One strobe arm is missing. I didn't pack the single strobe cable, so it likes like I have no camera which is a no-go for me. With the little available time in port before we lose cell signal, I start looking for ikelite dealers in Grand Caymen. What do you know, Sunset House in an ikelite dealer and has an in-house photo shop. I guess Eden Rock is out, Sunset House is in. When we dock in Grand Cayman, I head straight over there and they don't have ikelite arms, but they have ultralight, so I'm back in business.

Edited May 5, 2015 by Dabaras

[Dabaras]

Mandatory picture with statue

 

 

Barracuda

 

 

Sharpnose Puffer

 

 

Flamingo

 

[Dabaras]

The next day is Cozumel, and I am set up with Aldora. Since I was by myself and the ship was getting there so late, I was scheduled to meet the early boat and do the second dive with them, then I would join an afternoon group to do their first dive for my second dive. Very convoluted sounding until I got to the dive shop, and four other people had booked from cruise ships in the last week, so they just sent out a late boat at 10:30 for five of us.

 

Turtle

 

Loggerhead

 

 

Splendid Toadfish

 

 

Parrothead

 

 

Frenchies

 

[Dabaras]

I get back to the cabin and rinse everything off. Pull the batteries off the strobes and charge them. When I go to clamp the batteries back in place, the latch snaps on one of them. No repair possible in the field. I'm just SOL now. Luckily in this case I had planned on doing the ship excursions in Roatan and Belize and hadn't booked them yet. I just sent a message to ikelite this morning to get a repair quote. I'm debating getting a spare battery now. Aldora was very good as usual and I highly recommend them. I wasn't as impressed with Sunset House. They have a great, well stocked, photo shop on site. They got a bit preachy with me when they found out I did a solo dive. I didn't think the sea life was as good as at Eden Rock anyhow.

[jtonra]

Awesome pictures. Thanks for sharing them.

[vms]

Great photos! The colors of the Parrothead and Toadfish are so brilliant.

 

What camera did you use?

 

Are you using a color filter of any kind?

[Dabaras]

Great photos! The colors of the Parrothead and Toadfish are so brilliant.

 

What camera did you use?

 

Are you using a color filter of any kind?

 

Thank you. I use a Canon 20D dSLR in an ikelite housing with dual strobes. No filters. The color comes from the strobes. They are more important than the camera.

[Host Star]

thanks for sharing... great photos

[Diver2014]

Beautiful photos! Unfortunately, the best laid plans go awry sometimes, especially for us underwater photographers. I check and recheck my cameras before leaving home and then wham! some unexpected little thing happens like your experiences. I always take a spare underwater camera but I also stick to point and shoot cameras. I've seen many thousand dollar setups get flooded for some of the most bizarre reasons especially now in the digital age when a flood means your camera is a useless paperweight. Back in the days of the manual Nikonos III cameras, even when I flooded mine, I was able to dry it out, have a technician clean it up and I was back in business. Nature of the game I suppose. Thanks again for the great photos!