Underwater trip report

During my four week stay I was able to get in 24 more dives with Dive Adventures. Here is a link to some of my pictures from this last trip on Shutterfly. Just open the link and click on "slideshow" and the show will start.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8EctmjRyybMV4

Great photos, Scubaman.

as a diver, I loved your photography. A few questions, did your dive master kill the Lion Fish? Did you snag the lobster? What kind of shark was that? You looked pretty close or you had very good lens. What kind of camera did you use?

WOW!! Very, very nice. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

No kill was made as he did not have a proper spear with him.
Not allowed to take any lobsters or shells out of those waters.
Grey Caribbean Reef shark. They cruise very close within arms reach which isn't a good idea to reach out.
I use a Canon G10 with an underwater case.

Very nice pictures! Thanks for sharing them. Did you take any pictures ABOVE the water??

Always enjoy your pics. Thanks for posting.

Just on the Dive boat of planes over head and a large very strange looking boat from Hong Kong at anchor.

Thank you for your great photography. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> You've shown me a world that I'll never see in person (and I'm not sure that I'd even want to)!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Nice quality photos !! Visibility looks real nice too. Thanks for sharing.

Wow, OK, seems a waste to be in such a beautiful place as SXM with such a great camera and not take any other pictures.

I have plenty from years past and my wife does all the above water pics.

OK, still would be nice to share pictures with others here.

With all the dives that you do every year in the Carib, do you find that the coral is not as colorful as in previous years, or that the coral is/has been blah colored for years? Just curious on your take. TIA!!!

Actually I have been unpressed with some of the return of the coral condition. Saw evidence of new patches of healthy Elk Horn and Stag Horn corals which have been on a downward trend for years. Lots of very healthy Brain and Fan corals too.

"unpressed"?? I guess you mean impressed??? Or unimpressed?

Correct. Meant "impressed". Guess I should have proof read before I hit submit.

Scubaman meant the coral looked wrinkly.

Come to think about it brain coral does look rather wrinkly.

Fabulous pictures! Thanks for posting. Always love your dive shots.

Coral is very slow to recover from any damage. If someone touches coral, that section of coral could die. Coral is made up of thousands, if not millions of small oraganisms (polyps). If a "chunk" of coral is broken off, it grows back very slowly, the fastest growing (staghorn) only grows 1 inch every year. If you see dead or damaged coral, it probably won't make a full recovery in our lifetimes.