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, owner, Nexus America.
See the Nexus D100 Housing and accessories at www.nexusamerica.com
St. Vincent Report Week 2:
Hello St. V Divers,
This past week we've had some very unusual currents that kept us from diving some of our favorite sites much of the time. We've spent a lot more time that usual in the sandy areas of Anchor, Critter Corner and Alternative Bay.
The water temp is still 81-82F, skies are sunny and there is a nice breeze. We've been very comfortable underwater and topside.
Although we weren't able to get out onto Hans Reef and Pinnacle, and even couldn't dive New Guinea Reef one day (1st time I've EVER been here the current prevented that!) we did find quite a few unusual critters to photograph.
The highlight was certainly a bright orange Striated / Split Lure Frogfish!! Last year we found a pink one and we were all excited about that. Carolyn was nearby when I found the orange frogfish and witnessed true underwater excitement. As I recall, I sat my camera in the sand and used both hands and feet with OK signs, thumbs up and frogfish signs (inventing a split-lure sign on the spot) before
calming down and getting her into an approach pattern for making photos of that frogfish. It was so unusual that I stayed above the froggie, went to the surface and shouted to the boat for anyone who hadn't seen it, to load new film, get a new tank if necessary and come back in for photos. We did locate it again a few days later, but did not see it on our last dive at that site.
Woody located a hairy brown one the next day. Although brown is a typical color and texture for them, this one was nestled inside a knot in a thick rope mooring line. Its hairy body was camouflaged perfectly with the frayed rope and the colors matched exactly. The Striated Frogfish is the most rare of the froggies we find here.
I've also encountered a white frogfish that seems to be attracted to me. Each time I've found it, it launches off its sponge before I get within 4 feet of it and comes swimming toward me. I've managed at least a dozen shots of it mid-water and I have witnesses to attest to my story.
On our last dive, Tony followed an Atlantic Long Armed Octopus to its home in the sand. Those are quite shy, so I hope we will see it again.
The Brown Stripe Octopus are still being found on several sites. Several of us got photos of one living in a drinking glass.
I'm currently in the lead for number of batfish found. Wayne will be working very hard to outdo me next week. Not many batfish, only 2 so far, but we've managed to locate one of them in the same area several times. They have to be one of the most difficult critters of that size to find.
Although the currents were a problem with us getting on to the dive sites last week, the benefit is good viz and the silt has been blown off all of the corals and fans so that everything looks very pretty.
We haven't seen as many eels as normal (and as at the first part of the trip) because they tucked back in the holes to escape the current. It has also been difficult to find seahorses on the reef due to the currents although we have located several in the sandy areas.
We've seen schools of squid on nearly every dive site. There are loads of juvenile fish, angelfish, spotted drum, grunts, etc. and we've noted several spots where Sun Anemone Shrimp, Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp and Golden Coral Shrimp are easy to photograph.
Regards,
DebF
