Once again I went diving with the video camera and snatched some still pictures using the Screen Shot feature in Apple's OSX operating system. Not good quality compared to a still camera but it's 'something'. I loaded my gear on the triciclo and headed over to Maridiano 87 to pick up my air tank and went out to Blue Angel again to enter the sea. Their Hurricane repair work is awesome. It's really a treat to dive from there.
This Light and Motion 'Stingray' video housing has a red filter that can be rotated up in front of the camera's lens and is best used below 30-40 feet to take the blue out of the image.
The first thing I did on this dive was experiment with that filter at 10-15 feet and I think the camera's 'White Balance' feature deals with the red better than the blue. Here are two un-edited views of that Scuba tank I found followed with a heavily edited version of the blue.
Because of the limited capabilities of the video editing program I have, I think the red filter will be the lesser of two evils in the future.
One of the first things I ran into was another Splendid Toad fish and got to watch it swim some. It's such a nasty character it doesn't need many evasive moves.
Here is a Brain Coral that's making a fresh start. They get pretty big once they get going.
Lets hope this next guy gets nice and big. =)
(that's a baby lobster back in there)
There are quite a few dive boats buzzing by on their way to pick up dive groups and drop them off. They are supposed to stay away from the shore a certain distance but sometimes they are close enough to see and if they are within a quarter mile you can sure hear them.
Here is what this type high speed dive boat looks like from above, with a larger capacity unit beyond.
I've got a plastic 'cheat sheet' with pictures and names of different fish on it but this next guy wasn't listed. When the storm seas of Wilma crashed ashore they got under sections of sidewalk along the ocean front, flipped them up and tumbling them back into the sea. This guy was hiding under one of those concrete sections. About 8" long and with that big eye it might be a Squirrel fish.
If I had to name this next one I say 'File Fish' but the cheat sheet says Trumpet Fish.
This Sand Diver is posed like a hood ornament on a car. As soon as I got just close enough it took off like it was on the hood of an Audi V-12 diesel F-1 car !
=)
(that's an inside joke for my diesel friends because last week Audi announced their Formula One race cars would be powered by turbocharged V-12 diesels this Spring, '06)
I found a couple more aluminum Scuba tanks made unserviceable with wedges cut out of them. Because of the thrift inherent to island life I suspect the aluminum has been heat treated to the point they won't recycle. They sure make great reef material. Note the wall thickness. These tanks are rated at 3000 PSI or 200 atmospheres.
Remember how cool the Nautilus in Disney's '20,000 Leagues Under The Sea' looked. I wonder where they got the idea for the shape? This next guy is called a Trunk fish.
Here is a side shot.
And to close, another look at that little Drum.
As I write this it's sundown on Friday night so just for Lisa I'll close with a second AA at dusk shot.
(She had to return stateside because of the devastated employment market here and is homesick still for CZ )
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