Dear Gallery Guests,
All Photos in this album were taken with a Nikon D-100 in a Nexus D100 Housing with 2 Sea and Sea YS-120 strobes, manual strobe exposure by Woody Mayhew. I've added the my note from each week's diving to each of the index pages in this gallery.
See the Nexus D100 Housing and accessories at www.nexusamerica.com
St. Vincent Report Week 1:
Hello St. V Divers,
Brown-lined Octopus!!
They're alive and well at
Anchor Reef and Alternative Bay! I was thrilled when
Kelly found one at Anchor Reef last year. They are
fairly rare, even here, and my photos of that one
were published in UwP Magazine and the July Sport Diver
(full page). BUT... this year there seems to be a
B-L-O population explosion. The group thinks they
saw 6 different ones in one sandy patch at Anchor, plus
Tony found one at Alt. Bay yesterday. Today we found
two right under the boat and I watched as they began
an Octopus courtship dance. Yesterday they were pretty
skittish, but today they were approachable and were
displaying nice colors and their brown lines. 105mm
recommended as they are smaller than fist-sized.
We've also found the Caribbean Two-Spot Octopus at Pinnacle
and at Hans Reef. Hans is pretty as ever and still one
of the group's favorite sites ... there is a very
colorful yellow seahorse there too that we can find most of the
time.
So far, no one has spotted a Magnificent Urchin, except for
a small one at Alt. Bay. Last year was very unusual with the
dozens or hundreds of those urchins at Critter Corner. We've dived
CC twice and Rock Fort once so far and have photographed 3 frogfish
(2 were very unusual colors), several "yellow-headed" jawfish
with eggs (the quotes are due to the fact that the brightly
colored jawfish here have recently been ID'ed as NOT the usual
Caribbean jawfish, but as a South American species!), one
different species of eel that I've never seen before (shape
like a Sharptail but with different coloration & markings).
The Yellow-Throat Pike Blenny's and Sailfin Blennies are
there too, as is that red seahorse! The 2 snake eels we
spotted were pretty shy. We've not yet made it out to
Wayne's World.
Orca Point had a mating pair of frogfish (one yellow, one
white) and mating octopus the first 2 dives we did there.
The frogs were still there yesterday, but not on the same
sponge any longer. Some fisherman had dropped a bunch of
baitfish there so we all had the opportunity to photograph
eels and crabs eating the small discarded fish. This
year there are more Spotted Moray Eels than ever.
SPOON-NOSED EEL!! We hadn't seen one for a couple of years.
He/She was in the sand just beside the boulders at Orca Pt.
and posed for head shots for everyone before deciding Chef
Woody's offering of fish tartar looked good enough to snap
up, eating 3 of them before dashing off to the north
escorted by every Sergeant Major and grunt in the area.
Cool scene, but no videographer with us to capture it.
Woody is shooting a D100 and has promised 15-30 photos for
a photo gallery this afternoon, so hopefully I'll have some
of his ready to see tomorrow.
Tony & I have only done a week of diving here, but already
the list of critters and experiences makes a detailed
report too long. There don't seem to be as many frogfish
as the last couple of years, but we are still seeing some
of them. I haven't even mentioned the Blue-Throat
Pike Blenny that was so colorful and cooperative, the
LARGE and beautiful male Red-Banded Lobster with both claws,
numerous Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp, Sun Anemone Shrimp, Chain Morays,
Viper Moray's etc., etc., etc.
Weather has been partly cloudy and we've had a little rain,
but not enough to impact our diving or even our time on
the boat. It IS great to have a boat with plenty of
shade (or shelter from rain!), the head and plenty of
fresh water aboard. We have the same crew (Sarah, Wayne & Tommy)
as before plus Bryan Cruikshank (Kenard's brother if you know
Kenard from Wallilabou).
So far, everyone who's arrived (on a connecting flight from
the US) has done so with all their luggage, pretty much on
time, and without paying any excess baggage charges on
either LIAT or Caribbean Star.
For those connecting through
Barbados, be aware that there is an upstairs departure lounge
that isn't crowded and is a more pleasant place to spend
your waiting time than the downstairs lounge. And again,
if you have a close connection anywhere, try to get a seat
close to the door on your aircraft so you can get off the plane
and into the front of the immigration line in Barbados (Antigua,
etc.).
Water temp still 81-82F. Viz very good, but a bit cloudy for
wide angle unless it's close up.
Regards,
DebF
