Attn CORAL DIVERS...we wanna hear stories from you!

[saltyhog]

Wow! Thanks for sharing that video, so awesome? Was that a night dive? How deep were you?

Yes sir. We actually did a twilight dive first...there was a large sand flat full of garden eels nearby in about 70' of water as I recall. The Manta dive is a night dive and I was sitting on the bottom at 45'.

 

[Kengar]

Probably the most memorable single dive was the manta ray dive in Kona. Something about a huge ray with a 16' wingspan brushing the top of your head sticks with you.

totally concur in re Kona manta night dives

 

[Kengar]

And yeah, that lionfish shot was something I ALWAYS wanted to capture. So difficult to get them head on. Truth be told, I didn't exactly get that shot, the raw image has a couple of the outer fins chopped off ever so slightly. But I got it on a dedicated photo expedition (which I had joined as an extra since they didn't fill up the charter themselves); fortunately they included me as if I were a part of the club and the woman who ran it was a photoshop wizard (Erin Quigly) who was able to "fix" the shot for me and teach me plenty of new stuff about lightroom/photoshop.

Your skills are very apparent. I never had the patience for photography, even though I've got the patience to stay planted at the bottom of the anchor chain and just watch the reef in one small spot for an entire dive......

 

[TonysReef]

Your skills are very apparent. I never had the patience for photography, even though I've got the patience to stay planted at the bottom of the anchor chain and just watch the reef in one small spot for an entire dive......

To be honest I recommend most divers don't even try.

One it's expensive, two it's difficult and most people are terrible at it, but most importantly if you get hooked on underwater photography you won't really enjoy diving without a camera ever again.

 

[29bonsaireef]

Bahamas

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

ok.. worst dive story. I was in the peace corps in the central Philippines from 1998 to 2001. There was a german guy on my island who had a compressor pump and a boat and I had my own scuba gear so we went diving all the time. Most the reefs were either killed from cyanide fishing.. yeah aquarium trade!! or dynamite fishing. It was a sad scene but we went diving a lot because if we were on the reef then the locals wouldn't be employing such destructive techniques.
One day Jorgen tells me about a deep reef (140') between the two islands that he dove about 2 years earlier that had big schools of fish, decent corals, and even some black tip reef sharks. So we changed the oil in the boat and planned to go the following week. I was super jazed and it was an hour long boat ride in our little banka boat. We geared up and descended... we landed on a huge swath of dead white coral and pretty much no fish. We surfaced, re-trigulated our position and dove down again. More of the same, it was like a coral ghost town. Everything was dead and I saw maybe 20 fish during the whole dive. It was crushing, I was so enraged and depressed at the same time. We surfaced, looked at each other and did not say a word.

We climbed aboard, wordless took of our gear and settled in for the ride home. The whole ride home we didn't say one word to each other. We got home, I put my gear up in the shack and rode my bike home, people waved to me as they always did, I never waved back. That night I cried while making dinner in my hut.

The peace corps was an emotional roller coaster. One day you could see such hope and amazing things and the next day you could face the worst of human nature and people struggling to survive.

Sorry for the "uplifting story", but not everything is rosey in the world.

 

[Oliver d]

Okay said I would put up some pics here we go

 

[Steve McGlamery]

Here are a few of my pictures from resent dive trips

Raja Ampat Indonesia Blue Ring Octopus

Raja Ampat Indonesia Melissa's Garden

Raja Ampat Indonesia

P Purple Purple Rhinopias Forgotten Islands Indonesia

Frogfish Forgotten Islands Indonesia

I found this little guy in the Northern Red Sea

Indonesia

Raja Ampat Indonesia

 

[Oliver d]

Here are some more photo most taken in the Red Sea and around Oman.

 

[MombasaLionfish]

All those pictures are absolutely stunning.

 

[Jeff Collins]

Probably the most memorable single dive was the manta ray dive in Kona. Something about a huge ray with a 16' wingspan brushing the top of your head sticks with you.

I've done this as well and it is the best thing I've ever done. I highly recommend it to anyone who has a chance.

 

[Randy Ruiz]

I haven't been diving for years, but had a nice dive in Puerto Vallarta about 30 yrs ago before all the high tech equip. It was one with a guide to show a good location. We went down into a canyon to about 110 ft & about to head back up (realizing you don't have much time at that depth), but when I saw a lot of garden eels poking out if the sand I had to go the extra 10 ft down to check them out.
I can't find the backlit shot I took of the guide holding a lobster. So, sorry no pics.

 

[MombasaLionfish]

I haven't been diving for years, but had a nice dive in Puerto Vallarta about 30 yrs ago before all the high tech equip. It was one with a guide to show a good location. We went down into a canyon to about 110 ft & about to head back up (realizing you don't have much time at that depth), but when I saw a lot of garden eels poking out if the sand I had to go the extra 10 ft down to check them out.
I can't find the backlit shot I took of the guide holding a lobster. So, sorry no pics.

I was going to set up a tank for these guys but then I decided ribbon eels were better.